the crucified orator 692 deserves to be fully heard. He asks to forgive His enemies’ crimes not to hush them up. He asks for forgiveness of both the punishment and the guilt; [forgiveness] of such an enormous guilt that the whole world never heard of anything more grievous. [For] that was a horrid, unparalleled, hateful, and immense crime, which surpassed all measure. For whom, however, does He beg pardon? [He begs pardon] for those who betrayed Him, took Him captive, chained, dragged, mocked, scourged: For those who laid sacrilegious hands on Him; who amassed the falsest testimony against Him; who judged Him worthy of all sorts of torture; who made His head bleed from thorns; who defiled with spittle His face, brighter than the sun; who crushed Him with punches and blows; who burdened His neck with chains; who scourged His entire body from the soles of His feet to the crown of His head with wounds and blows; for those, who accused Him— the innocent One — and who demanded a degrading punishment for Him who is unmarred by any crime. Barabbas — a murderer and a thief, they preferred over Him; they passed His death sentence. He pleaded for those who burdened Him with the heavy wood of the Cross and dragged Him to the infamous courtyard of the guilty. They cruelly stripped him of clothing, nailed Him to the Cross, placed Him between thieves, gave Him gall and vinegar to drink when thirsty; they blasphemed Him when praying; they mocked Him in suffering. And finally, they scorned Him as He pleaded with the eternal Father for them! And yet, not only did He Himself forgive such brutal, such nefarious, such vicious enemies, but He even reconciled themwith His eternal Father; and He does it with such kindness, such unheard of meekness so as to more easily obtain pardon for them. Since He could not excuse the crime itself, He excuses their intention, He alleges their ignorance, He presents them as madmen who thus did not act in deliberate malice: “For they,” He says, “know not what they do.” O abyss of clemency and mercy! Sinner, look what an excellent example of loving enemies He gives you! He did all that for your own good! Cast out at once from your heart the resentment that you hold against your adversary or your enemy, and the most
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