On this eighth Tuesday in the series of 15 Tuesdays in honor of our Holy Father St. Dominic, our reflection draws on Fra Angelico’s painting of the mocking of Christ to consider how meditating on the sufferings of Our Lord formed St. Dominic’s heart in loving compassion.
If you are joining us after the beginning of the 15 Tuesdays, don’t worry! Fifteen weeks is a long time, and you can begin at any point to grow in love of God and devotion to St. Dominic through joining in.
A Mystery of Humiliation and Compassion.
Taunts have broken my heart;
I have reached the end of my strength.
I looked in vain for compassion,
For consolers; not one could I find.
Ps. 69
The Third Sorrowful Mystery, Jesus’ mocking and crowning with thorns, is a mystery of humiliation and compassion.
Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar whose contemplative artwork attests his sanctity, painted this scene showing only the objects of abuse: the hands that struck Our Lord, the servant’s mouth spitting on Him. Is it that he did not want to portray the malice of those who made such sport of God? Or is he also saying, this could be any one of us?
Sitting at the foot of this painting, St. Dominic holds the text of Scripture as he meditates on Our Lord’s Passion. The suffering and humiliation of Christ are etched deep into his heart, making it tender and overflowing with compassion: not only towards Christ in His terrible sufferings, but towards all in whom he could see that suffering reflected in any way. As Bl. Jordan testifies, our Holy Father St. Dominic had a singular gift of bearing sinners, the down-trodden and the afflicted in the inmost sanctuary of his compassion.
When faced with a famine, the student Dominic sold his invaluable hand-notated manuscripts in order to buy food for the poor, famously declaring he could not study from dead skin when living skins were perishing. When a distraught mother came to him telling of her son’s capture by pirates, Dominic offered to sell himself into slavery in his place. When the innkeeper revealed himself to hold heretical views, Dominic couldn’t rest until he had won the man back to the saving truth of Christ’s revelation. Not only this, but rather than revile, he preferred to be the one badly treated, showing then greater signs of joy than if he were treated well.
Let us imitate our Holy Father St. Dominic in meditating on the sufferings of Our Lord, through the words of Sacred Scripture and the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, in order to identify with Him. Then when faced with suffering, humiliation, and especially the heart-wrenching affliction of sin, we too may respond not with ridicule or rejection, but with hearts moved with the compassion of Christ.
Additional Prayers
If you would like to observe this day with additional devotions, we have posted the following prayers in the past: