Chapter X — The Captivating Beauty and Ineffable Sweetness of Incarnate Wisdom

117. Since Wisdom became man only to attract the hearts of men to her friendship and her imitation, she took pleasure in adorning herself with all the most charming and most touching human qualities and sweetness, without any defect or ugliness.

1. Wisdom Is Sweet in Her Principles

118. If we consider her in her principles, she is nothing but goodness and sweetness. She is a gift of the love of the Eternal Father and an effect of the love of the Holy Spirit. She is given by love and formed by love: Sic Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret. She is therefore all love, or rather the very love of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

She was born of the sweetest, the most tender, and the most beautiful of all mothers, the divine Mary. Explain to me the sweetness of Jesus. First explain to me the sweetness of Mary, his Mother, whom he resembles in sweetness of temperament. Jesus is the child of Mary, and consequently there is in him neither haughtiness, nor harshness, nor ugliness, and infinitely less so than in his Mother, since he is Eternal Wisdom, sweetness and beauty itself.

2. She Is Sweet According to the Prophets

119. The prophets, to whom Incarnate Wisdom was shown in advance, call her a sheep and a lamb of gentleness: Agnus mansuetus. They foretold that because of her gentleness she would not finish breaking a bruised reed, nor completely extinguish a still-smoking wick: Calamum quassatum non conteret, et linum fumigans non exstinguet, Isa 42. That is to say, she would have so much gentleness that even if a poor sinner were half broken, blinded, and lost through his sins, with one foot already in hell, she would not entirely destroy him, unless he compelled her to do so.

St. John the Baptist, who spent nearly thirty years in the desert to merit by his austerities the knowledge and love of this Incarnate Wisdom, no sooner saw him than he cried out, pointing him out to his disciples: "Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccatum mundi: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." He did not say, as it seemed he should have: Behold the Most High, behold the King of glory, behold the Almighty; but, as he recognized him in his depths more than any man who has ever been or ever will be: Behold the Lamb of God, behold this Eternal Wisdom who, to charm our hearts and remit our sins, has united in himself all the sweetness of God and of man, of heaven and of earth.

3. She Is Sweet in Her Name

120. But what does the name of Jesus, which is the proper name of Incarnate Wisdom, signify, if not an ardent charity, an infinite love, and a captivating sweetness? Jesus, Savior, the one who saves man, whose very nature is to love and save man!

Nil canitur suavius, Nil auditur jucundius, Nil cogitatur dulcius Quam Jesus, Dei Filius.

Oh! how sweet is this name of Jesus to the ear and heart of a predestined soul: Mel in ore, melos in aure, jubilus in corde: it is the sweetest honey on the lips, a pleasant melody to the ears, and a perfect jubilation in the heart.

4. She Is Sweet in Her Countenance

121. Jesus dulcis in facie, dulcis in ore, dulcis in opere: Jesus is sweet in his countenance, sweet in his words, and sweet in his actions.

This most lovable Savior has a countenance so sweet and so kind that it charmed the eyes and hearts of all who saw him. The shepherds who came to see him in the stable were all so captivated by the sweetness and beauty of his face that they remained for whole days as though beside themselves, gazing upon him. Even the proudest kings, as soon as they felt the loving glances of this beautiful child, laid aside all their pride and fell without difficulty at the foot of his manger. How many times they said to one another: Friends, how sweet it is to be here! One finds nothing in our palaces to compare with the pleasures tasted in this stable at the sight of this dear Child-God.

While Jesus was still very young, the afflicted and the children came from all the surrounding places to see him, to find joy, and they said to one another: Let us go see the little Jesus, the beautiful child of Mary. The beauty and majesty of his face, says St. Chrysostom, were at once so sweet and so commanding that those who knew him could not help loving him, and kings, even very distant ones, upon hearing of his beauty, wished to have his portrait. It is held that Our Lord himself sent it as a special favor to King Abgar. Some authors assert that if the Roman soldiers and the Jews blindfolded his face, it was only so that they could strike and mistreat him more easily, because from his eyes and his face there shone a radiance of beauty so sweet and so ravishing that it disarmed the most cruel.

5. She Is Sweet in Her Words

122. Jesus is sweet in his words. When he lived on earth, he won everyone by the sweetness of his words, and he was never heard to cry too loudly or to argue with heat, as the prophets had foretold: "Non contendet neque clamabit, neque audiet aliquis in plateis vocem ejus." Isa 42. All who heard him without envy were so charmed by the words of life that came from his mouth that they cried out: "Nunquam sic locutus est homo sicut hic homo," Jn 7; and even those who hated him, all surprised at the eloquence and wisdom of his words, asked: "Unde huic tanta Sapientia?" Never has any man spoken with so much sweetness and grace. Where did he receive such wisdom in his words?

Many thousands of poor people left their homes and families to go and listen to him, even into the deserts, spending several days without eating or drinking, satisfied by the sweetness of his word alone. It was by the sweetness of his words that he drew his Apostles to his side as with a lure; that he cured the most incurable sick and consoled the most afflicted. He merely said to Mary Magdalene, overwhelmed with grief, that one word, "Mary," and he filled her with joy and sweetness.