Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus Dies on the Cross
It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last.
(Luke 23:44–46)
Reflection Prayer
What pain You suffered hanging there on the cross for hours with the nails driven into Your hands and feet—the piercing pain You must have endured! When they gave You wine mixed with gall to drink, You denied it, wanting not to ease the pain but to endure it willingly and lovingly. Again, You continued to teach us how to suffer and surrender all to our Heavenly Father—even the greatest of suffering.
In Your final moments, You said, “I thirst.” How blessed was the person who gave You Your last drink from the sponge with wine. May we all run to You to console Your thirst for our love and surrender all to You. May we seek to always console Your Heart and quench Your thirst for all hearts and souls, and we pray that they return to You.
Show us how; teach us, dear Jesus, how to turn the rest of our lives over to You in each moment of every day. When it was time, You handed Yourself over to the Father and taught us how we should hand ourselves over as well—hand over our spirit, hand over our lives, lay our spirit into Your hands, into Your Heart, and forever rest in the peace of knowing You will never leave us or abandon us. You lived every moment of Your life with pure love for all of mankind. You were always pointing us to the Father. Even in Your last moments, You never once stopped loving all of us—those who knew who You truly were and proclaimed You as their savior, as well as those who did not and tortured You, mocked You, and crucified You.
Jesus, may we look to Your example in Your Passion for how we are to live every moment of our lives, in every situation, with every decision we encounter. You have given us all we will ever need, because You gave us every part of Yourself; You gave Your life. I pray for the intercession of our blessed mother, Mary, and all the saints, so that in each moment of every day, I may give You my life. I surrender myself into Your Heart, my refuge, my eternal resting place.
*Reflection Prayer is taken from The Passion Suffered by the Heart of Jesus: Prayerful Reflections on the Stations of the Cross.
*Scripture passages in this meditation are taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE).