+- The Catacombs (https://www.thecatacombs.org)
+-- Forum: Repository (https://www.thecatacombs.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=10)
+--- Forum: Resources Online (https://www.thecatacombs.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=60)
+--- Thread: St. Anthony Mary Claret: The Golden Key to Heaven (/showthread.php?tid=5214)
RE: St. Anthony Mary Claret: The Golden Key to Heaven - Stone - 10-29-2026
Meditation 27. Jesus Proves on the Cross His Love for His Enemies
Preparatory Prayer as on page x
Composition of Place — Envision Jesus nailed to the Cross and enduring His greatest pains. You hear Him pray to His Father on behalf of those who crucify Him.
Prayer of Petition — O my Jesus and my Master! I beg of Thee the grace not only to forgive my enemies, but to love them and do good to them.
First Point
Jesus showed an astonishingly great love for His enemies. Go back in your thoughts, my soul, to Calvary, and ponder with attention Jesus' Love for His enemies. See Him suspended from three nails on an infamous gibbet. He is wounded all over, dripping with blood, plunged in a sea of pain, and is close to breathing His last. See, also, the throng of people of every age, condition, and state — young and old, lords and ladies and common people, Hebrews and Gentiles, scribes and pharisees, elders of the people and high priests — and these people, instead of having pity (which only a few show at the sight of pain), are all burning with an implacable mortal hatred for Him. As we ponder the more noteworthy circumstances of this hatred, consider whether it should have been hard and difficult for Him to love a people so savage and inhuman.
The first circumstance was the triumphant glee of His enemies — Here, my soul, you should not consider Jesus as a mere man, but as both God and Man (as indeed He was), to Whose gaze everyone's heart lay bare, as He saw even their most secret thoughts. As He hung suffering on the Cross, what evil did He not find in the hearts of those cruel people? He perceived some who rejoiced at the sight of Him nailed to the Cross, who were congratulating themselves on the arrival, at last, of the hour they had hoped for — the hour of seeing the One they accused of being a seducer, an impostor, a deceiver, hanging from a Cross. He perceived that others were approving the sentence passed against Him, and were judging that it was quite just (because they thought He was a scoundrel and blasphemer) to be assigned no other execution than one on a cross. He saw that these men took great delight and danced, as it were, with glee at seeing Him suffer, at seeing Him refused the smallest relief for His thirst, at seeing men rather increase His thirst and add to His torments by giving Him gall and vinegar to drink. He perceived others impatiently awaiting His death and wanting His Name blotted out from everyone's memory. All of this Jesus saw, and saw it in the hearts of the very ones for whom He came down from Heaven to earth, leaving an immensely happy condition and submitting to human miseries. Yes, He saw these things in the hearts of those on whose behalf He had worked so many miracles and for whom He was dying. At the sight of all this, what must have been the quality of His love for such people?
The second circumstance was the jeers and insults of His enemies — When someone is in his death agony, having been turned over to an executioner to be put to death, it is an act of compassion to show him sympathy . . . something that is not refused even the most wayward criminal. When a criminal is presented on the gallows, no matter how deserving of death he may be, a great silence is observed by everyone, and even the hardest hearts show him some indications of pity and compassion; and the more painful the execution to which the man is condemned, the more apparent is this sympathy. But Jesus was not counted worthy of this much. The more cruel His pains were and the more savage the execution procedures, so much the more bitter were the jeers, so much the more cutting was the mockery with which He was insulted by His enemies.
"Bah!" some were saying, "If You boasted that You would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, show Your Power now and rescue Yourself from the Cross!" Others argued, "If You made such a boast of being the Son of God and of always trusting in Him, why does He not come now to deliver You?"
The third circumstance was His enemies' stubbornness — It would not have been difficult for Jesus to love His enemies if in the end they had recognized and detested their sin; but the obstinacy of these wicked people was too great. The elements, even though they were lifeless, bore witness to Jesus' innocence. The sky shrouded itself with mourning. The sun grew dark. Boulders cracked in pieces. The veil of the temple ripped into two parts. The earth trembled and quaked. The people were eyewitnesses of these astounding events; but in spite of them, they did not stop abusing Him. Rather, becoming even more furious against the Lord, they kept mocking Him, cursing Him and blaspheming Him. They did not cease tormenting Him until they saw that He was dead. And yet Jesus bore it all with an heroic patience. And even forgetting His Pains and the many abuses they were vomiting forth against Him into His very Face in His agonizing condition, turning to His Eternal Father He pleaded with Him and took up their defense, so that He might obtain pardon for their wicked behavior . . .
