When Jesus appears most lovely

I. The Incarnate Word was called by the Sacred Spouse, All lovely; such is my beloved (Cant. v. 16). At whatever period of His life Jesus Christ presents Himself to us, He appears altogether desirable and most worthy of love, whether we see Him as an Infant in the stable, as a Boy in the workshop of St. Joseph, as a Solitary meditating in the desert, or bathed in sweat as He went preaching through Judea. But in no other form does He appear more loving than when nailed to the Cross on which the immense love He bears us forced Him to die. St. Francis de Sales has said, the Mount of Calvary is the Hill of Lovers. All love which does not take its rise from the Passion of the Saviour is weak. How miserable is the death where there is no love of the Redeemer! Let us stop, then, and consider that this Man, nailed to the Tree of shame, is our true God, and that He is here suffering and dying for nothing but the love of us.

Ah, my Jesus, if all men would be still and contemplate Thee on the Cross, believing with a lively Faith that Thou art their God, and that Thou hast died for their salvation, how could they live far from Thee and without Thy love? And how could I, knowing all this, have displeased Thee so often? If others have offended Thee, they have at least sinned in darkness; but I have sinned in the light. But these pierced Hands, this wounded Side, this Blood, these Wounds which I see in Thee, make me hope for pardon and Thy grace. I am grieved, my Love, for having ever so despised Thee. But now I love Thee with all my heart; and my greatest grief is the remembrance of my having despised Thee. This grief, however, is a sign that Thou hast pardoned me. O burning Heart of my Jesus, inflame my poor heart with Thy love! O sorrowful Mother Mary, make me faithful in loving Jesus!

II. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. xxvii. 46).

Oh, who shall not compassionate the Son of God, dying of grief on a Cross, for the love of men? He is tormented externally in His body by innumerable Wounds, and internally He is so afflicted and sad that He seeks solace for His great sorrow from the Eternal Father; but His Father, in order to satisfy His Divine Justice, abandons Him, and leaves Him to die desolate and deprived of every consolation.

O desolate death of my dear Redeemer, thou art my hope. O my abandoned Jesus, Thy merits make me hope that I shall not remain abandoned and separated from Thee forever in hell. I do not care to live in consolation on this earth; I embrace all the pains and desolations that Thou mayest send me. He is not worthy of consolation who by offending Thee has merited for himself eternal torments. It is enough for me to love Thee and to live in Thy grace. This alone do I beg of Thee, let me nevermore see myself deprived of Thy love. Let me be abandoned by all; but do not Thou abandon me in this extremity. I love Thee, my Jesus, Who didst die abandoned for me. I love Thee, my only Good, my only Hope, my only Love!