Twenty-third meditation. The first five words that Our Saviour spoke on the Cross

First point.

Eeflect that our meek Jesus, on beholding His enemies around Him, exclaimed: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! " O what perfect charity! Our Saviour not being able to justify the sin of His wicked executioners, casts about for the most plausible excuse for them, namely, ignorance. Moreover, it was on this holy cross, with a heart so full of love for men, that Jesus, to the thief who merely asked Him to remember him, gave a solemn promise of paradise. Oh, what a fearful thing is the fall of those that are called to a high vocation! Judas, the apostle^ was lost through pride; the thief humbles himself, and he is saved.

Second point.

Behold St. John and the most blessed Virgin at the foot of the cross, at the feet of their Beloved, who, seeing His Mother overwhelmed with grief, said to her: " Woman, behold your son! " namely, John; and to John: "Behold your Mother! " O admirable Mother! was it not fitting that your heart should be thoroughly accustomed to the language of love, and should comprehend its meaning? You understood that He gave you as a Mother to His spouse the Church, to which He gave birth on the cross, says St. Augustine. O incomparable thought! As soon as Jesus had pronounced this third word, the sun, as if touched with lively sorrow, withdrew his light, and darkness spread over the whole earth.

Third point.

Hark! After three hours of silence, our sweet Saviour cries out: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? " The inferior part of His soul was so abandoned, so crushed with sorrow, so beset with woe, that, in order to console us in our weaknesses, He complained to His Father; but to prove that the superior part longed for these sufferings, He exclaimed: " I thirst." He alluded not to corporal thirst. Let us believe, my soul, that He had a burning thirst, burning for the salvation of those that thirsted so ardently for His ruin. O poor people! You ask Jesus to come down from the cross; but He takes care not to do so. He thirsts too ardently for your salr vation, which He must obtain by His death on it.

Affections.

O kind Saviour, what tenderness of heart Thou dost teach me for my neighbor — that I should even excuse those who crucified my Spouse! Ah! I will say with the Apostle: " If they had known Him, they would not have crucified the God of glory." But beware, my soul, lest the disorderly passions that closed their eyes blind your own. O my Saviour, Thou dost excuse Thy executioners, even in the act of sinning, and scarcely can we forget a contradiction long after receiving it, scarcely can we look kindly upon those who have ever so slightly displeased us.

O holy and most devoted Mother! receive John as your son, that is to say, receive the children of the Church as your children, and we shall henceforth be per-

Digrtrzed by mitted to call you Mother. O J esus! Thou didst will to die naked and despoiled of all things, even to the giving of Thine own dear Mother to us,

O sweet Saviour! it was by no means to offend against holy indifference, that Thou didst utter a complaint to Thy Father. It was to console us in our trials, and make us realize the actual sorrow and anguish of Thy blessed soul, for not the sorrows of death alone, but also the thirst of love consumed Thee, and made Thee long ardently for our salvation. Ah! am I not an ingrate, if I complain in my little trials, since I behold the only Son of God thirsting to undergo suffering for me? If such a Father abandons the inferior part of the soul of such a Son, why not the soul of a miserable slave?

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