The Third Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary is the Crowning with Thorns (Jn 19:1-5).
The mystic Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, wrote, “Jesus was led forward by the executioners to the front of the balcony where Pilate was standing, so that He could be seen by all the people in the forum.
“Oh, what a terrible, heart-rending spectacle! Silence, awful and gloomy, fell upon the multitude as the inhumanly treated Jesus, the sacred, martyrized figure of the Son of God, covered with blood and wounds, wearing the frightful crown of thorns, appeared and, from His eyes swimming in blood, cast a glance upon the surging crowd!
“Nearby stood Pilate, pointing to Him with his finger and crying to the Jews: ‘Behold the Man!’ While Jesus, the scarlet cloak of derision thrown around His lacerated body, His pierced head sinking under the weight of the thorny crown, His fettered hands holding the mock scepter, was standing thus before Pilate’s palace, in infinite sadness and benignity, pain and love, like a bloody phantom, exposed to the raging cries of both priests and people, a band of strangers, men and women, their garments girded, crossed the forum, and went down to the sheep pool.
“They were going to help in the washing of the Paschal lambs, whose gentle bleating was still mingling with the sanguinary shouts of the multitude, as if wishing to bear witness to the Silent Truth. Now it was that the true Paschal Lamb of God, the revealed though unrecognized Mystery of this holy day, fulfilled the Prophecies and stretched Himself in silence on the slaughtering bench.”
Jesus suffered humiliations in the hands of Roman soldiers in order to atone for our sin of pride.
Pride is an excessive love of our own superiority. It is the beginning of all sin. Both the fallen angels and our first parents sinned through pride.
A spiritual writer pointed out: the vices begotten of pride are presumption, ambition, and vainglory. Presumption is a vice that leads us to undertake tasks beyond our capacity. Ambition is an inordinate longing for positions of dignity and honor. Vainglory consists in an inordinate love of human praise. Vainglory, in its turn, begets other vices such as disobedience, boastfulness, hypocrisy, controversies, discord, and stubbornness.
Humility is nothing but the truth. Therefore, reflection on the reality of “nothing” and “grace” is a great remedy against pride. According to Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, humility “presupposes the knowledge of two dogmas: that of creation ex nihilo, and that of the necessity of actual grace for taking the slightest step forward in the way of salvation.”
In the natural order, we came from nothing and rely for our very existence on our creator. In the supernatural order, we can do nothing without the grace of God, and without the help of God we cannot persevere and grow in the life of grace. Sinning is worse than doing nothing. How many times we have committed sin! The realization that we are sinners should keep us very humble.
One day, St. Rita of Cascia listened to a sermon preached by Blessed James of Mount Brandone on the Passion of Christ. Rita begged God to let her experienced one wound of the Crown of Thorns stigmata. She prayed, “Make me, Oh my sweet Jesus, a participant, if not of all of Your Passion, at least of a part of it … I only ask You for one of the seventy-two thorns which pierced Your head and caused You so much pain, so that I may feel a part of the pain You felt. Oh my loving Saviour! Do not refuse me this favor. Do not deny me this grace. I will not leave here consoled, if You send me away without so desired a pledge of Your love.”
Our Lord granted her request and she bore this wound for 15 years.
基督的傷口癒合我們 驕傲的創傷
玫瑰經痛苦五端的第三端是耶穌受刺冠的苦辱（若望:1-5）
神視者真福Ann Catherine Emmerich寫道：『耶穌被刑吏帶到陽台前端，比拉多站在那裡，這樣讓在會場全部的人都能夠看見祂。噢，是個恐懼，心慄的場面！沉寂，可怕和憂鬱，看見耶穌，聖者，致命天主子受了多重不人道的對待，滿身披血和傷痕，帶著可怖的刺冠，出現，用祂淌血的眼一瞥洶湧的群眾！旁邊站著比拉多，用他的指頭指向祂並向猶太人呼喊：「看這人！」當時的耶穌，撕裂的身軀披著紫紅色嘲弄的長袍，刺損的頭低垂，擔負著沉重的刺冠，綑綁著的手拿著嘲弄的權杖，這樣、站在比拉多王宮前，無盡的憂苦和慈祥，痛苦和愛，有如一只沐血的幽靈，出現在躁暴的司祭和人民中，一群陌生人，男人和女人，束起衣服，橫過會場，走下沐羊的水池去。他們去幫忙洗擦逾越節的羔羊，它們溫柔的叫聲仍混雜著種種嗜血的嘶叫，一如要為靜默的真理作証。現在，經過未確認這一聖日的奧秘，啟示了這是真的，逾越節天主的羔羊，滿全了預言所說，靜默地躺於宰殺臺上。』
在羅馬的兵士中耶穌被受羞辱以賠補我們驕傲的罪過。
驕傲是沈於過份愛自我的優越。這是一切罪惡的開始。墮落的天使和我們原祖都因驕傲犯罪。
一位靈修的作者曾指出：驕傲衍生妄望、野心和自負。妄望使我們不自量力；野心令我們過份追求榮譽和地位；自負引致我們浮誇，喜愛別人的讚譽；而自負又會導致不服從、自吹自擂、偽善、挑惹事端和紛爭、固執等罪惡。
真理與謙遜息息相連，認清「虛無」和「恩寵」的道理可以克制驕傲。道明會會士雷其諾Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange神父說：「謙遜源於承認我們是自虛無中被天主創造，也承認要依賴天主的寵祐始能到達得救之路。」
在自然的本性上，我們是被造物主創造、被造物主恩恤才可活存；而天主聖寵是我們的靈魂，在超性上滋養和增長的支柱，否則便一無所能。罪比「虛無」更可惡，但偏偏我們又常常犯罪；故此，坦承自己是個罪人，可幫助我們常常謙遜。
一天，加西亞的聖麗達聽到真福雅各伯有關基督苦難的講道。麗達懇求天主給她體驗刺冠聖傷的一個創傷。她祈禱：『噢甘怡的耶穌，使我參與，如果不是袮全部的苦難，最少給我一部份…我只請求穿透你頭皮給袮做成大量痛苦中的七十二枝刺針的其中一枝，好讓我可以感受袮一部份的痛苦。噢，我可愛的教主！請不要拒絕我這恩惠。不要否定我這恩寵。如果沒有得到我所願望對袮愛的承諾，袮讓我離去，我不會感到安慰。』我們的主答允了她的要求，她承受了這創傷十五年之久。