Eternal Wisdom.--When I was suspended on the lofty tree of the cross
because of My unfathomable love to thee and all mankind, My whole frame was
very grievously distorted, My bright eyes were extinguished and turned in My
head; My divine ears were filled with scoffing and blasphemy; My delicate
nostrils were wounded with foul smells; My sweet mouth was tormented with
bitter drink; and My tender feeling with hard blows. The whole earth was not
able to afford Me any rest, for My feeble head was bowed down with pain and
distress, My fair throat was unnaturally distended, My pure countenance
polluted with spittle, My beautiful complexion faded. Lo! My comely figure
withered entirely away, as though I were an outcast leper, and had never
been the fair and Eternal Wisdom.
The Servant.--O Thou most gracious mirror of all graces, in which the
heavenly spirits regale and feed their eyes, would that I had before me Thy
delicious countenance in its deathly aspect until I had well steeped it in
the tears of my heart; would that I might behold again and again those
beautiful eyes, those bright cheeks, that tender mouth, all ghastly and
dead, till I had fully relieved my heart in fervent lamentation over my
Love. Alas! sweet Lord, Thy Passion affects so deeply the hearts of some
people that they are able to lament over Thee with the greatest fervour, and
weep for Thee from their very hearts. O God, could I, and might I, now
represent all devout hearts with my lamentation, might I shed the tears of
all eyes, and utter the doleful words of all tongues, then would I show Thee
today how near to my heart Thy woeful Passion lies.
Eternal Wisdom.--No one can better show how deeply his heart is
affected by My Passion than he who endures it with Me in the practice of
good works. To Me, a free heart, unconcerned about perishable love, and ever
intent on following the main thing according to the type of My contemplated
Passion, is more agreeable than if thou didst always bewail Me, and didst
shed as many tears from weeping over My torments as there ever rained drops
of water from the sky; for the following of Me was the cause in which I
suffered bitter death, although tears are also pleasing and agreeable to Me.
The Servant.--O sweet Lord, since then an affectionate following of Thy
meek life and voluntary Passion is so agreeable to Thee, I will in future be
more assiduous in a voluntary following than in a weeping sorrow. But, as I
ought to have both, according to Thy words, teach me how I shall resemble
Thee in both.
Eternal Wisdom.--Renounce thy pleasure in dissolute sights and
voluptuous words; let that savour sweetly of love, and be grateful to thee,
which before was repugnant to thee; thou shouldst seek all thy rest in Me,
shouldst willingly suffer wrong from others, desire contempt, mortify thy
passions, and die to all thy lusts. Such is the first lesson in the school
of wisdom, which is to be read in the open, distended of My crucified
body. And consider and see, whether, if any one in all this world were to do
his utmost, he could yet be to Me what I am to him?
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