  First Day.Before Our Lord's suffering took place, He disclosed to His disciples the story of the cross. It was good for them to understand and to remember what the sufferings of Jesus were to be. The prophets of the Old Testament had declared that the Son of man must suffer. Daniel, especially, describes the Passion of Our Lord very minutely. This was the future that was before Our Lord, and it was well that the disciples should know it and think of it. So it should be with ourselves. We, too, are the disciples and followers of Christ, and we, too, must make the Passion a subject of serious thought. The Church has chosen the Lenten time as the most appropriate for this exercise. She joins penance with this meditation, as being the most efficacious means of stirring [pg 138] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, whilst before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment; the while I contemplate with great love and tender pity Thy five wounds, pondering over them within me, whilst I call to mind the words which David, Thy prophet, said of Thee, my Jesus: “They pierced My hands and My feet; they numbered all My bones.”—Ps. xxi. 17, 18. Second Day.It is not hard to understand why the Lord desires us to think of His Passion. St. Francis Xavier is said to have gone over the Passion once every month; but we know, too, with what love he was attached to the Lord, with what wonderful patience and perseverance he continued to labor. It was the effect of the meditation on the Passion. We, too, should grow in the love of Our Lord. But how will we grow, unless by contemplating all that Jesus has done for us in His Passion, until He died on the cross? As the Apostle says, “He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” In this way the Lord wants us to study His Passion, so that we may learn how intensely He loved us; that although He was God, and we poor miserable creatures, still He [pg 139] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Third Day.Our Lord desires that we should think of His Passion, in order that we may imitate Him in our own sufferings: for we have many things to endure in this life on account of the original fault of our first parents. You will learn to die with Christ, and your sympathetic heart will avoid sin. By the frequent thought of the Passion the Lord will have you love the sacrifice of the Mass, where in an unbloody manner the Passion of Our Lord is repeated, and we begin to appreciate it the more the better we understand their relation to each other. The Lord will have you show sympathy for Him in His sufferings; for you must remember that it was for you that He suffered, that you caused His suffering by your sins. Now, if you have inflicted these punishments on the Lord, would it not be an act of horrible ingratitude if you were not to show your sympathy for Christ? Another effect of the contemplation of the Passion will be that you shall be stirred up to do great things for Christ. Your time of labor will be sanctified, and your life will be given to the service of Jesus. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Fourth Day.We should think often of the Passion of Our Lord, but not with coldness or repugnance. It is a sad subject, and not at all pleasing to the human feelings, but when we have learned to love Jesus it will be an exercise that will make us very happy. We are dreadfully poor spiritually, and nowhere will we be able to find more spiritual wealth than in the Heart of Jesus in His Passion. “There flow living fountains of blessed waters, there is the bread of life.” Approach, then, with a lively faith to the foot of the cross, and remain there faithfully; let the blood of the Lord flow upon your body and soul, realize that Jesus died for you, see Mary, our dear Mother, beneath the cross; St. John and Mary Magdalen, with some other faithful followers of Christ at a short distance from it; associate yourself with them and study what were their sentiments; try to bring them home to yourself, and your heart will surely fill up with love, gratitude, and confidence. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Fifth Day.The feeling of love towards Our Lord must be specially aroused. We are supposed to have the faith: but we need more love, so that we may understand why Our Lord underwent such terrible sufferings for poor humanity. Let us look upon the Lord: He is an innocent, holy person, an untiring [pg 141] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Sixth Day.The Jews now began to consult among themselves how to catch Jesus by some intrigue or other. Our Lord could have avoided the Passion; He might have prolonged His life, but He wanted to die just then. The machinations of the Jews could only furnish an occasion for the death of Our Lord, but it was His own divine will that regulated time, place, and circumstance. Judas the disciple makes a contract with the high priests that on a certain night, when the Lord would go out to Gethsemani [pg 142] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Seventh Day.Let us consider the case of Judas in another reflection and apply it to ourselves. Judas began as well, perhaps, as any of the other disciples; but now he is approaching the dreadful abyss of sin into which he fell, as we know from the Gospel. How much the Lord did for that