CHAPTER III. How It Was With Him on The Cross According to The Exterior Man
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 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?