Ave Maria Meditations
During the Passion, Jesus honors and glorifies His Father in an infinite measure, not only because He is the Son of God, but also because He yields Himself up to all that His Father’s justice and love demand of Him. If He could say, in the course of his public life, that He always did the things that pleased His Father, it is especially true of those hours when, in order to acknowledge the rights of divine majesty outraged by sin and to save the world, He delivered Himself up to death, and to the death of the cross. The Father loves Him with a boundless love because He gives His life for His sheep, and because by His sufferings, by His satisfaction, He merits for us all the graces that win back for us the friendship of His Father.
Moreover, we should love to meditate upon the Passion because it is also there in that Christ’s virtues shine forth with such brilliancy. He possesses every virtue within His soul, but the occasions of manifesting them especially arise in His Passion. His immense love for His Father, His charity for mankind, hatred of sin, forgiveness of injuries, patience, meekness, fortitude, obedience to lawful authority, compassion, all these virtues shine out in a heroic manner in these days of sorrow…
When we contemplate the sufferings of Jesus, He grants us according to the measure of our faith, grace to practice the virtues which He revealed during these holy hours.
Blessed Columba Marmion
