examination of the heart 550 mockingly greeted Him as a King, showing royal reverence by genuflecting and, at the same time, laughing loudly, they were striking His temples and face with a thick and heavy reed. You shall be able also to piously imagine how the others, having taken some staffs, whether of reed or another material and placing them crisscrossed on His head, so powerfully pressed down that crown of thorns with such great strength that its sharpest points not only pierced through His temples, but penetrated as far as the area of the brain, which being squeezed out, flowed down together with a great deal of blood.282 O unheard of cruelty! O unbearable pain! O unhappy delights of yours and of all men, for which the head of Jesus Christ the Lord was so horribly pierced through! May it be, O my most merciful Savior, that at least from now on, when I ponder Your most painful coronation, I not only deny myself any internal and external sensual pleasure, but also not even allow my mind to be occupied with it. Indeed, may I wholeheartedly embrace each cross, calamity, affliction and mortification! Amen. [f.180r] 3. Consider that Pilate, seeing what was done to Christ the Lord, who was clearly most innocent, and how the soldiers treated Him, ordered Him to be brought to a higher level of the governor’s palace. With a nod of understanding, the soldiers immediately seized the Savior and, having dragged Him up the steps most harshly, placed Him before the governor. He took Jesus’ hand and showed Him through a window to the agitated crowd; while placing himself in another window, and said the words worthy of tears: “Behold the Man” (Jn 19:5) [DRB]. By these words, as well as by displaying the Savior, he wanted to bring it about that, moved by pity, the crowd and the Jewish Council of Elders would no longer demand for Jesus the verdict of death; since they saw Him so harshly treated that He retained nothing of a human appearance. Omost lovable Jesus, through Your crown of thorns, I beg You, adorn my head with countless crowns of countless merits, and 282 Cf. SC, pp. 785-791 (Disc. IV).
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