Could a love be found that resembles this? It would not have been hard for Jesus to love His enemies if He had foreseen that they would stop hating Him, at least after His death. But He could not even have this consolation. He foresaw that most of them would make a joke of all those miracles which would be worked on His behalf after His Resurrection. He foresaw that they would persecute even to death His Apostles, who were to proclaim His Name. He foresaw that they would continue in their obstinacy until death and that they would blaspheme forever in hell even more than the demons do. It surely must have been a very hard thing for Jesus to love a people so unjust and evil. But in spite of all this, instead of giving Himself over to anger and seeking vengeance for His extremely painful, degrading death, He ceased not from loving even the most sinful ones, nor from wishing that His Divine Blood might give life to those who had shed it so brutally . . .
My soul, enter within yourself here, and see who those persons are whom you find it difficult to love. Are they, by any chance, false witnesses who have falsely accused you in court? Are they cruel characters who have sometimes made you drink the gall and vinegar of pain, hardship, privation and injustice? Are they assassins who are thirsty for your blood and want to nail you, like Jesus, to a cross?
Ah! There may be someone perhaps who gives you an unpleasant look. There may be someone who lets a thoughtless word escape from his mouth. And will you have difficulty loving these persons, after seeing Jesus love even His unmerciful persecutors? Compare well your enemies with those of Jesus.
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — O Jesus! O most lovable Jesus! I marvel at Thy generous charity, and at the sight of it I know how weak mine is. In Thy Heart Thou preserved a love that remained steadfast in the midst of every outrage. With Thy vision Thou dost perceive those who harbor for many years in their hearts a hatred for Thee that is more than diabolical. Thou dost recognize those who curse and blaspheme Thee as if Thou were the greatest criminal in the world. Thou knowest those who make a boast of reducing Thee to this condition in which Thou become unrecognizable, and those who jeer at Thee and mock Thee when Thou art in the throes of the most horrible torment.
With Thy Own eyes Thou seest them; with Thy Own Ears Thou hearest them; and all the hate and raving of their hearts is quite known to Thee. But all this is not enough to cool off Thy Love, nor does Thy Heart yield to a shadow of irritation, nor do Thy lips utter one word of grumbling, nor do Thy hands make any move to take revenge. Instead, Thou lovest them all. Thou dost press them all to Thy bosom. Thou didst shed Thy Precious Blood for them all. Not one dost Thou shut out from Thy Heart. This is how strong and generous Thy love is, O my Jesus. And mine? Ah, it is a love that does not deserve to be called love, because any petty injury is enough to cripple it, and sometimes it manages to extinguish it and perhaps to change it into hatred.
(2) Repentance — In this light, I am a man truly lacking love! Oh, what a sad, distressing thought! — That I am a man who is poor and needy as regards love! And yet, who am I? I am a soul chosen from among thousands and thousands to follow Jesus. I am a Christian soul who spends so much time daily meditating on the example of Jesus Christ, Who even loved those who crucified Him. In spite of all this, I am a creature poor and needy with regard to love! This is so, after so many years of my life as a Christian have passed, after so many insights, graces, and interior inspirations, after so many aids and opportunities! Ah! What reason I have to detest my sluggishness!
Second Point
In view of the circumstances in which He loved His enemies, Jesus' love was something astonishing. Up to now the circumstances we have considered have been the hate, the rabidness and the unheard of savagery that His enemies displayed against Jesus. Now, my soul, ponder the circumstances of that love Jesus showed them at the very time of their rage. I do not doubt that a consideration of these two points will supply the weightiest motives for admiring a love so immense.
The first circumstance was the time in which He prayed for those who were crucifying Him — Jesus needed to say a number of things from the Cross: to His Eternal Father, to commend His Spirit to Him; to His beloved Mother, to entrust Her to His Disciple John; to John, to charge him with the care of His afflicted Mother; to bystanders, to ask relief in His extreme thirst. But for whom did He give first attention when He spoke? Ah! His sorrowful Mother would wait, the faithful disciple would hold off; Jesus' personal affairs would be forgotten; and the first words would be directed to His Eternal Father in favor of His enemies, begging pardon for them: "Father, forgive them." (Lk. 23:34). What love! What wonderful love!
