Mental Prayer for Saturday after the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Christ Is Stripped of His Garments

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God

Grace I Ask: Lord, let me feel the shame you fclt as men stared at you and laughed.

Mental Picture: Later on that day... a low hill just outside Jerusalem's western wall... three men stumble to the top and sprawl down on the ground, exhausted. The crowd pours round in a circle, watching everything with a savage joy. The sol­diers joke and chat while they give the mob a moment's rest. Then a word from their officer and they rip the clothes from the men's bodies... the crowd shouts approval... three more criminals are about to die.

My Personal Application: I have experienced moments of intense shame and embarrassment. What could make me live through such a situation again? What could have made Christ willing to go through such an ordeal in His Passion when He foresaw it before it took place?

I Speak to Christ: My God, you have come to this! How you humiliated yourself when you stripped yourself of your glory in heaven to be­come one of us! And on earth, you, who own the universe, owned no more than the clothes on your back! But that wasn't enough! You allowed us to humiliate you even more by stripping even these from you. Help me to understand your great love for us.

Thought for Today: "They divided His garments among them."
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)