CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION Saint Alphonsus de Liguori - CHAPTER V ON THE SEVEN WORDS PRONOUNCED BY JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS
Saint Matthew says that Our Lord spoke the Word “ My God! My God ! why have you abandoned Me? » with a loud cry (Mt 27:46). Why this resounding cry? According to Euthymius, the Savior wanted to show by this his Divine Power by virtue of which, although on the point of Expiring, he could make such a Loud Voice heard; what dying men are incapable of, because of the extreme weakness to which they are reduced. It was furthermore to let us know how much He Suffered in Dying. One could have believed that, Jesus Christ being man and God, his Divinity would have prevented the torments from causing him pain; to remove this suspicion, He wanted to testify by this Plaintive Cry that His Death was the most Painful that ever a man had endured, and that, while the Martyrs were supported in their torments by Divine Consolations, he, as King of Martyrs, he wanted to die deprived of all mitigation, and to satisfy with all rigor the Divine Justice for all the sins of men . It is also for this reason, Silveira remarks, that, addressing his Father, He called Him His God, and not His Father; he had to speak to Him then as a Guilty to his Judge, and not as a son to his father.
According to Saint Leo, This Cry of the Lord on the Cross was not strictly a Complaint, but a Teaching. He wanted to teach us, through this Expression of Pain, how great is the malice of sin, since God was in some way Obliged to Deliver His Beloved Son to the Last Torment without granting Him the Least Relief, and that only for Himself. to be responsible for atone for our faults. However, even then, Jesus Christ was not Abandoned from the Godhead nor Deprived of the Glory which had been communicated to His Blessed Soul from the First Instant of His Creation; but He was deprived of all the Sensible Consolations that God ordinarily Grants to His Faithful Servants, to strengthen them in their sufferings; He remained Abandoned in an Abyss of Darkness, of Fears, of Bitter Disgusts, as many Punishments as we deserved. Our Savior had already suffered, in the Garden of Gethsemane, this Deprivation of the Sensible Presence of God; but that which He Suffered on the Cross was even Greater and more Cruel.
O Eternal Father! What displeasure did this Innocent and Obedient Son cause you, so that you punish him with a Death filled with so much Bitterness? Look at Him on this Cross. See how His Head is Tormented by the Thorns, how His Body is attached to it by three Iron Hooks and rests only on His Wounds! He is Abandoned by everyone, even by His Disciples; those around Him only increase His Torment with derision and blasphemy; why then, You who love him so much, Have you also Abandoned him? But we must not forget that Jesus was responsible for all the sins of the World. Although he was the holiest of all men, or rather Holiness Itself, having taken upon himself the responsibility of satisfying for all our sins, he seemed the greatest sinner in the Universe. As such, having become Responsible for all, He offered to pay all our debts to Divine Justice; and as we deserved to be forever abandoned in Hell and delivered to eternal despair, He wanted to be Himself abandoned to a Death without Consolation, in order to Deliver us from Eternal Death.
Calvin, in his commentary on Saint John, had the audacity to suggest that Jesus Christ, to reconcile his Father with men, had to experience all the wrath of God against sin and suffer all the punishments of the damned, especially that despair. This is an exaggeration and an error. How could the Son of God have atoned for our sins with a greater sin, such as despair? and how could this despair, dreamed of by Calvin, agree with the last words of Jesus placing his Soul in the hands of his Father? The truth, as Saint Jerome, Saint John Chrysostom and other interpreters explain, is that Our Divine Savior only uttered a Plaintive Cry to raise, not his despair, but the Pain that He experienced while dying thus deprived of any Consolation. Moreover, the Despair of Jesus Christ could not have come from any other cause than seeing himself hated by God; but how could God hate this Son who, to conform to his Will, had Consented to satisfy his Justice for the sins of men? It was in return for this obedience that his Father Granted him the Salvation of the human race, as Scripture teaches us (Heb 5:7).
Moreover, this Abandonment was the Cruelest of all the Punishments that Jesus Christ endured in his Passion; for we know that after having suffered so much Atrocious Pain without Opening His Mouth, He only complained in this last circumstance, and that it was with a Loud Cry (Mt 27:50), accompanied by many Tears and Prayers (Heb 5:7). But, through this Cry and these Tears, the Divine Master intended to make us understand, on the one hand, how much He suffered to obtain Mercy for us from God and, on the other, how Horrible is the Misfortune of to be rejected by God and forever Deprived of his Love, according to the Savior's Threat (Hos 9, 15).
Saint Augustine further observes that, if Jesus Christ was troubled at the sight of His Death, it was for the Consolation of His Servants, so that, if they happen to experience some trouble when They see themselves on the not dying, they do not consider themselves reprobate and do not abandon themselves to despair, since the Lord Himself was Troubled in this Circumstance.
Let us give thanks to the Goodness of our Savior, who deigned to take upon himself the Punishments which were due to us and thus deliver us from Eternal Death; and let us try to be grateful to this Divine Liberator in the future, banishing from our Heart any affection that is not for Him. When we find ourselves in Spiritual Desolation, and God deprives us of His Sensitive Presence, let us unite ourselves to what Jesus Christ Himself suffered at the moment of His Death. Sometimes, the Lord hides Himself from the Eyes of the Souls He cherishes the most, but He does not move away from their Hearts, and He Continues to support them internally with His Grace. He is not offended if, in this abandonment, we say to him what he himself said to God his Father in the Garden of Olives: “ My Father! if it is possible, let this Chalice move away from Me ! » (Mt 26:39). But we must immediately add with him: “ Nevertheless, let Your Will be done, and not mine !” » If the desolation continues, we must continue to repeat this Act of Resignation, as Our Lord Himself did during the three hours of His Agony. Saint Francis de Sales says that Jesus, whether He shows Himself or whether He hides Himself, is always equally Loveable. After all, when we have deserved Hell, and see ourselves delivered from it, we only have one thing to say: “ Lord! I will praise your holy name at all times ” (Ps 33:2). I am not worthy of your consolations; Grant me the Grace to Love You, and I agree to live in my pain for as long as You Please. Ah! if the damned could, in their torments, thus conform to the Divine Will, their Hell would no longer be Hell . “ But you, Lord, do not be far away, O My Strength, quickly to my aid ! » (Ps 21:20). O My Jesus! by the Merits of Your Desolate Death, do not deprive me of Your Help in this Great Combat that at the moment of my Death I will have to support against Hell. When everyone has abandoned me, and no one can help me anymore, do not abandon me, You who died for me and who alone can help me in this extremity. Hear me, Lord, by the Merit of the Great Pain that you suffered in your abandonment on the Cross, by which you obtained for us not to be abandoned by Grace as we deserved it by our faults.