Hello.

Judie - probably the wrong forum, but I felt this may be my best chance to pass this along. Didn’t intend to overload your forum but thought this may help others in prayer.

During the course of reflecting on Our Lord's Scourging during the Divine Mercy Chaplet, I came across this reflection. I hope I can explain it with the True, Royal dignity it deserves, it's hard to put into words.

How often do we wonder what God's love is? What it should feel like? What does it mean when we hear that God loves each of us more than we can ever imagine?

Reflect upon Our Lord immediately after His Scourging. Left unattended for a few scant seconds or minutes sitting disoriented at the base of the pillar after being beaten so severely for a long period. Imagine if you will that each of us is allowed to witness this spiritually in horror and feel the sadness. It's all we can think about to bow down on our knees in homage before Him, there are no words. Our heads face down on the ground in front of Him, with our arms also extended on the ground at His Feet.

He is exhausted, battered, beaten, bleeding, naked, probably can't even see straight because of The Blood Loss now at His Feet. Unimaginable Pain, Thirst and Lonliness. While kneeling in front of Him in homage, I try to sneak a peek up to see how He is doing.

Suddenly, He slowly lifts up His Shaking Head, recognizes me, and knows all the terrible ugliness of all the horrible mortal and venial sins on my soul. My head immediately bolts back to the ground in terrible shame and fear.

In His terrible agony, His eyes become rejuvenated and He desperately tries to reach out to Bless me. His goal only to touch my head gently, to welcome and thank me for simply being there, for my small gesture.

In spite of the terrible pain He has suffered and will continue to suffer, nothing is more important to Him in this moment than to reach out with love. To one of His lost sheep that hasn't even been born yet.

He does not make it far when He is roughly pulled up and led to the crowning. He turns back as He is being roughly escorted away and looks at me. His look is one of being completely horrified and filled with Sorrow and Love that He has to leave. The physical torture that will occur over and over to Him in the next few hours seems of little concern compared to His Sorrow and Anxiety for having to leave one soul unattended at that moment...

An example of one soul, and yet it applies to each of us who have ever lived.

I know in my head this is imagination but I am left with a feeling of Our Lord that is real and different. The True Essence and Nature of a Loving God. Not normally felt or one I ever really thought about before when thinking of Jesus in the past. He is the Perfect Savior, across the ages. Someone I would never deserve to be in the same universe with, let along within a few feet. Who shows more lob-sided Compassion for Me than I ever could for Him, in spite of me spiritually reflecting upon His Torture and Death.

To all who feel that we have committed sins that cannot be forgiven, this is not from the Lord. It is not in His Divine Nature. He has always been about welcoming souls back to Himself, no matter what; there is nothing else more important to Him, even faced with the Cross. That's the way it was 2000 years ago and the way it is now. We can always find our way back to Him in the Mystery of His Passion, even if we never knew Him or tried to get to know Him before. All we need to do is show up in prayer, the Mass, and/or the Sacraments and try to focus on Him. Just give Him a few minutes, He will do the rest. No matter His Pain, He is always vigilant and ready to reach out to us, to our dying breath, and His.

God Bless.

Dear Catholic

This is one of the most heautiful reflections on the Scouring at the Pillar that I have ever read. God has blessed you in a special way for your sharing of this remarkably moving experience is beyond what is normally shared with anyone, and so I praise God for this insight that He has provided to you and I hope that all those who visit this Forum are moved by what you have written.

The closest experience I have had along these lines was during an Ignatian Retreat when our retreat master took us through the entire passion of Christ, and frequently asked each of us, "Juesus Suffers, Jesus suffers for you, what are you suffering for Jesus?"

God bless you, Catholic and thank you.

Judie Brown

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