Episode Details

Fr. Peter turns to the fifth shedding of Christ’s blood — the crowning with thorns — and the sin it addresses: pride. Beginning with a rich meditation on thorns in nature, why plants grow them and what they guard, he traces the thorn back to the curse of Eden and forward to the crown pressed onto Christ’s head in the Praetorium. Drawing on St. Bonaventure’s theology of the grace of headship, Fr. Peter reflects on how the blood flowing from Christ’s wounded head down to his body is an image of how salvation flows from Christ to the members of his church. He closes with a beautiful piece of natural folklore: the goldfinch, whose red face tradition says was stained by trying to pluck the thorns from our Lord’s head. This Lent, Fr. Peter invites us to be the goldfinch rather than the shrike.

L'articolo Catechesis – The Crowning With Thorns: The Fifth Shedding of Jesus’ Blood – Fr Peter George Flynn OFM proviene da Radio Maria.