In the fourth article of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Catechetical Instructions titled “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried,” St. Thomas begins, “It is just as necessary for the Christian to believe in the passion and death of the Son of God as it is to believe in His Incarnation. For, as St. Gregory says, ‘There would have been no advantage in His having been born for us unless we had profited by His Redemption.’
“That Christ died for us is so tremendous a fact that our intellect can scarcely grasp it; for in no way does it fall in the natural way of our understanding. The grace of God is so great and His love for us is such that we cannot understand what He has done for us. Now, we must believe that, although Christ suffered death, yet His Godhead did not die; it was the human nature in Christ that died. For He did not die as God, but as man.”
It would seem Jesus anticipated the lack of understanding when He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Lk 23:34).” What is this lack of understanding? It could mean the love that God has for us. This is what you can tell your Protestant friend as to one reason why we have crucifixes in our homes and churches.
As you ponder the love of God on the cross, consider this from St. Teresa of Calcutta, “When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host, you understand how much Jesus loves you now.” Or do we?
St. Thomas goes on, “But what need was there that the Son of God should suffer for us? There was a great need; and indeed it can be assigned to two reasons. The first is that it was a remedy against sin, and the second is an example of what we ought to do. It was a remedy to such an extent that in the passion of Christ we find a remedy against all the evils which we incur by our sins. And by our sins we incur five different evils.
“The first evil that man incurs by sin is the defilement of his soul. Just as virtue gives the soul its beauty, so sin makes it ugly.
“Secondly, we commit an offense against God.
“Thirdly, we have been weakened by sin. When a person sins once, he believes that he will thereafter keep away from sin, but what happens is the opposite. This is because by that sin he is weakened and made more prone to commit sins, and sin more and more has power over him. After the fall, our nature was weakened and corrupted, and we were made prone to sin. Christ, however, lessened this sickness and weakness, although He did not entirely take it away. So now man is strengthened by the passion of Christ, and sin is not given such power over him. Moreover, he can rise clean from his sins when aided by God’s grace conferred by the Sacraments, which receive their efficacy from the passion of Christ.”
Frequent confession and communion are called for if we want help.
“Fourthly, we incur the punishment due to sin. For the justice of God demands that whosoever sins must be punished. This punishment, however, is in proportion to guilt. But the guilt of mortal sin is infinite, because it is an offense against the infinite good, namely, God, whose commandments the sinner holds in contempt. Therefore, the punishment due to mortal sin is infinite. Christ, however, through His passion has taken away this punishment from us and borne it Himself.”
Again … frequent confession and communion are called for.
“Fifthly, we incur banishment from the kingdom of heaven. Those who offend kings are compelled to go into exile. Adam was driven out of paradise immediately after his sin, and the gate of paradise was shut. But Christ by His sufferings and death opened this gate and recalled all the exiles to the kingdom.”
Finally, St. Thomas, citing St. Augustine says “that the passion of Christ can bring about a complete reformation of our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly need do nothing other than despise what Christ despised on the cross, and desire what Christ desired. There is no virtue that did not have its example on the Cross.”
Charity (love), patient suffering, humility, obedience and contempt for earthly things. Can we learn this from Christ’s passion?