Letter 75. To a Lady
He shows how Christ our Lord, being placed upon the Cross, is that glass, wherein we may see all the sports of our souls, and wherein we may also find the cure of all our miseries. And that it is an enterprise of great honour to be carrying a part of his Cross.
IF in the night of the Nativity of our Lord, they carried you to Mount Caluary, and have given you compassion to the Crucifix, and tears wherewith to wash his feet; it may well be believed that now, when you are in Lenit, and near the time, wherein the holy passion of our Lord is represented, he will keep you, as such a fixed Inhabitant of that hill, as to suffer you to departed no more from thence. This is such a thing, as that you may safely say with Saint Peter, it is good for us to be here; and it shall be a better suit to our Lord, than his was. For he desired to remain on that hill, where repose and delight were to be found; but in this other, there is affliction; and therefore this carries a testimony with it, of greater love. For not in resting, but in labouring, and suffering, is the love of our Lord employed and showed.1
Do you, Lady, remain in those wounds of our Lord, since for the cure of your wounds he accepted his. And though you be not to endure the like for his sake; yet let them serve you at least to make you thank him, and to lament him, and to have compassion on him, since your sins, are they which placed him, in so extreme distress. Continue there, and pass not on, with such haste as you would do by some ill-provided country inn. They whoe passed on by their own way, shaken their heads and blasphemed our Lord. But fix you yourself close by the Cross, like that virgin-mother, and like that beloved disciple, and those other holy women. For they who run over this so great benefit, in such haste, do neither understand it, nor thankfully acknowledge it; and there remain no more with them, but the mere sound thereof.
John. 19 And some (that is such as are Infidels) blaspheme him for it; because they stay not to look, at leisure, upon this mighty wonder of love.
But the Christian, who hath taken up his lodging here, saith, and that from his very hart, This is my rest for ever, and for ever will I dwell here, because I have chosen it. And if the spouse, shall not remain with, at least, her hart nailed to that Cross, to which the body of her fellow- spouse was nailed; how will she possibly be able to escape the name of ungrateful, and unkind? There shall you find remedy, against the poison of those false praises, which men give you. And you will profoundly be ashamed to perceive yourself honoured, & proclaimed for good, when you see him, who indeed is good, & holy, to be proclaimed for wicked, & false. There, shall you see, how little reason you have, to think, that what you do is unworthy of estimation in any kind; forasmuch as concerns your part thereof, since it is so weak, & lame, when it is compared with that which Christ our Lord, wrought upon the Cross; yea, & even with that which yourself, as you are, aught to do.
Look into this glass, and you will easily be able to discern the spots, which are in the face of your soul. For when you have been the most meek of all, if you compare that meekness▪ with his, your meekness will be no better, then mere wrath; and your obedience compared with his, will be very disorderly; and your humility very proud. Yet the blind world will needs believe, that there are no other sins, but those, which it conceives to be such. Whereas the eyes of God are of another kind, and he measures us by another rule; whereby many times he finds that to be faulty which seemed in the eyes of men to be excellently, and completely done. When therefore they shall deliver out any of these poisoned, & smooth-lying praises, say you instantly in your hart, as S. Paul did, ●. Cor. 4. he who judges me is our Lord. And make haste to call to mind, how our Lord was proclaimed for a wicked person. And beseech him, not to permit that you be published for one who is good, & be sure you hold your tongue, for our lord will observe how the world goes. Nay procure you, & be careful that when you are despised, you may be very glad thereof, and perhaps our lord doth not now permit any body to give you ill words, because he finds, that you have not strength wherewith to bear them.
He who desires any part of the Cross of our lord, must receive it, as he would do some precious Relic, with great reverence, & giving of thankes. And he must value it more, than he would all the treasures of the world. And because there are so few who esteem of those Relics of the Cross as they ought, therefore our Lord oftentimes doth not impart them; whose-pleasure is that they be honoured, and beloved, and borne with joy. And for this reason it is, that he leaves us still in our infancy, without putting us to the tasks of men. But how much more then, are we to blame, if we be drawn down to impatience, or superfluity of sorrow, for any of those things, which he sends.
So that if you shall carry a great love to the Crucifix, he will give you a part of his Cross But then see, that you embrace it, as an enterprise of great honour, according to what he saith to the spouse, Place me as a seal upon thy hart: and upon thine arm; for love is strong as death.
And as for that pain wherein you are, because you may not receive the Body of our Lord in the blessed Sacrament so often as you would; be not troubled thereat. For I have already told you that our Lord is resolved that it shall cost you some what. And it is but reason that it do so, since our souls cost him so much. Do you think perhaps that by our Lords only saying, Let all soul's ●ee mine, they instantly render themselves into his hands. Do you think that the love which you carry to our Lord, & the dominion which he exercises over you cost him but toys? I can assure you it is not so. But he shed his blood, as any slave might do, upon condition, that your souls might be his, and he yours.2
Just so, must that soul do, which hath a mind to obtain him; that is, it must sweat first, it must weep, it must importune him, it must endure ill words, yea and also evil deeds at the hands of others; yea and it must seem little to have endured this, but once. And if it be not put to endure them, at least it shall have gained much in having disposed itself, to suffer somewhat for him, & thus it proves, no fruitless thing to seek God. Negotiate your business with him, for if he say Yea, there is none who can hinder it, and if any body offer to do it, it will not prove with him; but yet, if it chance to prove, you may conclude thereby, that you have not negotiated well, with our Lord. What shall I say to you? Cry out louder to him: Fellow my counsel; and whensoever he gives you a great desire to communicate, procure then to be, just as if you were communicating indeed. And beseech our Lord, since he is omnipotent, that he will give you that, when you communicate spiritually, which he would have given, if you had communicated Sacramentally. For so, you shall be pleasing to his goodness; and he will not suffer you to go empty from him, if you come well prepared, and it were not the worse if it might be two or three days before. Yet now you must not think, that you may therefore fail, to confess your sins afterward, to your Ghostly Father. But till you have means to declare them to him, I advice, that you ralate them to our Lord. And above all things, keep your hart in peace and conserve yourself in the way of obedience, and humility, towards your Superiors, and Prelates. For this is the way of our Lord, and you must take heed you leave it not. Take courage to pass on, in your other devotions. For though, when you are in them, you think you make no profit by them, I say you do; and afterwards you shall taste the fruit thereof. And our Lord will find a time to look back with pity upon such as shall have made much way after him. And one day, of those, when our Lord vouchsafes to look back upon us, is worth more than three, of those others, wherein we laboured to go after him. The crown is prepared for you in heaven. God will be your defendor, and will not forget you. Persever you in obedience, till you see our Lord of all Lord in Zion.
I beseech him to make you dearly his; and that you may be kept safe, and prove a saint. Amen.3
Footnotes
Chapter 27 of 57