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Reply. Christ experienced both sensible pain and interior pain, both
of which were the greatest of pains in this present life. There are
four reasons for this: (1) from the causes of this pain, because
the death of the crucified is most bitter, and because He felt
interior pain for all the sins of the human race, which He ascribed,
so to speak, to Himself; (2) because of the susceptibility of His
body that was endowed with a most perfect constitution, and because the
interior faculties of His soul most efficaciously apprehended all the
causes of sadness; (3) because Christ from His great love for us,
in offering Himself as a perfect holocaust, refused to mitigate His
pains and sadness by the overflow of contemplative joy through the
higher part of His soul; (4) because "He embraced the amount of
pain proportionate to the magnitude of the fruit which resulted
therefrom, " namely, that He might most perfectly accomplish His
mission as the Redeemer of men.
Reply to second objection. Christ, that He might atone for the sins
of all mankind, accepted indeed the greatest of sadness in absolute
quantity, yet not exceeding the rule of reason.
Reply to fourth objection. "Christ grieved over the sins of all
men, and this grief in Christ surpassed all grief of every contrite
heart both because it flowed from a greater wisdom and charity, by
which the pang of contrition is intensified, and because He grieved
simultaneously for all sins, as the prophet says: "Surely He hath
carried our sorrows. ' "[1781]
Reply to sixth objection. In answer to the objection that the least
of Christ's pains would have sufficed for man's salvation, St.
Thomas says: "Christ willed to deliver the human race from sins not
merely by His power, but also according to justice. And therefore
He did not simply weigh what great virtue His suffering would have
from union with the Godhead, but also how much, according to His
human nature, His pain would avail for so great a satisfaction."
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