Crucifixion of Jesus

"The abandonment in which the Crucified One is left by the Father makes us understand what we have been freed and saved from, namely, the definitive loss of God, which no personal effort, apart from grace, could ever have spared us."

"The crucifixion of Jesus in itself has nothing eschatological about it. Many men have been crucified throughout history. What matters is the meaning of his death. An observer sees in it only an insignificant or, strictly speaking, painful fact. For the historian, “it is hardly probable that Jesus was crucified as a messianic prophet, in the same way as other agitators.” For the non-believer, the crucifixion simply marks the end of an idealist. The bare facts are nothing; their true essence is their meaning. But meaning is always the object of revelation and election, which explains precisely why, while everyone agrees on the death of Jesus, there is absolute disagreement on its meaning, which constitutes its profound reality."

"The focus of his prayer and his ardent supplication, repeated three times with insistence and prostration, was that the Father would take “this cup” away from him [...] The truth is that “this cup” represented in Christ's eyes the ‘how’ he would have to drink the sins and infamy of humanity, the “how” he would have to appear on the cross, taking upon himself the most scandalous sins of men: adultery, murder, blasphemy. On the threshold of crucifixion, he had to decide: would he accept to be the author of all these sins, so that his crucifixion and death would be possible?"

"When the Son dies on the cross, he dies the death of all sinners and all saints. The moment of his death means for all the dead a shift to the plane of eternity, which will be experienced by each of them, since the Lord, through his death, has saved each of them. :*Adrienne von Speyr, Il mistero della morte (Das Geheimnis des Todes, 1953), translation into Italian by Giacomo Coccolini, Centro ambrosiano, Milano, 2011. ISBN 978-88-8025-820-9, p. 80."

"Every time I think of Christ's crucifixion, I sin with envy."

"Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?""