Adsum

Newsletter of Mater Dei Seminary
March 2000

Other articles in this newsletter:
   Letter from the Rector

Old Testament Prophecies on the Sufferings of the Messias

• The Messias was to enter into Jerusalem riding on an ass (Zach. ix, 9)

• He was to be sold for thirty pieces of silver: “And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord” (Zach. xi, 12-13)

The words of Zacharias were exactly fulfilled; Judas threw down the money in the Temple, and with it was bought a field belonging to a potter, as a burying-place for strangers (Matt. xxvii, 5-7)

• He was to be betrayed by one who ate at the same table with Him (Ps. xl, 10).

Judas went out from the Last Supper to betray his Master (John xiii, 30).

• His disciples were to forsake Him at the time of His Passion (Zach) xiii, 7).

• He was to be mocked (Ps. xxi, 7), beaten, spit upon (Is. 1,6), scourged (Ps. xxii, 14), crowned with thorns (Cant. lii, 11), and given gall and vinegar to drink (Ps. lxvii, 22).

The chief priests and scribes at the crucifixion mocked Our Lord, and said among themselves, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save” (Mark xv,31; Cf. V, 29). In the house of Annas a servant gave Him a blow (John xviii, 22). In the house of Caiphas, when He declared Himself the Son of God, the servants spit upon His face, and gave Him blows; Pilate had Him scourged (John xix, 1), and handed Him over to the soldiers, who crowned Him with thorns, put upon Him a purple robe (in mockery of the imperial purple), struck Him on the head with a reed, and derided Him (Mark xv, 15-19). On Golgotha, they gave Him to drink wine mixed with gall, which, when He had tasted, He would not drink (Matt. xxvii, 34).

• For His garments lots were to be cast (Ps. xxi, 17).

The soldiers divided His garments into four parts, and gave to each soldier a part. His coat they would not divide, for it was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They therefore cast lots for it (John xix, 23).

• His hands and feet were to be pierced with nails (Ps. xxi, 17)

Our Lord was really fastened by nails to the cross; for He showed to St. Thomas the wounds in His hands and feet, and told him to place his finger in them (John xx, 27). The usual practice was to tie condemned criminals to the cross with ropes.

• He was to die between two evil-doers.

The prophet Isaias says: “They shall give the ungodly for His burial, and the rich for His death” (Is. liii, 9). He died between two highway robbers, who were crucified at the same time with Him (Luke xxiii, 33).

• He was to be patient as a lamb in His sufferings (Is. liii, 7), and was to pray for His enemies (Is. liii, 12)

• He was to die willingly and for our sins (Is. liii, 4-7).

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March 2000
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