They Tied His Hands Because He Did Good
By Plinio Corrêa de
Oliveira
Why was Our Lord bound
by his executioners?
Thy hands, Lord, what
had they done? Why were they tied?
Who can say, Lord, what
glory these hands gave to God, when they first received the kisses of Our Lady
and
With what piety they
joined for the first time in prayer? And with what strength, nobility and
humility they worked in
These hands which were
so gentle for upright men like Saint Joseph, the innocent, and Mary Magdalen, the penitent; these hands which were so terrible
against the world, the flesh and the devil – why are they tied down and reduced
to raw flesh?
Why so much hatred and
so much fear that it seemed necessary to tie Thy hands, Lord?
Is it because someone
is afraid of being cured? Or caressed? Who among us fears health? Who hates
tenderness? Lord, to comprehend this monstrosity, one must believe in evil. It
is necessary to recognize that men have this tendency, that
they may be such, that their nature easily revolts against sacrifice and that,
when they enter the way of revolt, there is no infamy or disorder of which they
are not capable.
My Jesus, when someone
says no to Thee, they begin to hate Thee, hating all good, all truth, and all
perfection of which Thou art the personification. And if they do not have Thee
at hand in a visible form, they strike the Church, profane the Eucharist,
blaspheme, spread immorality and preach revolt and rebellion.
Thou art bound, my
Jesus, and where are the lame, the paralytics, the blind, and the mutes whom
Thou didst cure? The dead whom Thou didst resurrect, the possessed whom Thou didst free, the sinners whom Thou didst lift up, and
the just to whom Thou didst reveal eternal life?
Why don’t they come to
break the loops which bind Thy hands, Lord? Why?
(Crusade for
a Christian Civilization, March-April 1977, page 1)