Episode 3033: The Passion of Christ Part 3 - They Looked Upon Him Whom They Pierced

Nancy:
Welcome, dear listeners, to the Final episode of series I titled “The Passion of Christ: Part 3 - They Looked Upon Him Whom They Pierced where we seek to rekindle our love for the truths of the Holy Catholic Faith by diving deep into Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
Today’s episode is a sacred journey. A time for silence, reflection, and sorrow.
We will walk with Our Lord Jesus Christ through His bitter Passion not just by recounting what the Gospels reveal, but by entering into the mystical revelations of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the 19th-century German nun and visionary, whose writings bring us closer to the physical, emotional, and spiritual torments endured by our Savior.
Her visions do not add to Divine Revelation but deepen our understanding of it. They magnify the horror of sin and the immeasurable love of Christ.

So let us begin this with prayer.
Introductory Prayer
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Most Sorrowful Virgin Mary, accompany us in spirit as we meditate upon the Passion of your Divine Son. Through the mystical visions granted to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, may we see with the eyes of faith the depth of Christ’s suffering, the malice of sin, and the infinite love of God.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Amen.
In the Part 1 and 2 we covered the Agony in the Garden and the Trials of Pilate and Herod and now we move onto,
The Scourging at the Pillar
In Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich’s vision, Jesus was stripped entirely, leaving Him humiliated and exposed. He was tied to a short column, barely reaching His waist, forcing Him to bend slightly, exposing His entire back and sides to the cruelty of the executioners.
Two groups of men took turns scourging Him. The first used thorny rods, which tore His flesh with each stroke. The second, even more vicious, used chains and whips embedded with metal hooks and sharp bones.
The beatings were relentless. He did not cry out. Instead, He offered each lash in silent love, an expiation for every sin committed throughout human history.
Blessed Anne writes:
“His sacred body was so torn and mangled that one would not have known Him. His flesh hung in strips, and the ground was soaked with His Precious Blood.”
His Precious Blood. Every drop shed not by accident, but with divine intention for your soul, for mine.
Meanwhile, His Blessed Mother, though not physically present in the courtyard, saw everything in her soul, mystically united with Him.
Three times she collapsed from the overwhelming agony that pierced her Immaculate Heart sharing, in spirit, each blow.
Pause with me here. Imagine this: the God who created heaven and earth, scourged like a criminal, His body torn beyond recognition and He endured it willingly.
For you. For me.
In Life of Christ, Bishop Sheen writes that the scourging of Christ was not just a punishment by Roman law, but a divine act of reparation for the sins of the flesh a cleansing of man’s misuse of the body.
“He was innocent, yet scourged; we are guilty, yet spared. He, the Pure One, stood in the place of the impure. In His flesh, torn by the whips, was the pain that our pleasures deserved.”
Sheen teaches that every lash was a counterstroke to the sin of man each mark a seal of love. Christ’s silence was the most profound answer to the noise of our rebellion.
Let us remain a moment in silence to honor this suffering. Walt can you explain what she saw with the Carrying of the Cross?
Walt: II. Carrying of the Cross
Now we follow Our Lord as He is handed His Cross. A heavy, splintered beam rough and unpolished.
And what does Jesus do?
He embraces it.
He kisses it.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich tells us:
“He embraced the Cross as a spouse embraces His beloved.”
Oh, how far we are from understanding the love of God!
He stumbled under its weight almost immediately, His body already weakened beyond imagination. His precious blood left a trail through the streets of Jerusalem.
The crowd was cruel. Some spat. Others jeered. Only a few wept among them, His Most Holy Mother, who followed from a distance with John and the holy women.
Christ fell three times.
After the first fall, the soldiers mocked and beat Him harder.
After the second, they feared He would die before reaching Calvary.
After the third, Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry the Cross. But his heart was not yet moved. He was annoyed, even angry.
Still, God used him.
Veronica, moved by divine courage, broke through the guards and wiped His face. In return, Jesus imprinted His Holy Countenance upon her veil.
Then came the most heartbreaking moment:
Jesus and Mary met.
“No words passed between them,” Emmerich says. “Their eyes spoke the sorrow of eternity.”
Imagine a mother seeing her Son in such a state. But this was not just any mother, and not just any Son.
They are the New Eve and the New Adam, walking the path of salvation.
Nancy: Bishop Sheen frequently returns to this moment in The Seven Last Words and Way to Inner Peace, saying that Christ did not conquer pain by refusing it, but by carrying it. The Cross, Sheen says, is both a burden and a key.
“He did not come to take away our crosses; He came to help us carry them.”
Christ’s falls, in Sheen’s eyes, were a revelation of how Divine Strength embraces human weakness. He writes that the way of the cross is the path to love, not because pain is good, but because sacrifice is the measure of love.
“No one can be truly united to Christ unless they also walk the way to Calvary.”