disciple! By kind words and patience, He made him understand that though He knew of his impending fall, still He did not cast him off, but tried to win him back. When Judas had eaten the morsel which Our Lord had presented to him, the devil seemed to have entered into him. It was only then that the Lord gave him up, and bade him go and do quickly what he had in his mind. Now His mercy is at an end, and with terrible severity Our Lord speaks of the scandal, and says it would have been better that Judas had never been born. All this shows that unless we co-operate with the grace which God almighty offers us, we, too, shall fall into sin, notwithstanding all the good instruction and good example given us. It shows that if we follow our own bent of evil intentions, we will go from bad to worse in spite of all that God has done. There are times of grace that are all-important for us. [pg 143]Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Eighth Day.When the Lord sat at the Last Supper He made all the apostles aware of their future infidelity. Simon Peter spoke for himself rather than for all, when he said: “Although all should be scandalized in Thee, I will not: I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death.” Our Lord foresaw his frailty and corrected him for his presumption, though no doubt it was well meant at the time, and said to him, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.” Peter followed the Lord from afar, to see what the end would be, and entering the courtyard of the prison, he was accosted by a maid-servant, and before her and the bystanders he cursed and blasphemed that he “did not know the man.” As in the case of Peter, so Our Lord knows our frailty—that we cannot stand by ourselves. We ought to distrust ourselves, and remember how sinful we have been, and now that we stand be careful lest we fall. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Ninth Day.The Lord called His disciples together in order to eat the Pasch with them for the last time on earth, and also take a long farewell of them. They [pg 144] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Tenth Day.At the Last Supper Our Lord continued His discourse, consoling and encouraging His disciples by telling them: “In My Father's house there are many mansions; if not, I would have told you: that I go to prepare a place for you.”—John xiv. 2. Lift up your eyes, My beloved disciples, from this vale of tears to heaven, where you are to dwell for all eternity. My separation from you will be but short. I will go to heaven, and where I am, My faithful servants shall be. This earth is a desert for the one [pg 145] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Eleventh Day.After the discourse at the Last Supper Jesus takes off His outer garments, girds Himself with a towel, pours water into a vessel, and approaches Peter to wash his feet. For this purpose the Lord kneels down and prepares to wash Peter's feet. Peter is really shocked at this self-abasement; he revolts at the thought that he should allow this to be done to him by his divine Master, Whom he had acknowledged, and Whom he knew to be God. Our Lord practised this out of humility, at this solemn moment just before parting from His disciples, to show how important this humility is, and to make a great impression on all of us. We, too, must be humble, and humiliate ourselves as did Our Lord. We cannot practise virtue without humility; we cannot enter heaven unless we possess this virtue. He washes the feet of the apostles just before the two great acts of His life: the institution of the Blessed Sacrament and the beginning of His sacred Passion. [pg 146]Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twelfth Day.Our Lord was determined to perform the ceremony of the washing of the feet of St. Peter and the apostles. He advised Peter to be obedient, and to allow the washing to take place, otherwise he would have no part with Him. When Peter heard this he became very much afraid, and with his usual ardor he cried out: “Lord, not only my feet, but my head, my whole body.” Our Lord answered: “He that has his feet washed is entirely cleansed. You are washed clean, still not all.” By this, reference was made to the condition of Judas. Why does the Lord make reference to the washing of the feet? Because it is the feet that are soiled when we come in contact with the world; but if our feet do not touch the world, if our hearts are above the things of this world, we may be sure that we have not contracted any filth on the soul. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirteenth Day.After the ceremony of the washing of the feet, Our Lord concludes His discourse by telling His apostles that now He will not say much more to them, for the prince of this world, Satan, is about to [pg 147] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Fourteenth Day.And now, after the Last Supper, the Lord goes forth with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemani, where He is so overcome with fear and sorrow, that He seems to cling to the society of the apostles for consolation. Falling down on His face, He prays that the chalice might pass, yet not as He would, but as the Father willed it. The disciples slept as if they had lost all sympathy for the Lord. But why is Our Saviour so distressed? Why is He so downcast? The sins and the consequences of sin appear before Him so vividly, and He is so overwhelmed with them, that He feels His soul oppressed [pg 148] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Fifteenth Day.In the terrible agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemani, the Lord saw all the sins of mankind. He sees the injustice of man in comparison to the eternal justice of God. He beholds their ingratitude to His everlasting love, their obduracy against the sweet mercy of God. This leprosy of sin has been laid on the Lord, so that, as the Psalmist says: “The confusion of my face hath covered me.”