St. Bonaventure

St. Bonaventure's reflection on the Life of the Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a narrative commentary, which focuses on bringing to light small details about the words and actions of Jesus. Reading the chapters (63-66) on the Passion has brought to light many new insights that are easily missed when simply reading the Biblical accounts. In summary of the selected readings for this class, the chapters focus on Jesus being brought before Pilate and carrying His Cross to Calvary, Jesus being nailed to the Cross, the words He spoke while hanging on the Cross and finally when His side was pierced. There are also a few themes that flow throughout the commentary, tying it together, especially through the experience of the Blessed Mother. In

It is already painful to have strangers who do not know or undertand you treat you with contempt, but to have your people despise you to the point of enjoying your pain adds a whole other layer of suffering. For “they neither pitied him for his innocence or, nor were they moved at the cruelty and baseness of the action they were going to commit.” (pg. 300) It is true for us as well; by our own sin we contribute to the death of one of our own, Jesus who lowered himself in nakedness, poverty and vulnerability only be to be betrayed. This betrayal is not simply a spiritual reality but a physical one that the very body of Jesus had to bear. As St. Bonaventure encourages us to reflect on the corporeal vulnerability of Christ, I remember my own fear of pain and how I try to avoid it, or at least cover it up from the scrutiny of others. Yet Jesus

“Some [were] preparing the cross, some making ready the ropes and cords to bind him, some the nails and hammers to fasten him, others preparing the ladder and other instruments, some digging the hole in the earth to fix the cross in, and others busy in stripping him.” (pg. 307) So often I foget my own participation in Christ's passion, yet am quick to point out and dwell in the pain that others cause through their failings. Just as the man who made ready the ropes was not doing something better or worse then the man who nailed Jesus to the cross, I must remember that in my experience, I am the sinner I know. In fact, just as Jesus insisted upon the ignorance of his torturers to the Father, “forgive them Father they know not what they do,” I am called to do the same, not only for those I interact with, but also for those men who were on Calvary. This is difficult, because it is easy to blame Jesus' sufferings on the Pharisees and others that were physically present to it, but in my knowledge I am more guilty than