A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [11]
were Thy thoughts? Might one not indeed learn
something farther on this head?
Eternal Wisdom.--Never was there a thirsty mouth that longed so
ardently for the cool fountain, nor a dying man for the pleasant days of
life, as I longed to help all sinners and to render Myself beloved of them.
Sooner couldst thou recall the days that are gone, sooner couldst thou make
green all withered flowers, and gather up every drop of rain, than possess
the power to measure the love which I bear to thee and all mankind. And,
therefore, was I so covered with marks of love that one could not have
placed the small point of a needle on any spot of My lacerated body that had
not its particular love-mark. My right arm stretched out; My left very
grievously distended; My right foot perforated; My left cruelly transfixed;
that I hung fainting, and in great distress of My divine limbs; all My
delicate members were immovably fastened to the hard bed of the cross. My
hot blood, because of My anguish, burst forth in many a wild gush, which
overflowed My expiring body, so that it was a most piteous sight to see.
Behold a lamentable thing! My young, My fair and blooming body began to
fade, to wither and pine away, My weary and tender back had a hard pillow on
the rough cross, My heavy body gave way, My whole frame was gashed with
wounds, and like one great sore, and all this My loving heart willingly
endured.
CHAPTER V. How The Soul Attains Hearty Repentance and Gently Pardon Under
the Cross
The Servant.--Now then, cheer up thou soul of mine! Collect thyself
entirely from all exterior things into the calm silence of thy interior,
that so thou mayest break away, and wander at large, and run wild in the
rugged wilderness of an unfathomable sorrow of heart, up to the high rock of
misery, now contemplated; and mayest cry aloud from the depths of thy sad
and languishing heart, till it resound over hill and valley throughout the
sky, and pierce even to heaven before all the heavenly host; and speak with
thy lamentable voice thus: Alas, ye living rocks, ye savage beasts, ye sunny
meads! who will give me the burning fire of my full heart, and the scalding
water of my sorrowful tears, to wake you up, that ye may help me to bewail
the unfathomable heartrending woe which my poor heart so secretly suffers?
Me had my heavenly Father adorned above all living creatures, and elected to
be His own tender and blessed spouse. And lo, I have fled from Him! Woe is
me! I have lost the beloved of my choice, my only one! Woe on my wretched
heart! forever woe! What have I done, what have I lost! I have fled from
myself, all the host of heaven, all that could give me joy and delight, have
fled from me! I sit forsaken, for my false lovers were deceivers. O misery
and death! How falsely and miserably have ye not forsaken me, how despoiled
me of all the good with which my only love had arrayed me! Alas honour! alas
joy! alas all consolation! how am I utterly robbed of you! Whither shall I
turn myself? The entire world has forsaken me, because I have forsaken my
only love. Wretched me! when I did so what a lamentable hour it was! Behold
in me a late daisy, behold in me a sloe thorn, all ye red roses, ye white
lilies! take notice how very quickly that flower withers, fades, and dies,
which this world gathers! For I must always thus living, die; thus blooming,
fade; thus youthful, grow old; thus healthy, sicken. And yet, tender Lord,
all that I suffer is of small account compared to my having made wroth Thy
fatherly countenance; for this is to me a hell and a grief above all grief.
Alas, that Thou shouldst have been so graciously kind, that Thou shouldst
have warned me so tenderly, and drawn me so affectionately, and that I
should have so utterly despised it all! O heart of man! what canst thou not
endure! As hard as steel must thou be not to burst utterly with woe. True, I
was once called His beloved spouse: woe is me! I am not now worthy to be
called His poor handmaid. Nevermore,
something farther on this head?
Eternal Wisdom.--Never was there a thirsty mouth that longed so
ardently for the cool fountain, nor a dying man for the pleasant days of
life, as I longed to help all sinners and to render Myself beloved of them.
Sooner couldst thou recall the days that are gone, sooner couldst thou make
green all withered flowers, and gather up every drop of rain, than possess
the power to measure the love which I bear to thee and all mankind. And,
therefore, was I so covered with marks of love that one could not have
placed the small point of a needle on any spot of My lacerated body that had
not its particular love-mark. My right arm stretched out; My left very
grievously distended; My right foot perforated; My left cruelly transfixed;
that I hung fainting, and in great distress of My divine limbs; all My
delicate members were immovably fastened to the hard bed of the cross. My
hot blood, because of My anguish, burst forth in many a wild gush, which
overflowed My expiring body, so that it was a most piteous sight to see.
Behold a lamentable thing! My young, My fair and blooming body began to
fade, to wither and pine away, My weary and tender back had a hard pillow on
the rough cross, My heavy body gave way, My whole frame was gashed with
wounds, and like one great sore, and all this My loving heart willingly
endured.
CHAPTER V. How The Soul Attains Hearty Repentance and Gently Pardon Under
the Cross
The Servant.--Now then, cheer up thou soul of mine! Collect thyself
entirely from all exterior things into the calm silence of thy interior,
that so thou mayest break away, and wander at large, and run wild in the
rugged wilderness of an unfathomable sorrow of heart, up to the high rock of
misery, now contemplated; and mayest cry aloud from the depths of thy sad
and languishing heart, till it resound over hill and valley throughout the
sky, and pierce even to heaven before all the heavenly host; and speak with
thy lamentable voice thus: Alas, ye living rocks, ye savage beasts, ye sunny
meads! who will give me the burning fire of my full heart, and the scalding
water of my sorrowful tears, to wake you up, that ye may help me to bewail
the unfathomable heartrending woe which my poor heart so secretly suffers?
Me had my heavenly Father adorned above all living creatures, and elected to
be His own tender and blessed spouse. And lo, I have fled from Him! Woe is
me! I have lost the beloved of my choice, my only one! Woe on my wretched
heart! forever woe! What have I done, what have I lost! I have fled from
myself, all the host of heaven, all that could give me joy and delight, have
fled from me! I sit forsaken, for my false lovers were deceivers. O misery
and death! How falsely and miserably have ye not forsaken me, how despoiled
me of all the good with which my only love had arrayed me! Alas honour! alas
joy! alas all consolation! how am I utterly robbed of you! Whither shall I
turn myself? The entire world has forsaken me, because I have forsaken my
only love. Wretched me! when I did so what a lamentable hour it was! Behold
in me a late daisy, behold in me a sloe thorn, all ye red roses, ye white
lilies! take notice how very quickly that flower withers, fades, and dies,
which this world gathers! For I must always thus living, die; thus blooming,
fade; thus youthful, grow old; thus healthy, sicken. And yet, tender Lord,
all that I suffer is of small account compared to my having made wroth Thy
fatherly countenance; for this is to me a hell and a grief above all grief.
Alas, that Thou shouldst have been so graciously kind, that Thou shouldst
have warned me so tenderly, and drawn me so affectionately, and that I
should have so utterly despised it all! O heart of man! what canst thou not
endure! As hard as steel must thou be not to burst utterly with woe. True, I
was once called His beloved spouse: woe is me! I am not now worthy to be
called His poor handmaid. Nevermore,