Christ wished to suffer for us. The Apostle Peter says, “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.” He taught you how to suffer, and he taught you by suffering. Words would not be enough, unless example were added. And how, precisely, did he teach us, brothers and sisters? He was hanging on the cross…. He was hanging by the harsh nails, but he never lost his gentleness. They were raging, they were barking and snarling all round him, they were jeering at him as he hung there. He was hanging there, and healing them. “Father,” he said, “forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He was praying, and yet he continued to hang there; he would not come down, because with his blood he was making a medicine for the frenzied mob.
ST. AUGUSTINE Sermon
