Jump to Any Step (28 of 36 · Click to Expand All 36 Days & Exercises)
01. The Presupposition & How to Enter the Exercises02. Principle and Foundation03. The Daily & Particular Examen04. Meditation with the Three Powers on the First, Second & Third Sin05. Meditation on Personal Sins & The Exclamation of Wonder at God’s Mercy06. Repetitions of the First & Second Exercises with the Triple Colloquy07. Meditation with the Five Senses on Ultimate Separation08. The Call of the Temporal King & The Oblation to the Eternal King09. The First Contemplation: The Incarnation10. The Second Contemplation: The Nativity & Application of the Five Senses11. The Presentation in the Temple & The Flight into Egypt12. The Hidden Life at Nazareth & Finding the Boy Jesus in the Temple13. Meditation on the Two Standards & Second Week Rules for Discernment14. Meditation on the Three Pairs of Men15. Departure from Nazareth & Baptism in the River Jordan16. Christ Fasting & Tempted in the Desert17. The Call of the Apostles & The Wedding at Cana18. The Sermon on the Mount19. Calming the Storm & Walking on the Waters20. Sending the Apostles, The Sinful Woman Forgiven, Feeding the 5,000, The Transfiguration & Preaching in the Temple21. The Raising of Lazarus & The Supper at Bethany22. Palm Sunday: The Humble Entry into Jerusalem23. The Three Manners of Humility24. Making an Election25. The Last Supper, Washing the Feet & The Agony in Gethsemane26. Betrayal, Arrest & The Night at the Houses of Annas and Caiaphas27. Christ Before Pilate & Before Herod28. The Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns & ‘Ecce Homo’29. Carrying the Cross & The Crucifixion30. The Descent from the Cross, The Burial & The Silence of Holy Saturday31. The Resurrection: Christ Appears to His Mother & to Mary Magdalene32. The Road to Emmaus, The Appearance to St. Peter & The Upper Room33. St. Thomas’s Confession & Breakfast by the Sea of Galilee34. The Great Commission & The Ascension of Christ Our Lord35. Contemplation to Gain Love36. The Three Methods of Prayer
Movement III · The Third Week (The Passion) · Step 28 · Week 3, Day 4
St. Ignatius of Loyola · Exx. 208, 295

The Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns & ‘Ecce Homo’

Pilate delivers Jesus to be scourged; the soldiers crown Him with thorns, clothe Him in a purple rag, and place a reed in His hand; and Pilate brings Him out before the crowd saying, ‘Behold the Man!’

Assigned Scripture Reading (NIV) & Mystery Points

Scripture Reading: John 19:1–16 · Matthew 27:26–31 · Isaiah 53:3–7

John 19:1–16 (NIV)
1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” 13When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
Matthew 27:26–31 (NIV)
26Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. 27Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Isaiah 53:3–7 (NIV)
3He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Points of the Mystery from St. Ignatius

Step 1 · Entering the Hour (2 Minutes)

Before You Start

Read John 19:1–16 and Isaiah 53:3–7. Stand a step or two from your place of prayer for an Our Father (Exx. 75), reverence the Lord, and pray the Preparatory Prayer (Exx. 46).

Step 2 · Orienting the Heart & Imagination (5 Minutes)

The Preludes

First Prelude · The Narrative (Exx. 208, 295)

Recall how Pilate, hoping to satisfy the crowd short of death, orders Jesus to be scourged; how the Roman cohort mocks His kingship with a crown of thorns, a faded purple cloak, and a reed scepter; and how Pilate presents Him on the balcony saying, “Behold the Man!”

Second Prelude · Composition of Place

See the inner barracks courtyard with the low stone pillar of flagellation, and the elevated stone pavement outside where Jesus stands bleeding in the morning sun before the shouting crowd.

Third Prelude · Asking for What I Desire (Exx. 193, 203)

Ask for sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and interior pain for such great pain which Christ suffered for me.

Step 3 · The Body of the Exercise (30–40 Minutes)

How to Pray Day 4 of the Passion (The Six Points)

Pray this contemplation with great tenderness and unhurried stillness—looking upon the face of Jesus:

Points 1, 2 & 3 · SEE the Persons, HEAR Their Words, WATCH Their Actions (Exx. 295)

  • SEE: Look at Jesus bound to the pillar; see the soldiers platting long Judean thorns into a cap and pressing it down onto His head; see Him standing on the balcony beside Pilate, wearing the ragged purple cloak and holding the hollow reed in His bound hands.
  • HEAR: Hear the cruel mockery of the barracks (“Hail, King of the Jews!”), followed by Pilate’s words that speak a deeper truth than Pilate knew: “Behold the Man!” (Ecce Homo!). Hear the terrifying cry rising from the pavement below: “Crucify Him, crucify Him!... We have no king but Caesar!”
  • WATCH: Watch how Jesus stands there before the crowd—neither cringing in servile fear nor glaring in hatred, but absorbing the world’s violence in silence like the Lamb of Isaiah 53.

Points 4 & 5 · What He Suffers in His Body & How the Divinity Hides Itself (Exx. 195–196)

  • Stay closely with Pilate’s words: “Behold the Man.” Look at His eyes beneath the thorns, His bruised cheeks, His torn shoulders. Here is what divine love looks like when it enters a world of pride and violence and refuses to stop loving.
  • Consider how the Divinity hides Itself completely beneath that purple rag and reed scepter—and yet never was Christ more truly King than at this moment.

Point 6 · All This for Me — ‘With His Stripes We Are Healed’ (Exx. 197)

  • Every vanity of our pride is answered by His crown of thorns; every disordered indulgence of our body is answered by His scourging; every grasping after status is answered by the reed in His bound hands.
  • Let your heart rest in simple, wordless gratitude and sorrow before Him: “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Step 4 · Friend to Friend & Looking Back (15–20 Minutes)

Colloquy, Post-Prayer Review & Repetitions

1. The Colloquy (5 Minutes)

Kneel before Christ crowned with thorns (Ecce Homo). Speak to Him from the bottom of your heart, thanking Him for bearing those stripes to heal your soul. Close with the Anima Christi (“Passion of Christ, strengthen me... Within Thy wounds hide me”) and an Our Father.

2. The Post-Prayer Examen of Prayer (15 Minutes · Exx. 77)

After finishing the Our Father, remain quiet for ten to fifteen minutes (sitting or walking slowly) to examine how your prayer went. Ask: Where did my heart feel warmed, expanded, drawn to trust, or moved to tears (consolation)? Where did I feel dry, distracted, defensive, or negotiating with God (desolation or resistance)? Write down two or three honest sentences in your notebook.

3. Repetitions & Carrying the Mystery Through the Day

In your Repetition today, simply sit quietly before the Ecce Homo for twenty minutes without trying to think many thoughts—just looking at Him as He looks at you.

Primary Text · From St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises (Exx. 208, 295)
[295] OF THE MYSTERIES DONE FROM HEROD TO PILATE First Point. First: Pilate took Jesus and outside the house had Him scourged; and the soldiers made a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and clothed Him with purple, and came to Him and said: "Hail, King of the Jews!" and gave Him buffets. Second Point. Second: He brought Him forth outside in the presence of all. "Jesus therefore went forth crowned with thorns and clothed with purple, and Pilate said to them: Here is the Man!" And when the Pontiffs saw Him, they vociferated, saying: "Crucify, crucify Him!"
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