Alleluia Mt 8:17
Christ took away our infirmities
and bore our diseases.
REFLECTION
Just in the last week I have heard of acquaintances, close friends, and family members either receiving news about their health: covid hospitalizations, cancer diagnosis, emergency surgery, etc.
As their health declines, I stop to think on how much we have to pray for each other. Whether it be for good health, or for the strength to bear disease.
What always amazes me is that no matter how deep our suffering is, Jesus also endured unbearable physical pain for our sake.
This goes beyond empathy for His creatures.
St. Alphonsus tells us:
...St. Thomas, the Angelic Doctor, writes that, to save us from hell, Jesus Christ assumed extreme pain and extreme ignominy. To satisfy the divine justice, it would be enough for him to have suffered any pain; but no, he wished to submit to the most galling insults and to the sharpest pains, in order to make us comprehend the malice of our sins, and the love with which his heart was inflamed for us.
He assumed extreme pain; hence, as we read in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, he said, A body Thou hast fitted to me. The body which God gave to Jesus Christ was made on purpose for suffering, and therefore his flesh was most sensitive and delicate. Sensitive, or capable of feeling pain in the most lively manner ; delicate, or so tender that every stroke which it received left a wound: in a word, his sacred body was made on purpose for suffering.
Comments