St Thomas Aquinas' Lenten Meditation - Friday after the 6th Sunday in Lent (Good Friday)
St Thomas Aquinas' Lenten Meditation - Good Friday: The Death of *Christ*
That *Christ* should die was expedient.
1. To make our redemption complete. For, although any suffering of *Christ* had an infinite value, because of its union with His divinity, it was not by no matter which of His sufferings that the redemption of mankind was made complete, but only by His death. So the Holy Spirit declared speaking through the mouth of Caiaphas, It is expedient for you that one man shall die for the people (John 11:50). Whence St. Augustine says, "Let us stand in wonder, rejoice, be glad, love, praise, and adore since it is by the death of our Redeemer, that we have been called from death to life, from exile to our own land, from mourning to joy."
2. To increase our faith, our hope and our charity. With regard to faith the Psalm says (Ps. 140:10), I am alone until I pass from this world, that is, to the Father. When I shall have passed to the Father, then shall I be multiplied. Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die itself remaineth alone (John 12:24).
As to the increase of hope St, Paul writes, He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things? (Rom. 8:32). God cannot deny us this, for to give us all things is less than to give His own Son to death for us. St. Bernard says, "Who is not carried away to hope and confidence in prayer, when he looks on the crucifix and sees how Our Lord hangs there, the head bent as though to kiss, the arms outstretched in an embrace, the hands pierced to give, the side opened to love, the feet nailed to remain with us."
Come, my dove, in the clefts of the rock (Cant. 2:14). It is in the wounds of *Christ* the Church builds its nest and waits, for it is in the Passion of Our Lord that she places her hope of salvation, and thereby trusts to be protected from the craft of the falcon, that is, of the devil.
With regard to the increase of charity, Holy Scripture says, At noon he burneth the earth (Ecclus. 43:3), that is to say, in the fervour of His Passion He burns up all mankind with His love. So St. Bernard says, "The chalice thou didst drink, O good *Jesus*, maketh thee lovable above all things." The work of our redemption easily, brushing aside all hindrances, calls out in return the whole of our love. This it is which more gently draws out our devotion, builds it up more straightly, guards it more closely, and fires it with greater ardour.
-
1:49:48
Glenn Greenwald
13 hours agoPresidential Immunity's Long History; Hysteria Radically Distorts SCOTUS Ruling; Dem Oligarchs Forcing Biden Out of 2024 Race | SYSTEM UPDATE #292
121K127 -
57:12
Havoc
13 hours agoCelebrating Independent Artists | Stuck Off the Realness Ep. 3
59K2 -
1:14:02
Donald Trump Jr.
19 hours agoMedia Plays Dumb on Biden Decline, Interview with Alex Marlow! | TRIGGERED Ep.151
115K125 -
1:47:01
2 MIKES LIVE
12 hours ago2 MIKES LIVE #86 NEWS BREAKDOWN WEDNESDAY, WITH SPECIAL GUEST JOY PULLMANN!
45.7K1 -
2:28:04
WeAreChange
13 hours agoBiden BANKROLLERS Want Return On THEIR INVESTMENT, Order JOE TO GO!
73.1K30 -
16:24
China Uncensored
12 hours agoChina's Economy is in Ruins—Local Debt Out of Control
40.9K46 -
13:40
Brad Polumbo
19 hours agoWoke TikTokers LOSE THEIR MIND Over Conservative Supreme Court Win!
45.5K27 -
1:14:46
ReasonTV
18 hours agoAndy Mills: Quitting The New York Times and making 'The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling'
35.3K2 -
1:08:15
Kimberly Guilfoyle
19 hours agoFurry Friends Special: The Power & Purpose of Animal Rescue w/Jason Gluck, Meg Weinberger & John Rourke | Ep. 139
43.3K26 -
1:15:10
Battleground with Sean Parnell
17 hours agoDem Circular Firing Squad w/ Savage Rich Baris
158K33