A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [30]
for my present sufferings, and also for the measureless sufferings of the
past, which I deemed so very great, because they appeared so hostile to me.
Eternal Wisdom.--But what is thy opinion now?
The Servant.--Lord, my opinion in very truth is this: that when I look
at Thee, Thou delight of my eyes, with looks of love, the great and violent
sufferings with which, in so paternal a manner, Thou hast disciplined me,
and at the sight of which Thy pious friends were filled with such terror on
my account, have been like a sweet fall of dew in May.
(Now, when the same preacher had begun to write on suffering, there
appeared to him, in the way already mentioned above, the same two persons
that were in sorrow and trouble, sitting before him, and one of them prayed
him to play on the harp to her. This he took amiss, and answered that it
would be an unpriestly thing. Then he was told that it would not be
unpriestly, and presently there entered a youth who prepared a harp, and
when he had turned it, he spun the two threads crosswise over the strings,
and gave it into the hands of the brother, and then the brother began to
write on suffering).
CHAPTER XIV. On The Unspeakable Advantages to Be Derived From Meditating on
The Divine Passion
The Servant.--Truly, Lord, the unfathomable good which is found in Thy
Passion for those who avail themselves of the time and place to meditate on
it is a thing hidden from all hearts. Oh, what a sure path is the way of Thy
Passion, along the way of truth, up to the very pinnacle of all perfection.
All hail to thee, glorious St Paul! thou noble light among all the stars of
heaven, who was wrapt up so high and initiated so deeply into the mysteries
of the Godhead, when thou didst hear the deep words which it is not given to
man to utter, and who yet wast so sweetly touched in thy heart by this very
passion of infinite love, above everything else, that thou didst exclaim: "I
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified."[6] Blessed be thou, too, among all doctors, sweet St. Bernard,
whose soul was so illuminated with the brightness of the eternal Word that
most sweetly did thy tongue exhale from a full heart the passion of His
humility, when thy fervent soul thus spoke: The green bunch of myrrh of my
Lord's bitter Passion have I fondly taken betwixt my breasts, and tenderly
pressed to my heart; I do not ask, like the bride, where He rests at noon
whom I embrace in the midst of my heart: I do not ask where He feeds His
flock at noon, whom my soul so longingly beholds on the cross; that is
certainly loftier, but this is sweeter and easier to attain. From this
love-o'erflowing Passion, I take what fully makes up for the insufficiency
of my own small merits; herein lies my complete justification; to meditate
on this Passion, I call eternal wisdom, the perfection of all knowledge, the
riches of all salvation, an entire satisfaction of all desert; it casts me
down in prosperity, it raises me up in adversity, it keeps me in an even
balance between this world's weal and woe, and guards me against all evil in
complete security. Sometimes I have drunk out of it a draught of salutary
bitterness, but at other times I have also drunk out of it a draught of
spiritual consolation and divine sweetness.[7] O sweet St. Bernard,
therefore is it but just that thy tongue should overflow with sweetness,
since thy heart was so wholly sweetened with sweet suffering. O Eternal
Wisdom, in this, I observe that, whoever is desirous of great reward and
everlasting salvation, of high knowledge and deep wisdom, of standing erect
in joy and sorrow, of possessing full security against all evil, whoever
wishes to drink a draught of Thy bitter Passion, and Thy singular sweetness,
must carry Thee at all times, O crucified Jesus, before the eyes of his
heart.
Eternal Wisdom.--Thou dost not rightly know what good is lodged in it.
Behold, assiduous meditation on My Passion makes out of a simple