—Ps. xliii. 16. He is filled with the confusion of shame, because sin is so horrible. His soul is overwhelmed with bitterness, because sin is so full of malice and insult to God. Thus covered with our shame, He appears before His heavenly Father, prone on His face on the ground. The heavenly Father does not recognize His Son; Jesus prays, but is not heard. The justice of God casts Him away. He begs the Father for help, but He will not bend His ear to the supplication of His Son. Jesus waits for consolation, but instead receives His death sentence. He must drink the cup of sorrow to the very dregs. [pg 149]Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Sixteenth Day.The Lord bade His disciples watch and pray, but hardly has He left them to themselves than they fall asleep. Judas is not asleep; he is actively engaged in getting his company together, giving them instructions how to proceed, so that they might elude the power of the Lord. But the disciples sleep, and are careless of the Lord's interests. No wonder that the indifference of the disciples gave Him an additional pang. We, too, are the disciples of the Lord. Why do we sleep while the enemy is sowing the seed of error and irreligion? What effect has the instructions, the counsels of the divine Master, had upon us? They are all forgotten, and we look to our own comfort and to our pleasures; we go after the world, money and honors, but think little of God. Let us then watch and pray; the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. The soul would act otherwise, if the body had not been allowed an almost limitless freedom while the soul is dying of spiritual starvation. Give your soul an opportunity to rise above the low necessities of the body, and the spirit will then be strong to compel the body to obey. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Seventeenth Day.When Our Lord had prayed and struggled in this mortal agony, He arose and assembled His disciples about Him, and awaited the coming of the traitor. And as He was yet speaking, behold, the crowd arrived, and Judas, one of the twelve, was with them; coming up to Jesus, he kissed Him, and the Lord said: “Judas, with a kiss you betray the Son of man.” Judas thus betrays the Lord with the sign of friendship. He comes up to Him as of old, when returning from a missionary tour, he was met by the Lord with open arms, and he, as well as the other disciples, would tell of their labors, their successes, and the good they had done. And now, as if to throw the Lord off His guard, he pretends to have the same spirit within his breast. O Lord Jesus! with what kindness didst Thou not even then receive Judas, that he might see that Thou didst still love him. In our frequent infidelities the Lord comes to us with the same sweetness and goodness. He would lead us back to our duties and the recognition of our faults. O that we would listen to the words of Our Lord! Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Eighteenth Day.When Judas had given that traitorous sign, the kiss of peace, the disciples all fled. Our Lord had commanded, “If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way.” No sooner had the disciples [pg 151] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Nineteenth Day.Then the soldiers came up, and bound the Lord's hands as He willingly offers them. He makes no opposition whatsoever. He might have continued the exhibition of His power by which they fell back three times, and He might have walked away. But the time of the Passion had come, and He allows the soldiers to have the mastery over Him. Christ has dissolved our bonds, and He is bound Himself; in fact, by that binding Christ has merited to loosen us from the slavery of Satan. But Christ was also bound that we, too, may bind ourselves in [pg 152] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twentieth Day.The priests, the high priests and the Pharisees, the great enemies of the Lord, had held a meeting in expectation of bringing the prisoner for accusation and condemnation. This was the court to which the innocent Jesus was dragged; these were all His enemies. They all tried to destroy Him, and now the opportunity seems to present itself, and they are going to make the best of it. They are going to condemn Jesus; they encourage false witnesses, that they may make a show, at least, of the justice of the condemnation. It is considered necessary to put Jesus out of the way. “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.”