Todays Blog is Rated “R” – Isaiah 53:4-5

Another beautiful day in paradise.  I can’t believe it is Friday already.  My kids have a three day off from school: no school on Monday.  It must be nice to have 3 or 4 days of school each week for the past month or so.  I actually think they are even getting tired of the continuous days off school. 

 

Today is one month since the devastating earthquake in Haiti.  what have you done for them?  Are you still praying for all affected by the ‘quake?

 

Todays reflection is about why we are Catholics!

Holy Scripture

Quote or Joke of the Day:

 

Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas. — Italian Proverb

 

Today’s Meditation:

 

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.  (NAB Isaiah 53:4-5)

 

WOW!  This is from the Old Testament, yet this prophesy is exactly what happened to Jesus Christ, hundred of years later.  What further proof is needed of His divine nature, or even His existence to the Jewish people.

The Church is preparing for Lent: a time of reflection and renewal of ourselves.  A time to think about what we can do better, and to try to change our negative attributes for a positive gain in Jesus’ presence.  These two verses remind us why we go through a somber period of time prior to the joyous celebration of Easter.

Jesus did indeed suffer for the sins of mankind, and through his sufferings, we are healed.  He was not only crucified, but was scourged; a separate and extreme punishment.  Only the worst of criminals to be executed were scourged as well as hung on the cross to die a slow and painful death.  Suffer is a poor word to describe what Jesus went through.

Thorns, probably 2-3 inches long were beaten deeply into his head with heavy sticks.  These thorns, unlike what you see in the movies, probably pierced his scalp, forehead, ears, and maybe his eye socket areas.  He was chained to a stump and beaten with heavy sticks, chains, and whips that had heavy metal “fish hooks” that penetrated deeply through His skin, and deeply into His muscle; and then tearing large chunks of flesh from His body.  NO portion of His body was spared.  His head, chest, back, abdomen, genitalia, legs, and feet were ‘touched’ by these torturous devices.

At Jesus’ Crucifixion, He was pierced again, by nail similar to present day railroad spikes, through areas where there are large number of nerve bundles.  This causes severe pain, burning to the entire extremity, and muscle contractions, just by piercing them; add to that the weight of His body stretching these nerves, and no one could understand the pain He experienced.  Jesus ultimately died from drowning in His own body fluids (from all the trauma) collecting in His Lungs, and from blood  loss. 

Jesus took on our sins, died for our sins, and did the penance for our original sins.  There is no greater way to express how much God loves us, than to come to earth, and go through “Hell” for us.

“Lord, There is nothing more to say than, ‘I love you'”!  Amen.

 

Pax et Bonum

Dan Halley, SFO

 

*****

 

Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) Rule #12:

 

Witnessing to the good yet to come and obligated to acquire purity of heart because of the vocation they have embraced, they should set themselves free to love God and their brothers and sisters.