785 discourse iv: the crown of thorns DISCOURSE IV The Crown of Thorns [P]laiting a crown of thorns they put it on [H]im. (Mk 15:17) Those who have attended the most blessed inauguration of our graciously reigning king35 can tell us about many things, (and) how the coronation of kings is not only festive but glorious. We saw him clothed in a golden cloak, his head encircled with a diadem glittering with precious gems, illustrious with the powerful scepter placed in his right hand. We saw the Sarmatian Eagle36 and sword carried before him, and we gazed upon him completely surrounded with remarkable splendor. Hereafter, the joy of the nobles watching him and the crowds jumping with joy were so great, that not being able to hold it locked within themselves, they burst out in the loudest innumerable cries: “Long live the King!” However, in this brief time granted to us by Divine Providence, let us ponder again the coronation of the Immortal King, carried out in the royal capital of Judea some 1,630 years ago.37 Alas! With what abundance of words, with what magnificence of inflection will I relate this to you? One’s voice and life ought to stop at the sight of this astonishment combined with the enormity of its pain. However, I will make an effort, while the pain is enclosed within the threshold of silent pity, to weave the thread of this sermon I have begun with whatever strength that can be provided (albeit the weakest). All the responsibility for this most inhuman spectacle, this most ignominious pomp, and this most painful torture of our King (Jesus), is to be laid upon our sins. 35 St. Stanislaus speaks of the coronation of King Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki (1669-1973), which took place in Krakow on Sept. 26, 1669. 36 “Sarmatian Eagle” was the term St. Stanislaus used to describe the emblem of the Polish State. 37 This work was first published in 1690, but was composed over a long period of time before that.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==