A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [39]
I am nothing,
and therefore can do nothing. O Lord, how am I to thank Thee?
Eternal Wisdom.--If thou hadst the tongues of all the angels, the good
works of all mankind, and the powers of all created beings, thou yet couldst
not thank Me, nor requite Me, for the least pang which I suffered for the
love of thee.
The Servant.--Tender Lord, inform and teach me, then, how I may become
pleasing to Thee by means of Thy grace, since no one is able to make Thee a
return for the tokens of Thy love.
Eternal Wisdom.--Thou shouldst often set My sorrowful cross before thy
eyes, and let My bitter torments penetrate to thy heart, and shape thy own
sufferings after them. If I allow thee to pine and wither in disconsolate
affliction and dryness, without any sweetness, thou shouldst not seek after
strange consolation. Let thy cry of misery rise to thy heavenly Father with
a renunciation of thyself and all thy desires, according to His Fatherly
will. The bitter thy suffering is from without, and the more resigned thou
art from within, the more like art thou to Me, and the more dear to My
heavenly Father, for herein the most pious are put to the strongest proof.
What though thy desires may have a thirsty craving to seek satisfaction and
delight in something that might be pleasant to them, yet shouldst thou
forego it for My sake, and thus will thy thirsty mouth be steeped with me in
bitterness. Thou shouldst thirst after the salvation of men. Thy good works
thou shouldst direct to a perfect life, and persevere to the end. Thy will
must be subject, thy obedience prompt to thy superiors; thy soul, and all
that belongs to it, thou must surrender into thy heavenly Father's hands,
and thy spirit must ever be dying out of time into eternity, in
prefiguration of thy last journey. Behold, thus will thy cross be shaped
after My miserable cross, and worthily accomplished in it. Thou shouldst
wholly lock thyself up with My love-wounded heart in My open side, and dwell
there, and seek there thy resting-place. Then will I wash thee with the
waters of life, and deck thee out with My precious blood, in purple. I will
associate Myself to thee, and unite thee with Myself eternally.
The Servant.--Lord, never was there any magnet so powerful in
attracting hard iron to itself, as Thy love-fraught Passion, thus presented
to my soul, is powerful to unite to itself all hearts. Alas! Thou loving
Lord, draw me now by means of love and sorrow away from this world to Thee
on Thy cross, fulfill in me the closest resemblance to Thy cross, so that my
soul may enjoy Thee in Thy highest glory.
CHAPTER XIX. On The Taking Down From the Cross
The Servant.--Ah, pure Mother and tender Lady! When did thy great and
bitter affliction of heart which thou hadst for thy Son, come to an end?
Answer.--Listen to my words with sorrowful compassion. When my tender
Child had expired, and when He hung suspended before me, and all the
strength of my heart was utterly broken, though I could do nothing else, I
yet cast many a glance up at my dead Child. And when they came to take Him
down, it was as if I had been roused from the dead. With what motherly love
did I not press them to my blood-stained cheeks, and when He was lowered
down to me, how affectionately beyond measure did I not embrace Him, dead as
He was in my arms; how did I not strain to my heart my only love elect, and
kiss again and again the fresh bleeding wounds of His face! And yet, with
what revishing beauty His entire body was transformed, all hearts could not
sufficiently contemplate. Then did I take my tender Child on to my lap, and
look at Him. I looked at Him, and He was dead! I looked at Him again and
again, but He had neither voice nor consciousness. Then did I fetch many a
deep and heart-rending sigh, my eyes shed many tears, my whole figure was
deplorable to see, scarcely had my doleful words reached my lips, when they
were choked by grief, and only half expressed. Alas, alas, cried I, whenever
was anyone so cruelly
and therefore can do nothing. O Lord, how am I to thank Thee?
Eternal Wisdom.--If thou hadst the tongues of all the angels, the good
works of all mankind, and the powers of all created beings, thou yet couldst
not thank Me, nor requite Me, for the least pang which I suffered for the
love of thee.
The Servant.--Tender Lord, inform and teach me, then, how I may become
pleasing to Thee by means of Thy grace, since no one is able to make Thee a
return for the tokens of Thy love.
Eternal Wisdom.--Thou shouldst often set My sorrowful cross before thy
eyes, and let My bitter torments penetrate to thy heart, and shape thy own
sufferings after them. If I allow thee to pine and wither in disconsolate
affliction and dryness, without any sweetness, thou shouldst not seek after
strange consolation. Let thy cry of misery rise to thy heavenly Father with
a renunciation of thyself and all thy desires, according to His Fatherly
will. The bitter thy suffering is from without, and the more resigned thou
art from within, the more like art thou to Me, and the more dear to My
heavenly Father, for herein the most pious are put to the strongest proof.
What though thy desires may have a thirsty craving to seek satisfaction and
delight in something that might be pleasant to them, yet shouldst thou
forego it for My sake, and thus will thy thirsty mouth be steeped with me in
bitterness. Thou shouldst thirst after the salvation of men. Thy good works
thou shouldst direct to a perfect life, and persevere to the end. Thy will
must be subject, thy obedience prompt to thy superiors; thy soul, and all
that belongs to it, thou must surrender into thy heavenly Father's hands,
and thy spirit must ever be dying out of time into eternity, in
prefiguration of thy last journey. Behold, thus will thy cross be shaped
after My miserable cross, and worthily accomplished in it. Thou shouldst
wholly lock thyself up with My love-wounded heart in My open side, and dwell
there, and seek there thy resting-place. Then will I wash thee with the
waters of life, and deck thee out with My precious blood, in purple. I will
associate Myself to thee, and unite thee with Myself eternally.
The Servant.--Lord, never was there any magnet so powerful in
attracting hard iron to itself, as Thy love-fraught Passion, thus presented
to my soul, is powerful to unite to itself all hearts. Alas! Thou loving
Lord, draw me now by means of love and sorrow away from this world to Thee
on Thy cross, fulfill in me the closest resemblance to Thy cross, so that my
soul may enjoy Thee in Thy highest glory.
CHAPTER XIX. On The Taking Down From the Cross
The Servant.--Ah, pure Mother and tender Lady! When did thy great and
bitter affliction of heart which thou hadst for thy Son, come to an end?
Answer.--Listen to my words with sorrowful compassion. When my tender
Child had expired, and when He hung suspended before me, and all the
strength of my heart was utterly broken, though I could do nothing else, I
yet cast many a glance up at my dead Child. And when they came to take Him
down, it was as if I had been roused from the dead. With what motherly love
did I not press them to my blood-stained cheeks, and when He was lowered
down to me, how affectionately beyond measure did I not embrace Him, dead as
He was in my arms; how did I not strain to my heart my only love elect, and
kiss again and again the fresh bleeding wounds of His face! And yet, with
what revishing beauty His entire body was transformed, all hearts could not
sufficiently contemplate. Then did I take my tender Child on to my lap, and
look at Him. I looked at Him, and He was dead! I looked at Him again and
again, but He had neither voice nor consciousness. Then did I fetch many a
deep and heart-rending sigh, my eyes shed many tears, my whole figure was
deplorable to see, scarcely had my doleful words reached my lips, when they
were choked by grief, and only half expressed. Alas, alas, cried I, whenever
was anyone so cruelly