Chapter III

On the great confidence we should place in the love that Jesus Christ has shown us, and in all that he has done for us.

David placed all the hope of his salvation in his future Redeemer, and said: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum; redemisti me, Domine, Deus veritatis (Ps. XXX, 6). How much more, then, should we place our trust in Jesus Christ, now that he has already come and completed the work of redemption? With even greater confidence, therefore, each one of us should say and continually repeat: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum; redemisti me, Domine, Deus veritatis.

If we have great reason to fear eternal death on account of the offenses we have committed against God, we have far greater reason to hope for eternal life through the merits of Jesus Christ, whose merits are of infinitely greater value to save us than our sins are to destroy us. We have sinned and deserved hell; but the Redeemer came to take upon himself all our sins and to make satisfaction for them by his sufferings: Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, et dolores nostros ipse portavit (Is. LIII, 4).

In the very unhappy moment in which we sinned, the sentence of eternal death was already written against us by God; but what did our compassionate Redeemer do? Delens quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti... et ipsum tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci (Coloss. II, 14). He blotted out with his blood the decree of our condemnation, and then nailed it to the cross, so that we, looking at the sentence of our damnation for the sins we had committed, might at the same time look upon the cross where Jesus Christ, in dying, cancelled it with his blood, and so recover our hope of pardon and eternal salvation.

Oh, how much better does the blood of Jesus Christ speak for us and obtain divine mercy, than the blood of Abel spoke against Cain! Accessistis ad mediatorem Iesum, et sanguinis aspersionem melius loquentem quam Abel (Hebr. XII, 24). As if the Apostle were saying: Sinners, happy are you who after sin have had recourse to Jesus crucified, who shed all his blood to make himself the mediator of peace between sinners and God, and to obtain pardon for them. Your iniquities cry out against you, but the blood of the Redeemer pleads on your behalf; and at the voice of this blood, divine justice cannot fail to be appeased.

It is true that of all our sins we must give a strict account to the eternal Judge. But who is to be our judge? Pater... omne iudicium dedit Filio (Io. V, 22). Let us take consolation: the Eternal Father has committed our judgment to our very Redeemer. Therefore St. Paul encourages us, saying: Quis est qui condemnet? Christus Iesus qui mortuus est... qui etiam interpellat pro nobis (Rom. VIII, 34). Who is the judge that will condemn us? He is the very Savior who, rather than condemn us to eternal death, chose to condemn himself and died; and, not content with that, now in heaven continues to procure our salvation before his Father. Hence St. Thomas of Villanova writes: What do you fear, O sinner, if you detest your sin? How will he condemn you who dies so as not to condemn you? How will he reject you if you return to his feet, when he came from heaven to seek you while you were fleeing from him? Quid times, peccator? Quomodo damnabit poenitentem, qui moritur ne damneris? Quomodo abiiciet redeuntem, qui de caelo venit quaerens te?

And if we fear, on account of our weakness, falling under the assaults of our enemies against whom we still have to fight, here is what we must do, as the Apostle exhorts us: Curramus ad propositum nobis certamen, aspicientes in auctorem fidei et consummatorem Iesum, qui, proposito sibi gaudio, sustinuit crucem, confusione contempta (Hebr. XII, 1, 2). Let us go with great courage to the combat, looking upon Jesus crucified, who from his cross offers us his help, the victory, and the crown. In the past we fell because we failed to gaze upon the wounds and the shame endured by our Redeemer, and so we did not have recourse to him for help. But if in the future we keep before our eyes all that he has suffered for love of us and how ready he is to help us if we turn to him, no, we shall certainly not be overcome by our enemies. St. Teresa said with her generous spirit: "I do not understand these tremors — 'the devil, the devil!' — when we can say 'God, God!' and make him tremble." On the other hand, the saint said that if we do not place all our confidence in God, all our efforts will profit us little or nothing: "All our efforts are of little avail if, abandoning all confidence in ourselves, we do not place it entirely in God."

Oh, what two great mysteries of hope and love are the Passion of Jesus Christ and the Sacrament of the altar for us! Mysteries that, if faith did not assure us of them, who could ever believe? An omnipotent God wishing to become man, to shed all his blood, and to die in anguish upon a cross; and why? To pay for our sins and to save us rebellious worms! And then to give us in food that very body, once sacrificed for us on the cross, in order to unite himself wholly with us! O God, these two mysteries should reduce all human hearts to ashes of love. And what sinner, however dissolute, could despair of pardon if he repents of the evil he has done, seeing a God so in love with men and so inclined to do them good? Therefore, full of trust, St. Bonaventure said: Fiducialiter agam, immobiliter sperans nihil ad salutem necessarium ab eo negandum, qui tanta pro mea salute fecit et pertulit. How, he said, can he refuse me the graces necessary for salvation, he who has done and suffered so much to save me?

Adeamus ergo — the Apostle exhorts us — cum fiducia ad thronum gratiae, ut misericordiam consequamur et gratiam inveniamus in auxilio opportuno (Hebr. IV, 16). The throne of grace is the cross, where Jesus sits as on his throne to dispense graces and mercies to all who have recourse to it. But we must have recourse quickly, now while we can find the help we need for salvation, for the time may come when we can no longer find it. Let us go, then, quickly to embrace the cross of Jesus Christ, and let us go with great confidence. Let not our miseries dismay us: in Jesus crucified we shall find every riches, every grace: In omnibus divites facti estis in illo... ita ut nihil vobis desit in ulla gratia (I Cor. I, 5, 7). The merits of Jesus Christ have made us rich with all the divine treasures and have made us capable of every grace we desire.