The second circumstance was His enemies' malice — This was growing more and more on each occasion, the more ardent Jesus' love appeared to be. One might think that, before setting about to obtain the pardon of His enemies, Jesus would wait until they first recognized the enormous misdeed they had committed and with humility and regret begged for pity and mercy. But His Charity was of another quality, which did not allow Him to wait until they recognized their great fault; but He at once became their Mediator with the Eternal Father to obtain their forgiveness. I love them, Jesus said; and because I love, I intercede. I love and I intercede at the very moment in which I hear their ridicule and blasphemy, and I see their hate and experience all the effects of their rage and fury. I love them and I intercede for them and I offer all My Blood for them . . .
What do you say, my soul, at the sight of a love of this fine quality?
The third circumstance was the reason which Jesus presented in His prayer — It is undeniable that the Jews had committed against Jesus an injustice of the most horrible, abominable kind, choosing for Him the most cruel kind of death. The miracles that He had worked and which they had seen with their own eyes, the blamelessness of His life, known even to the Gentile prefect (Pontius Pilate), the very accusations which they had invented and had produced at the trial — all in an evident way proved their bad will. In spite of this, Jesus prayed for them, and to excuse them He pointed to their ignorance, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Lk. 23:34). It was as if He wanted to say, "Father, I do not say that they have not sinned. I only say that their impiety can be pardoned, that ignorance plays a great part in it. Otherwise they would never have treated Me this way. Therefore I beg Thee, My Father, to forgive them as I forgive them, and that Thou love them as I love them. . ."
Oh, the wonderful love of Jesus for His enemies, which moved Him to love them with such love! My soul, you, too, learn to love the person that has offended you, and, if you please, look at your enemies with those eyes with which Jesus looked at His enemies from the Cross and it will become very easy for you. What did Jesus find in His enemies that could incline His Heart to love them? Ah! He saw in them the weakness of fallen nature that is prone to evil from birth. He saw in them precious souls fashioned to His Own Image and Likeness and called to share His Glory. He saw in them the most profound designs of His Heavenly Father, Who, by the very hands of His enemies, offered Jesus the chalice which He, the Father, had prepared. Finally, He saw that very great number of sins for which He had freely obliged Himself to make due payment to Divine Justice and which that Justice was punishing in Him by means of His enemies. These reasons were the strongest ones that persuaded Him to earnestly plead and intercede with His Eternal Father, to win for them the forgiveness of the great crimes that they had committed.
Affective Acts
(1) Repentance — Ah, my Jesus! Now I understand the true cause of the difficulty I have always experienced in loving people by whom I have been offended. The cause is that I have never looked at them with those eyes with which Thou looked at Thy enemies; and this is also the true cause of my bad state. If only I had always regarded people who offended me as persons by whose hands my Heavenly Father was offering me the chalice He had prepared for me; if only I had always regarded them as persons whom Divine Justice was using to punish my sins — ah! — how many perfect acts of love might I not have made up to now, and how closely my heart would come to resemble Thy loving Heart! But now — what is the state of my heart? What kind of charity do I have? Ah, my beloved Redeemer, let me be silent and hide myself from Thy eyes, because the great shame I feel restrains me from talking to Thee and looking at Thee. But what would be the benefit of being silent and hiding from Thee? It is better that I sincerely confess my folly and humbly beg the forgiveness of Thy Mercy. Ah, my Jesus! I have certainly reflected on the outstanding ways in which Thou hast been an example of love. I have admired this and have praised it. But when have I taken up the task of imitating it?
(2) Resolution and Prayer of Petition — Then, will I always behave as I have, O my Jesus? No, please! For the attitude I now feel is, by Thy Grace, different, and my heart feels changed. What I propose is to love those who have offended me with all my heart, to bear meekly and silently the injuries that are done to me, and I will make it a special endeavor to return good for evil. This is the way Jesus loved. It is the way I, too, should love, and indeed, choose to love. But how will I do it without a light to clear up my mind and a powerful impulse, a help, to give strength to my courage? I turn to Thee, my Beloved, my Crucified, my only Teacher of Love. I call upon Thee by that wonderful meekness with which Thou forgave Thy enemies, by that affectionate prayer Thou made on their behalf, by that Precious Blood which Thou shed for them. Grant me a charity that extends to all men, a charity that gives me strength to patiently suffer and bear everything, a charity that is always moving me to react to the evil done to me, by rendering some good turn that matches it. Amen.
Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.