第7章 PART THE FIRST(3)

Eternal Wisdom.--Be not terrified at the following of My Passion.For he whose interior is so possessed by God that suffering is easy to him has no cause to complain.No one enjoys Me more in My singular sweetness than he who stands with Me in harsh bitterness.No one complains so much of the bitterness of the husks as he to whom the interior sweetness of the kernel is unknown.For him who has a good second the fight is half won.

The Servant.--Lord,Thy comforting words have given me such heart,that,methinks,I am able to do and suffer all things in Thee.Therefore,I desire that Thou wouldst unlock for me the entire treasure of Thy Passion,and tell me still more about it.

CHAPTER III.How It Was With Him on The Cross According to The Exterior Man Eternal Wisdom.

--When I was suspended on the lofty tree of the cross because of My unfathomable love to thee and all mankind,My whole frame was very grievously distorted,My bright eyes were extinguished and turned in My head;My divine ears were filled with scoffing and blasphemy;My delicate nostrils were wounded with foul smells;My sweet mouth was tormented with bitter drink;and My tender feeling with hard blows.The whole earth was not able to afford Me any rest,for My feeble head was bowed down with pain and distress,My fair throat was unnaturally distended,My pure countenance polluted with spittle,My beautiful complexion faded.Lo!My comely figure withered entirely away,as though I were an outcast leper,and had never been the fair and Eternal Wisdom.

The Servant.--O Thou most gracious mirror of all graces,in which the heavenly spirits regale and feed their eyes,would that I had before me Thy delicious countenance in its deathly aspect until I had well steeped it in the tears of my heart;would that I might behold again and again those beautiful eyes,those bright cheeks,that tender mouth,all ghastly and dead,till I had fully relieved my heart in fervent lamentation over my Love.Alas!sweet Lord,Thy Passion affects so deeply the hearts of some people that they are able to lament over Thee with the greatest fervour,and weep for Thee from their very hearts.O God,could I,and might I,now represent all devout hearts with my lamentation,might I shed the tears of all eyes,and utter the doleful words of all tongues,then would I show Thee today how near to my heart Thy woeful Passion lies.

Eternal Wisdom.--No one can better show how deeply his heart is affected by My Passion than he who endures it with Me in the practice of good works.To Me,a free heart,unconcerned about perishable love,and ever intent on following the main thing according to the type of My contemplated Passion,is more agreeable than if thou didst always bewail Me,and didst shed as many tears from weeping over My torments as there ever rained drops of water from the sky;for the following of Me was the cause in which I suffered bitter death,although tears are also pleasing and agreeable to Me.

The Servant.--O sweet Lord,since then an affectionate following of Thy meek life and voluntary Passion is so agreeable to Thee,I will in future be more assiduous in a voluntary following than in a weeping sorrow.But,as I ought to have both,according to Thy words,teach me how I shall resemble Thee in both.

Eternal Wisdom.--Renounce thy pleasure in dissolute sights and voluptuous words;let that savour sweetly of love,and be grateful to thee,which before was repugnant to thee;thou shouldst seek all thy rest in Me,shouldst willingly suffer wrong from others,desire contempt,mortify thy passions,and die to all thy lusts.Such is the first lesson in the school of wisdom,which is to be read in the open,distended book of My crucified body.And consider and see,whether,if any one in all this world were to do his utmost,he could yet be to Me what I am to him?

CHAPTER IV.How Very Faithful His Passion Was The Servant.

--Lord,if I forget Thy worth,Thy gifts,Thy benefits,and all things,still one thing moves me and goes to my very heart;this is,when I well reflect not only on the way of our salvation,but also on its unfathomably faithful way.Dear Lord,many a one so bestows a gift on another,that his love and faith are better known by his way than by his gift.A small gift in a faithful way is often better than a great one without this way.Now Lord,not only is Thy gift so great,but also the way of it,methinks,is so unfathomably faithful.Thou didst not only suffer death for me,but Thou didst also seek whatever is deepest in love,whatever is most intimate and hidden,in which suffering can or may be experienced.

Thou didst really do as though Thou hadst said:Behold all hearts,if ever a heart was so full of love;look on all my limbs;the noblest limb I have is my heart;my very heart have I permitted to be pierced through,to be slain and consumed,and bruised into small pieces,that nothing in me or upon me might remain unbestowed,so that ye might know my love.Alas!Lord,how was it in Thy mind,or what were Thy thoughts?Might one not indeed learn something farther on this head?

Eternal Wisdom.--Never was there a thirsty mouth that longed so ardently for the cool fountain,nor a dying man for the pleasant days of life,as I longed to help all sinners and to render Myself beloved of them.

Sooner couldst thou recall the days that are gone,sooner couldst thou make green all withered flowers,and gather up every drop of rain,than possess the power to measure the love which I bear to thee and all mankind.And,therefore,was I so covered with marks of love that one could not have placed the small point of a needle on any spot of My lacerated body that had not its particular love-mark.My right arm stretched out;My left very grievously distended;My right foot perforated;My left cruelly transfixed;