St. Leo says that Jesus by his death brought us greater good than the devil brought us harm through sin: Ampliora adepti sumus per Christi gratiam, quam per diaboli amiseramus invidiam. And this explains what St. Paul had said before — that the gift of Redemption was greater than the offense: grace has surpassed the transgression: Non sicut delictum, ita et donum; ubi abundavit delictum, superabundavit gratia (Rom. V, 15, 20). Hence the Savior encouraged us to hope for every favor through his merits, and every grace. And here is how he taught us the way to obtain whatever we wish from his Eternal Father: Amen, amen dico vobis, si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis (Io. XVI, 25). Whatever you desire, he says, ask my Father in my name, and I promise you that you will be heard. But how could the Father refuse us any grace, when he has given us his only-begotten Son, whom he loves as he loves himself? Pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum, quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? (Rom. VIII, 32). The Apostle says omnia; therefore no grace is excluded — not pardon, not perseverance, not holy love, not perfection, not paradise — omnia, omnia nobis donavit. But we must pray: God is utterly generous with those who pray to him: Dives in omnes qui invocant illum (Rom. X, 12).

I wish here to add many other beautiful sentiments written in his letters by the Venerable John of Avila, concerning the great confidence we should have in the merits of Jesus Christ. He says:

"Do not forget that between the Eternal Father and us there stands Jesus Christ as mediator, on whose account we are loved and bound with such strong bonds of love that nothing can untie them unless a man breaks them by some mortal sin. The blood of Jesus cries out asking mercy for us, and it cries in such a way that the noise of our sins is not heard. The death of Jesus Christ has put our sins to death: O mors, ero mors tua. Those who are lost are not lost for lack of satisfaction, but because they refuse to profit, through the sacraments, from the satisfaction given by Jesus Christ.

"Jesus has taken the business of our remedy upon himself as though it were his own; therefore our sins, though he did not commit them, he has called his own, and for them he has sought pardon; and with heartfelt love he has prayed, as if praying for himself, that all who wish to draw near to him might be loved. And as he sought this, so he obtained it: for God has decreed that Jesus and we should be so united as one, that either he and we are loved together, or he and we are hated together; and since Jesus is not hated and cannot be hated, in the same way, if we are united with Jesus by love, we too are loved. Because he is loved by God, we too are loved, since Jesus Christ avails more to make us loved than we avail to make ourselves hated; for the Eternal Father loves the Son more than he hates sinners.

"Jesus said to the Father: I will, Father, that where I am, those whom you have given me may also be with me: Pater, quos dedisti mihi, volo ut ubi sum ego et illi sint mecum (Io. XVII, 24). The greater love conquered the lesser hatred, and so we have been pardoned and loved, secure that we shall never be abandoned where so strong a bond of love exists. The Lord says through Isaiah (IL, 15): Can a mother forget her child? And even if she were to forget, I will not forget you, for I have written you upon my hands. He has written us upon his hands with his own blood. Therefore we should not be troubled by anything, since all is disposed by those hands that were nailed to the cross in testimony of the love he has for us.

"Nothing can terrify us so much as Jesus Christ can reassure us. Let the sins I have committed surround me, let fears of the future accuse me, let the demons set snares for me — by begging for mercy from Jesus Christ, all-good, my lover even unto death, I cannot lose trust; for I see myself so valued that a God has given himself for me. O my Jesus, sure harbor of those who in the storm have recourse to you, O watchful Shepherd, he who does not trust in you is deceived, provided he is willing to amend. For this you said: It is I, do not be afraid: I am the one who afflicts and consoles. I sometimes place some in such desolations that they seem like hell, but then I draw them out and raise them up. I am your advocate, who has taken your cause as my own. I am your surety, who has come to pay your debts. I am your Lord, who with my blood has ransomed you, not to abandon you, but to enrich you, having redeemed you at a great price. How shall I flee from one who seeks me, when I went to meet those who sought me to insult me? I did not turn my face from those who struck me, and shall I turn it from one who would adore me? How can my children doubt whether I love them, seeing me delivered into the hands of my enemies for love of them? Whom have I ever despised who loved me? Whom have I ever abandoned who sought my help? I go seeking even those who do not seek me.

"If you believe that the Eternal Father has given you his Son, believe also that he will give you the rest, which is all far less than the Son. Do not think that Jesus Christ has forgotten you, since he has left you, in memory of his love, the greatest pledge he had, which was himself in the Sacrament of the altar."

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my Jesus, my love, what beautiful hopes your Passion gives me! How can I fear that I will not receive pardon for my sins, paradise, and all the graces I need, from an omnipotent God who has given me all his blood?

Ah, my Jesus, my hope and my love, rather than lose me you chose to lose your life. I love you above every good, my Redeemer and God. You have given yourself wholly to me; I give you my entire will, and with it I repeat that I love you, I love you, and I wish always to repeat it: I love you, I love you. So I wish to say always in this life, and so I wish to die, breathing my last breath with this dear word on my lips: my God, I love you — so that from that moment I may begin a love for you that is unceasing, that will last for eternity, never again ceasing to love you.

I love you, then, and because I love you, I repent above every evil for having so offended you. Wretch that I am, so as not to lose some brief satisfaction, I chose so many times to lose you, infinite good! This thought torments me more than any punishment; but I am consoled to think that I am dealing with a goodness so infinite that it cannot despise a heart that loves it. Oh, that I could die for you, who died for me!

My dear Redeemer, I firmly hope from you eternal salvation in the next life, and in this life I hope for holy perseverance in your love; therefore I resolve to ask it of you always. And you, by the merits of your death, grant me the perseverance to pray to you.

This too I ask and hope from you, my Queen Mary.