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The Servant.--Eternal Wisdom! the more one reflects on Thy
measureless Passion, the more unfathomable it appears. Thy
extremity was so very great under the cross, but still more so on
the cross, according to Thy exterior powers which, at that hour,
felt all the pangs of bitter death.
But, gentle Lord, how was it with Thy interior Man, with Thy noble
Soul? Had it no consolation, no sweetness like other martyrs
souls, so as to mitigate its cruel sufferings? Or, when did Thy
sufferings come to an end?
Eternal Wisdom.--Now, hearken to a misery of miseries, such
as thou never yet didst hear of. Although My soul, according to
her highest powers, was at that time wrapt in the vision and
enjoyment of the pure divinity, noble as, in truth, she is,
behold, the lower powers of My exterior and interior nature were
yet wholly abandoned to themselves, even to the very last drop of
infinite bitterness of suffering, without any consolation, so that
no torment was ever equal to it.
And as I was thus left entirely helpless and forsaken, with
running wounds, with weeping eyes, with extended arms, with the
veins of My body on the rack, in the agony of death, then it was
that I lifted up My voice in lamentation, and cried out miserably
to My Father: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
And still in all this, My will was united in eternal conformity
with His will. And when all My blood was poured out, and all My
strength exhausted, behold, I was seized by a bitter thirst,
because of My mortal agony. But I thirsted still more for the
salvation of man. Then did they reach Me vinegar and gall to
quench the burning thirst of My parched mouth. And when I had
accomplished the work of human redemption, I cried out: It is
finished!
I was entirely obedient to My Father, even unto death. My Spirit I
commended into His hands, saying: Into Thy hands I commend My
Spirit. And then My noble Soul separated from My body, both of
which yet remained unseparated from the divinity! After this a
sharp spear was thrust into My right side; forthwith a stream of
precious blood gushed out, and with it a fountain of living water.
Behold, My child, in an extremity so pitiable as this did I redeem
thee, and all the elect, and did save thee by the living sacrifice
of My innocent blood from everlasting death.
The Servant.--Alas! tender and loving Lord and Brother, with what
sorrowful, what bitter toil didst Thou not reap me in! Alas! noble
Lord, how ardently didst Thou love me, how generously didst Thou
redeem me! Woe is me, Thou fair Wisdom, how shall I ever be in a
condition to acknowledge Thy love, and Thy sufferings? If I had
Samson's strength, Absalom's beauty, Solomon's wisdom, and the
riches and greatness of all kings, my only wish would be to devote
them to Thy praise and service. But, Lord, I am nothing, and
therefore can do nothing. O Lord, how am I to thank Thee?
Eternal
Wisdom.--If thou hadst the tongues of all the angels, the good
works of all mankind, and the powers of all created beings, thou
yet couldst not thank Me, nor requite Me, for the least pang which
I suffered for the love of thee.
The Servant.--Tender Lord, inform and teach me, then, how I may
become pleasing to Thee by means of Thy grace, since no one is
able to make Thee a return for the tokens of Thy love.
Eternal Wisdom.--Thou shouldst often set My sorrowful cross
before thy eyes, and let My bitter torments penetrate to thy
heart, and shape thy own sufferings after them. If I allow thee to
pine and wither in disconsolate affliction and dryness, without
any sweetness, thou shouldst not seek after strange consolation.
Let thy cry of misery rise to thy heavenly Father with a
renunciation of thyself and all thy desires, according to His
Fatherly will. The bitter thy suffering is from without, and the
more resigned thou art from within, the more like art thou to Me,
and the more dear to My heavenly Father, for herein the most pious
are put to the strongest proof. What though thy desires may have a
thirsty craving to seek satisfaction and delight in something that
might be pleasant to them, yet shouldst thou forego it for My
sake, and thus will thy thirsty mouth be steeped with me in
bitterness. Thou shouldst thirst after the salvation of men. Thy
good works thou shouldst direct to a perfect life, and persevere
to the end.
Thy will must be subject, thy obedience prompt to thy superiors;
thy soul, and all that belongs to it, thou must surrender into thy
heavenly Father's hands, and thy spirit must ever be dying out of
time into eternity, in prefiguration of thy last journey. Behold,
thus will thy cross be shaped after My miserable cross, and
worthily accomplished in it. Thou shouldst wholly lock thyself up
with My love-wounded heart in My open side, and dwell there, and
seek there thy resting-place. Then will I wash thee with the
waters of life, and deck thee out with My precious blood, in
purple. I will associate Myself to thee, and unite thee with
Myself eternally.
The Servant.--Lord, never was there any magnet so powerful in
attracting hard iron to itself, as Thy love-fraught Passion, thus
presented to my soul, is powerful to unite to itself all hearts.
Alas! Thou loving Lord, draw me now by means of love and sorrow
away from this world to Thee on Thy cross, fulfill in me the
closest resemblance to Thy cross, so that my soul may enjoy Thee
in Thy highest glory.
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