A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [10]
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 book 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?
CHAPTER IV. How Very Faithful His Passion Was
The Servant.--Lord, if I forget Thy worth, Thy gifts, Thy benefits, and
all things, still one thing moves me and goes to my very heart; this is,
when I well reflect not only on the way of our salvation, but also on its
unfathomably faithful way. Dear Lord, many a one so bestows a gift on
another, that his love and faith are better known by his way than by his
gift. A small gift in a faithful way is often better than a great one
without this way. Now Lord, not only is Thy gift so great, but also the way
of it, methinks, is so unfathomably faithful. Thou didst not only suffer
death for me, but Thou didst also seek whatever is deepest in love, whatever
is most intimate and hidden, in which suffering can or may be experienced.
Thou didst really do as though Thou hadst said: Behold all hearts, if ever a
heart was so full of love; look on all my limbs; the noblest limb I have is
my heart; my very heart have I permitted to be pierced through, to be slain
and consumed, and bruised into small pieces, that nothing in me or upon me
might remain unbestowed, so that ye might know my love. Alas! Lord, how was
it in Thy mind, or what