<p class="title_brown">The Scourging of Jesus</p>

<p class="normal_text"><br />
We contemplate the mystery of <em>the scourging of Jesus</em>, meditating on the words from the Gospel according to Saint Mathew:</p>

<p class="quote">&laquo;What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah? &raquo; Pilate asked. They all answered, &laquo;Crucify him! &raquo;<br />
&laquo;Why? What crime has he committed? &raquo; asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, &laquo;Crucify him! &raquo;<br />
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. &laquo;I am innocent of this man&rsquo;s blood, &raquo; he said. &laquo;It is your responsibility! &raquo; All the people answered, &laquo;His blood is on us and on our children! &raquo; Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.<br />
[Mt 27,22-26]</p>

<p class="normal_text">It was the scourging of Jesus that took to the accomplishment of what the old prophet had glimpsed: his face was disfigured in a such a way that it would not deserve to belong to the painters&rsquo; frame. It is not surprising that the humanity hides the face of the man of pains, of the injured and humiliated man. Thus, he assumed the pains of all human beings, of those who lived in the ancient times and those who will live in the days of modernity.<br />
In Fatima, the stripes of the scourging also sound, echoing in the wars of the contemporaneous world that, denying the presence of God, inflict suffering on his Body which is the Church.<br />
Virgin of Fatima, Lady of the Sorrows, intercede for us next to Christ so that, aware of the pain of His Passion, we may contribute, with your help, to the Easter victory of humanity!</p>
