Considerations on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ - 05

Therefore, we ought continually with tears of tenderness, to thank the Eternal Father for having given His innocent Son to death, to deliver us from eternal death: He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; and how hath he not also with him given us all things? (Rom. viii. 32). Thus wrote St. Paul; and thus Jesus Himself spoke in the Gospel of St. John: God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son (Jo. iii. 16). On this account the Holy Churcn exclaims on Holy Saturday: "Oh, wonderful the condescension of Thy love for us! O inestimable gift of Charity, that to redeem a servant Thou shouldst give Thy Son." O infinite mercy, O infinite love of our God! O holy Faith! How can he who believes and confesses this, live without burning with holy love for a God Who is so loving, and so worthy of love?

O Eternal God, look not upon my soul overwhelmed with sins; look upon Thy innocent Son hanging upon a Cross, Who offers Thee the many pangs and insults He has suffered, that Thou mayest have mercy upon me. O God most worthy of love, and my true Lover, for the love of this Thy Son, so beloved by Thee, have mercy upon me. The mercy I ask is, that Thou shouldst give me Thy holy love. Oh, draw me wholly to Thyself, from the mire of my corruption. Burn up, O Thou consuming Fire, all Thou seest impure in my soul, and all that hinders me from being wholly Thine.

II. Let us give thanks to the Father, and let us give equal thanks to the Son, that He has been willing to take upon Himself our flesh, and together with it our sins, to offer to God, by His Passion, a worthy satisfaction. It is on this account that the Apostle says that Jesus Christ has become our Mediator; that is, that He has bound Himself to pay our debts: Jesus is made the surety of a better testament (Heb. vii. 22). As the Mediator between God and man, He has established a covenant with God, by which He has bound Himself to satisfy Divine justice for us; and, on the other hand, has promised us eternal life on the part of God. Therefore, in anticipation of this, we are warned not to forget the grace of this Divine surety, Who, to obtain salvation for us, has been willing to sacrifice His life. Forget not the kindness of thy surety, for he hath given his life for thee (Ecclus. xxix. 19). It is to give us the better assurance of pardon, says St. Paul, that Jesus Christ with His Blood has blotted out the decree of our condemnation, in which the sentence of eternal death stands written against us, and nailed it to the Cross on which He died to satisfy the Divine justice for us (Col. ii. 14).

O my Jesus, by that love which caused Thee to give Thy Blood and Thy life upon Calvary for me, make me die to all the affections of this world; make me forget everything, that I may think only of loving Thee and giving Thee pleasure! O my God, worthy of infinite love, Thou hast loved me without reserve, I desire to love Thee also without reserve. I love Thee, my greatest Good; I love Thee, O my Love, my All!