Holy Week

(Volume 1, pg 162) “ Beloved of My heart, since You ardently desire the fragrance that My pains emit from the Cross, I satisfy your desire by crucifying your soul and communicating to you every suffering, but if you were not so averse to demonstrate to everyone how much you love Me, I also would want to seal your body with My visible bloody wounds. Toward this end I want to teach you this prayer to say to obtain this grace…”I come before the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity and, since I am bathed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, I yearn to prostrate myself in a form of profound adoration and beseech You, through the merits of the most illustrious virtues of Jesus and His Divinity, to concede to me the grace of always being crucified. Amen. Fiat”

From the Catholic Catechism

Christian Art was used for centuries as a teaching tool, even as a catechism. The artist can help us to see something in a new way, or to feel the emotion of an event centuries before. We can use the image as a visual template to enter a scene in our imagination and thus experience the great events of our salvation.
CCC-2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature,” in whom “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”296 This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.

Agony in the Garden
-Passion-
Agony in the Garden

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemani. He said to His disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” He took along Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, and began to experience sorrow and distress. Then He said to them, “My heart is nearly broken with sorrow. Remain here and stay awake with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Still, let it be as you would have it, not as I.” When He returned to His disciples, He found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not stay awake with Me for even an hour? Be on guard, and pray that you may not undergo trial. The spirit is willing but nature is weak.” Withdrawing a second time, He began to pray: “My Father, if this cannot pass me by without My drinking it, Your will be done!” Once more, on His return, He found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open. He left them again, withdrew somewhat, and began to pray a third time, saying the same words as before. Finally He returned to His disciples and said to them, “Sleep on now. Enjoy your rest! The hour is on us when the Son of Man is to be handed over to the power of evil men. Get up! Let us be on our way! See, My betrayer is here.”

Arrest of Jesus
-Passion-

The Kiss of Judas

Judas took the cohort as well as police supplied by the chief priests and the Pharisees, and came there with lanterns, torches and weapons. Jesus, aware of all that would happen to Him, stepped forward and said to them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus the Nazorean,” they replied. “I am He,” He answered. (Now Judas, the one who was to hand Him over, was right there with them.) As Jesus said to them, “I am He,” they retreated slightly and fell to the ground. Jesus put the question to them again, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus the Nazorean,” they repeated. “I have told you, I am He,” Jesus said. “If I am the One you want, let these men go.” (This was to fulfill what He had said, “I have not lost one of those You gave Me.”)
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the slave of the high priest, severing his right ear. (The slave’s name was Malchus.) At that Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given Me?” Then the soldiers of the cohort, their tribune, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound Him. They led Him first to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. (It was Caiaphas who had proposed to the Jews the advantage of having one man die for the people.)

Jesus Before Pilat - After Scourging
-Passion-

Ecce Homo - Behold the Man

Pilate’s next move was to take Jesus and have Him scourged. The soldiers then wove a crown of thorns and fixed it on His head, throwing around His shoulders a cloak of royal purple. Repeatedly they came up to Him and said, “All hail, King of the Jews!”, slapping His face as they did so. Pilate went out a second time and said to the crowd: “Observe what I do. I am going to bring Him out to you to make you realize that I find no case against Him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak, Pilate said to them, “Look at the man!” (Ecce Homo). As soon as the chief priests and the temple police saw Him they shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said, “Take Him and crucify Him yourselves; I find no case against Him.” “We have our law,” the Jews responded, “and according to that law He must die because He made Himself God’s Son.” When Pilate heard this kind of talk, he was more afraid than ever.
Going back into the praetorium, he said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” Jesus would not give him any answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate asked Him. “Do you not know that I have the power to release You and the power to crucify You?” Jesus answered:
“You would have no power over Me whatever unless it were given you from above. That is why he who handed Me over to you is guilty of the greater sin.”
After this, Pilate was eager to release Him, but the Jews shouted, “If you free this Man you are no ‘Friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who makes Himself a king becomes Caesar’s rival.” Pilate heard what they were saying, then brought Jesus outside and took a seat on a judge’s bench at the place called the Stone Pavement — Gabbatha in Hebrew. (It was the Preparation Day for Passover, and the hour was about noon.) He said to the Jews, “Look at your king!” At this they shouted, “Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!”
“What!” Pilate exclaimed. “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar.”
In the end, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.

Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
-Passion-

Veronica

In several regions of Christendom, there is honored under the name “Veronica”, a pious matron of Jerusalem who, during the Passion of Jesus Christ, as one of the holy women who accompanied Him to Calvary, and offered Him a linen towel on which He left the imprint of His face. This event is commemorated in the Sixth Station of the Cross.

Mary, the Mother of God; Mary Magdalene; and John
Crucifixion

After the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took His garments and divided them four ways, one for each soldier. There was also His tunic, but this tunic was woven in one piece from top to bottom and had no seam. They said to each other, “We shouldn’t tear it. Let’s throw dice to see who gets it.” (The purpose of this was to have the Scripture fulfilled:
“They divided My garments among them; for My clothing they cast lots.”)

And this was what the soldiers did.

Rubens, Peter Paul

The Piercing of Jesus’ Heart - by Peter Paul Rubens

Since it was the Preparation Day the Jews did not want to have the bodies left on the Cross during the sabbath, for that sabbath was a solemn feast day. They asked Pilate that the legs be broken and the bodies be taken away. Accordingly, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the men crucified with Jesus, first of one, then of the other. When they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers ran a lance into His side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This testimony has been given by an eyewitness, and his testimony is true. He tells what he knows is true, so that you may believe.) These events took place for the fulfillment of Scripture:
“Break none of His bones.”
There is still another Scripture passage which says:
“They shall look on Him Whom they have pierced.”

This apparently savage act was actually an act of mercy. The Centurion with the spear had watched the suffering of the Blessed Virgin Mary as her Son agonized for three hours on the Cross, and was moved with compassion. He did not want her to witness the brutal act of having her Son’s legs broken, so with the skill of a highly trained soldier, he precisely pierced Jesus’ dead heart with a lance to satisfy Roman Law and prove that Jesus was in fact dead. This same Centurion is quoted in Scripture as having said, “Truely, this was the Son of God”. The Centurion’s deadly act of mercy accomplished the following:
Absolutely dispelled all doubt by the Jews and the skeptics of today that Jesus actually died on the Cross. Jesus’ resurrection needed this absolute testimony.
The unexpected outpouring of water from Jesus’ side, in addition to the expected blood, showed that this water-like liquid (pericardial fluid) had compressed Jesus’ heart like-a-vice, causing Him agonizingly cruel pain. The Divine Mercy devotion stresses the flow of both water and blood.
Fulfilled the prophecies that “Not one of His bones will be broken” and “They shall look on Him Whom they have pierced”.
He saved his own immortal soul. By the grace of God he later became a Christian and died a Martyr for God.

Lamentation (Pieta)
-Passion-

The two Marys and John lament the death of Jesus.

Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (although a secret one for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate’s permission to remove Jesus’ body. Pilate granted it, so they came and took the body away. Nicodemus (the man who had first come to Jesus at night) likewise came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes which weighed about a hundred pounds. They took Jesus’ body, and in accordance with Jewish burial custom bound it up in wrappings of cloth with perfumed oils. In the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Because of the Jewish Preparation Day they laid Jesus there, for the tomb was close at hand.

Raphael (Raffaello, Santi)

Lamentation

When evening fell, a wealthy man from Arimathea arrived, Joseph by name. He was another of Jesus’ disciples, and had gone to request the body of Jesus. Thereupon Pilate issued an order for its release. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in fresh linen and laid it in his own new tomb which had been hewn from a formation of rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance of the tomb and went away. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb.

From: www.copiosa.org