Now let’s discuss what Ann Catherine Emmerich saw during the crucifixion?
Nancy: The Crucifixion
At last, Calvary.
The soldiers tore Christ’s garments from His body ripping off dried blood, reopening wounds.
Then came the nailing.
“His arms were pulled with such force that His shoulders dislocated,” Emmerich recounts.
Each hands were nailed not the wrists, but the ropes held the weight of His body so the nails would not tear His hands.
Then His feet were placed one on top of the other and a long spike driven through.
“The hammer struck… and all of nature seemed to tremble.”
The Cross was lifted. Our Savior now hung between Heaven and Earth.
Suspended.
Rejected by man, and abandoned, for a time, by the Father.
He spoke seven last words. Each a flame from the altar of His Heart:
1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
2. “This day, you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
3. “Woman, behold thy son… Behold thy mother.”
4. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
5. “I thirst.”
6. “It is consummated.”
7. “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.”
With that final cry, the earth quaked. Rocks split. The veil of the Temple was torn in two.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich writes:
“His Soul left His Body with a cry so loud and filled with power that the rocks split and hell trembled.”
This is not symbolic language.
This is Calvary.
This is your salvation.

This is perhaps the central mystery of Bishop Sheen’s theology. In Life of Christ, he describes the crucifixion not as the defeat of Christ, but His enthronement:
“The Cross is not something that happened to Christ. It is something He came for.”
Sheen deeply emphasizes that the Crucifixion was not accidental, but the very purpose of the Incarnation. Christ mounts the Cross as a priest mounts the altar freely offering Himself.
“When He stretched out His hands on the Cross, it was as if to say: ‘See how much I love you. I Love you this much”
Every word from the Cross, Sheen says, was a last will and testament of Divine Love forgiving enemies, comforting the penitent thief, and giving Mary to us as Mother.
Walt can you finish with the taking down of his body from the cross?
Walt: Mary Receives the Body of Her Son
After He died, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus begged for His Body. Carefully, reverently, they removed the nails.

One by one.
Each time a nail was pulled, a shudder passed through the Blessed Virgin, as if she herself were nailed to the Cross.
At last, they lowered Him into Mary’s arms.
Emmerich tells us:
“She knelt, received Him onto her lap as once she had cradled Him in Bethlehem, and wept silently.”
His face was bloodied and bruised. His body cold, covered in wounds.
And she kissed every one.
She kissed the hands that healed the sick.
The feet that walked among sinners.
The brow that wore a crown of thorns.
And then, she offered Him back to the Father.
Her second Fiat.
Her heart broken but not in despair. In love.
Nancy: In The World’s First Love, Bishop Sheen powerfully portrays Mary not just as a mother grieving, but as a co-sufferer and co-redeemer in the mystery of salvation:
“She was the only one who could say, as He was taken from the Cross: ‘This is my Body. This is my Blood.’”
Sheen emphasizes that Mary’s Fiat did not end at the Annunciation, but continued at Calvary. She accepted the death of her Son for the redemption of man, and thus she becomes the Mother of Sorrows and our Mother.
“At the foot of the Cross, Mary becomes the new Eve. As sin entered the world through a disobedient woman, so salvation enters through the obedience of a woman.”
He said that when Mary held the lifeless Body of Christ, she was holding not just her Son but the hope of all mankind, wounded for our sins and broken for our salvation.
Nancy: Conclusion
What more can be said?
The Passion of Our Lord is not a story it is the price of our souls.
Do not take it lightly.
Do not leave this meditation unchanged.

Let us ask ourselves:
• Do I hate sin the way Jesus hated it so much that He died to destroy it?
• Do I love souls as Mary did, enough to suffer for their salvation?
• Do I thank Him daily for His Cross?
Let this not be a once-a-year Good Friday reflection, but the daily offering of our hearts.
Nancy: Conclusionary Prayer
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Jesus, our crucified Savior, by the sorrows You endured in Your Passion, have mercy on us. Grant us tears of contrition, hatred for sin, and firm purpose of amendment.
O Mary, Mother of Sorrows, intercede for us, that we may never forget your sufferings at the foot of the Cross. Obtain for us the grace to unite our trials to yours, and to love your Son unto death.
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
Amen.
Nancy: Thank you for listening to this 3 part series and I hope in some small way it helped to make your Holy Week that much more profound and meaningful. May Our Lady keep you close to the Cross, and may the Sacred Heart of Jesus be your refuge and your hope. Until next time, stay faithful and today say to everyone you meet THERE IS A MAN ON THE CROSS! Good FriDAY!