In Which Is Established by Sundry Examples How Profitable and Agreeable to God Is Meditation on the Passion of Christ Our Redeemer

ILVESTER relates of St. Mary Magdalene that after the Ascension of Christ our Redeemer she retired to a rugged solitude where she persevered thirty-two years. She begged our Savior to teach her in what exercise she should occupy herself in this solitude, to be most pleasing and most acceptable to Him. He therefore sent her at the beginning the Archangel Michael, with a most fair cross in his hands, which he planted at the gate of her cave, that henceforth the saint might have it before her at all hours, without ever losing sight of it, nor ever losing sight either of the holy mysteries which it represented and had been wrought thereon. All the time that she was in this solitude, she meditated continually on those mysteries of the Passion and death of her Redeemer and Master. The saint revealed this to a servant of God of the Order of St. Dominic, as may be read at greater length in the same Silvester. Ludolph the Carthusian tells of a servant of God who lived a very perfect and holy life; he desired greatly to serve our Lord and to know in particular what works and services were most agreeable to Him, that he might do them for His love. He begged the Lord with much fervor and earnestness to show him this. On one occasion at prayer, making his usual petition, Christ appeared to him, all wounded, naked, and trembling, with a heavy cross on His shoulder, and said to him: “One of the things that please Me most and in which My servants render Me the greatest service is in aiding Me to carry this cross, which they will do by accompanying Me in thought in all My pains and labors, and taking them tenderly to heart.” These words said, He vanished.

Vincent, St. Anthony, and Surius, in the Life of St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury in England, relate that, when this saint was a boy of tender age, studying the elements of grammar at the University of Oxford, and was one day walking alone in the fields, plunged in holy meditations, there suddenly appeared to him the Child Jesus, white and ruddy as the spouse depicts Him (Cant. v. 10). He made Himself known, and held with Edmund most sweet conversations. Among other things He advised and strongly recommended him henceforth every day to think of some mystery of His life, holy Passion, and death, assuring him that he would find that a great help and succor against the devil and his wiles, and a most efficient means for gaining and keeping himself in all virtue, and in the end for securing a good and happy death. Having given this so wholesome advice, He vanished, leaving the boy Edmund with great comfort at heart. From that time onwards he was very careful to meditate every day at nightfall some mystery of the life or Passion of Christ, and from that meditation he gathered great devotion and no less profit and remedy for all his needs.

In the history of St. Dominic there is written a notice of a religious of that holy order, a German by birth, a man of high virtue and sanctity, how from youth he had a particular devotion to the Passion of Christ and used to think of it very frequently with great emotion and tears, reverencing His most sacred wounds and repeating over each of them the words of the Church: ‘‘We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.” With these words, he genuflected seven times, saying each time the Our Father, and begging God to grant him His holy fear and love. And how acceptable and agreeable to God this devotion was, was clearly shown in a singular favor and consolation that was vouchsafed to the reciter of it. For when he was at prayer, Christ our Redeemer appeared to him, looking very bountiful and gracious, and invited him to draw nigh without fear and taste of His wounds, which he did with profound reverence and humility, applying his mouth to them; and so great was the delight and sweetness that he tasted in his soul thereby that ever afterwards everything that was not God was bitter and an incredible torment to him.

Lipanan and Surius relate of the holy Abbot Palemon, master of St. Pacomius, that one Easter Sunday Pacomius dressed for dinner the ordinary herbs with a little oil and salt, for its being the day it was, whereas on other days his master used to eat herbs only with a little salt. When the holy old man saw them dressed with oil, he began to weep and shed many tears, remembering the Passion of the Lord and saying: “My Master was crucified, and am I to venture to eat oil?’ His disciple Pacomius replied that it was Easter Day, and therefore he might allow himself this delicacy; but for all his urgent entreaties to acquiesce in the preparation, he could do nothing with him.

It is told of a Christian captive among the Moors that he was very devout to the Passion of Christ, and for the continual memory that he had of it he went about always sad and weeping. His master, seeing it, asked him sometimes what made him so sad and why he could never make merry with his companions. He always replied that he could not because he had imprinted on his heart the Passion of the Lord. The master, hearing this reply, wanted to know if he spoke the truth; and upon opening his breast and drawing out the heart, they found within it a figure of Christ crucified, most artistically formed, which marvel was a means to the master’s conversion to the faith.

A similar thing is related of the holy virgin Clara of Montefalcone. In her life she had been very devout to the Passion of Christ, and after her death there was found in her heart on one side the figure of a crucifix, with three nails, lance, sponge, and reed, while on the other side there were the scourge, with five thongs, the pillar and crown of thorns; which marvel is to this day exhibited at Montefalcone, a place in Italy.

Chapter 263 of 379