—John xii. 50. In all this Our Lord is silent; not a word does Jesus utter in self-defence. How easily could the divine wisdom confound human ingenuity, the skill of the lawyers, and the malice of the high priests. But Jesus held a mysterious silence, in which we must adore Him. [pg 153]Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-first Day.Peter, the great disciple of Jesus, he to whom the Lord had given so much, whom He had brought to Mount Thabor, for whom He paid taxes as for Himself; this Peter denied His Master. When Our Lord had been apprehended, Peter followed from afar, to see what would be the end of all this tragedy. He went on at some distance from Our Lord, until he reached the courtyard, where he could see all that was passing. There, among the soldiers, servants, and curiosity-seekers, he stood, as if he had no interest in the affair except that which would bring any stranger there. They would not have known him, only for a woman who sat in such a way that the light fell on Peter's face, and she immediately declared, “This man was with Him.” But Peter denied that fact; another and a third asserted that Peter was with Christ, for he was a Galilean—but Peter denied the accusation with an oath. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-second Day.We ought, right here, to think of the reasons of the terrible treason of Peter. We may suppose that his crime was no smaller than was that of Judas. We know what was the fate of Judas—what will be the fate of Peter? The cause of Peter's [pg 154] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-third Day.When Peter had thus, with indescribable meanness, denied Our Lord, Jesus turned and gave him a look of compassion. Then Peter recollected the words of Jesus, that before the cock would crow he would have denied Him thrice. Great was the sorrow in the heart of Peter after this look; he remembered himself, and filled with shame walked out and wept bitterly. This look which the Lord gave Peter was merciful and kind; so loving that it drew him back again from the sin into which he had fallen; it encouraged him to look for forgiveness, and did not drive him to despair. Judas too acknowledged his sin, but he felt no repentance; he despaired of the great kindness of God. Instead of throwing himself at the feet of Jesus, he committed another crime—that of suicide. To Peter came a [pg 155] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-fourth Day.The infidelity of Peter should lead us to think of our own condition. How often have we sinned? how often have we been unfaithful to Jesus Christ? how often have we betrayed Him? Did we ever feel the tears of sorrow gushing from our hearts? and if we did have sorrow and repentance in the Sacrament of Penance, did we not soon forget it all, as if our faults were less serious than they really are? Often the Lord looks at us when we are in sin, often have we felt that His eyes were on us, full of love, of mercy and goodness; but we were in sin, in the occasion of it, and we would not give it up even though we added more sorrow to that which Our Lord was already suffering. Set your hope, however, in the Lord; look up to Him with pleading eyes, that He may give you the strength, the will, and the grace to rise from your fall. Say to your sins, and your companions in sin, go away from me. Yes, our sins more than any other misfortune should make us despise the world, with all its sinful allurements. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-fifth Day.Pilate put the question to the Lord, “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” He wanted to hear from Christ's own lips whether He pretended to the earthly crown of a kingdom, over which the Roman power held sway. But Our Lord had no kingdom on this earth, and He answered, “For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth.” Pilate did not want to be convinced of the truth, and he answered indifferently, “What is truth?” The Lord came into this world to spread the truth of the Gospel; He wished to teach us that truth which makes us truly free. The Lord wishes to show us the way in which we should walk in order to reach Him. But the world is not anxious for such enlightenment, any more than Pilate. For nineteen hundred years the Church of God has been teaching truth. But the world does not accept the teaching of Jesus as truth; the world is too proud to receive this humble teaching. And yet Our Lord's voice rings clear, “Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice.” Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-sixth Day.Pilate went out to consult with the Jews, the accusers of Christ, and he told them that he found no cause of death in Christ. He admitted that there might be some rebellion which ought to be punished, and that he would administer a severe [pg 157] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-seventh Day.When the Lord had been scourged, the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, pressing it down, striking the crown with sticks that they might save their hands from wounds, and then they put a purple garment on Him. All this was done to mock Him, because He said He was a king: the crown of royalty He bore on His head, and the purple garment which kings generally wore covered His body. They carried out their derision still farther; they bent their knees before Him, and having blindfolded Him, they struck Him in the face, asking Him to point out who was the one that had given Him the blow. O loving face of Jesus! [pg 158] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-eighth Day.Pilate must have witnessed much of this cruelty, as it was inflicted right in his court, with his consent, perhaps even by his orders. What a frightful spectacle it was to look upon this figure of a man, scourged almost beyond recognition, with a crown of thorns on His head, bound, and a cloak thrown over His shoulders. Pilate thought that this spectacle would render the Jews merciful, that the punishment had been sufficient. So he led Our Lord over an archway and placed Him in full view of the assembled multitude, saying: “Behold the man!” Yes, O Christian heart, look at the Lord exhausted after the scourging, the crown of thorns on His head, clotted blood in His face, burning with a fever heat, ready to die from loss of blood. O my Jesus, what sufferings didst Thou not endure to satisfy the cruelty of man! Thou hast become a spectacle before God and the world. But the Jews were hardened. The sight of Christ in this condition did not move them. [pg 159] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Twenty-ninth Day.When the Jews demanded the death of Christ so vehemently, Pilate had water brought to him, in which he washed his hands, as a sign that he was innocent of the great crime of condemning Our Lord to the death of the cross. Still he condemned Him, and wrote the inscription of the cross himself. The Lord was led out to be crucified. St. Catharine of Emmerich saw in a vision the rapture with which Jesus received the cross. That He knelt down and addressed the wood with loving words. It was the consummation of the Lord's desires. His whole aim in life was that He should die on the cross, so now He stretches out His arms to receive that precious burden, the seat of His love, the instrument of His mercy, and the sign of triumph. Dear cross! no longer are you the wood of disgrace on which malefactors are to die; you are now the sign of glory. No longer are you the accursed wood, but the glory of the elect. Cross and altar are now the same thing to us; the altar is our joy and happiness, so also is the cross. The Christian who has no love for the cross is to be pitied. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirtieth Day.The Lord takes the holy cross on His shoulders, at the foot of Calvary, and carries it up to the summit. What a journey that was, full of sorrow and pain! He falls several times; He meets His holy Mother on the way and exchanges some words of consolation with her. He meets the weeping women of Jerusalem, and bids them weep over themselves and over their children. Simon the Cyrenean is compelled to help carry the heavy weight of the cross. Veronica, a devout woman, offers a handkerchief, that the Lord may wipe His sacred countenance. Two malefactors are also to be crucified with the Saviour. He does not despise their company: He wished to be numbered among the most abject of sinners, for He carries in His cross all the sins of mankind. He has to make reparation to the heavenly Father for them all. At this sight let us no longer grumble at our crosses, but let us bear them lovingly and cheerfully. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-first Day.After terrible exertion in consequence of His exhaustion, loss of blood, want of food and rest, Our Lord arrives at the summit of Mount Calvary, called Golgotha, the place of execution, the mount of skulls. Our Lord would have died in consequence of the terrible punishment He had received, only the power of His heavenly Father kept Him [pg 161] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-second Day.The executioners then sat down before the cross, and watched Our Lord. They played dice for His garments; it was their sinful perquisite to take possession of anything that a dying criminal left. Our Lord was poor and had nothing but His garments, and these were accordingly distributed. Our Lord hung on the cross; not a word had so far passed His lips; uncomplaining, sunk in deep prayer, the sacrifice of the cross was going on for our sins, the Lamb of God was on the slaughter bench, pouring forth His blood without giving a sign of pain. He hangs between two murderers. He is not distinguished [pg 162] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-third Day.The first words which Our Lord utters after a long silence, are words of mercy, and a prayer for forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus prays for His enemies, for His executioners, before He speaks a word of comfort to His holy Mother. He looks for no revenge, casts no threats at them, does not complain of their inhuman conduct. He only thinks that by His prayer He may save them. In the meantime the thief on His right acknowledges his faults, defends the Lord, and begs for mercy, which he receives on the spot with a promise of being with Christ in paradise on that very day. The centurion also acknowledges the divinity of Christ, and many who are around the cross strike their breasts, and are converted. Now that the sacrifice had been offered Jesus sees His Mother at the foot of the cross, and the disciple whom He loved. Turning to Mary He said “Woman, behold thy son,” and to the disciple, “behold thy Mother,” and from that hour [pg 163] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-fourth Day.After Our Lord had hung on the cross for three hours, a great darkness came over the whole universe. The sun refused to give light. Amid this weird darkness and silence Our Lord completes His sacrifice. When the world seems to desert you, and the horror of God's vengeance appears to surround you, take heart, raise your eyes to Jesus crucified, and pray Him to strengthen you in patience and endurance until the darkness is over, and you can again find comfort in God's mercy. The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus, in the days of His flesh, poured forth prayers and supplications with a great cry, and was heard out of reverence.—Heb. v. 7. So the sacrifice of Christ was accepted, and the debt which you owed for your sins was expiated on the cross. You need no longer be afraid that your wretchedness will bring on you eternal damnation; by the merits of this sacred Passion you have a hope that you may enter into eternal glory. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-fifth Day.“I thirst.” The greatest affliction Our Lord had to endure on the cross was the thirst. The fever after loss of blood and the severe and cruel [pg 164] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-sixth Day.At last the hour has come, in which Jesus considers that He has made reparation to His heavenly Father for all the sins of mankind. The chalice has been drained—all possible humiliation had been heaped upon Him. Jesus cried, “It is consummated.” All the work of salvation is now at an end. All the sufferings that the Father has ordained in His eternal providence have been undergone. “The work which Thou gavest me, I have performed.” The work of grace is accomplished. About the ninth hour, Our Lord cried out, with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” [pg 165] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-seventh Day.O my dear Jesus, Thou art altogether forsaken; there is nothing from which Thou canst gather consolation and support. Even in the hour of death Thou dost enter the portals of the other world without one friendly face before Thine eyes. Yes, Thou art forsaken; Thy strength, the assistance of Thy Father, the light of Thine eyes, Thy holy Mother, hath no consolation for Thee. The people that stood around the cross did not know what that great cry meant. Only Jesus knew it. He felt it. How few people understand the language of divine love! Who could think that the Father would desert His Son, and would not be satisfied but with the most extreme punishment! We should sympathize with Our Lord in His cruel abandonment, we who have been the cause of this agony. Our Lord suffers the same feeling of desertion when we do not visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament. Let it be our joy, our pastime, our recreation, to go to Him, and to thank Him for His great love for us. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-eighth Day.The last words which Our Lord uttered were, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” Again Jesus calls God His Father. God has accepted the sacrifice, and has taken His divine Son to His bosom, hence the Lord calls Him Father. The sacred countenance of Jesus takes on the pallor of death, the lips are parted and the last breath is gone. His soul has flown to the Father; the adorable spirit of Jesus has entered the realms of eternal bliss, where He is joyfully received. Jesus is dead, but by the infinite merits of His death and Passion He has freed us from death. Jesus is dead, but by His death we have become children of God. Jesus is dead, but we acknowledge Him to be our good Lord, our Master and our King. The death of Christ is our life, but we must exterminate sin, and let the love of Jesus flame up in our hearts. Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Thirty-ninth Day.“It is consummated.” All the sufferings of Our Lord are now over. The depth of humiliation has been reached, the bitter chalice has been drained, the soul of Jesus has left the body, and the body is dead. How often, dear Jesus, have I tried to shake off the cross which God has imposed on me! I, too, ought to remain fixed to the cross, until all is over and the soul leaves my body. The fact is that I have not the virtue of perseverance, that sister [pg 167] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. Fortieth Day.When Our Lord had given up the ghost great events took place, that struck terror to the hearts of those who witnessed them, and which were told from mouth to mouth. The great veil of the Temple, behind which stood the holy of holies, was rent. A terrible earthquake shook the earth, so that the rocks were burst asunder. The graves opened and men buried for years came forth and stalked about the streets of the city. Then the centurion, who stood beneath the cross and witnessed these supernatural manifestations, exclaimed to those who stood by him that truly this must have been the Son of God. The soldier saw that all was over, and he had but one duty more to perform before he could go away: that of piercing the Heart of Jesus with the lance. Then they took the body of the Lord from the cross, and laid it for a moment in the arms of Mary. Preparations were made by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus for the burial; hurried preparations, [pg 168] Prayer. Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc. |
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