In all things you are made rich in him

The Wounds of Jesus are now the blessed Fountains from which we can draw forth all graces if we pray unto Him with Faith. You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour’s fountains, and you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name-(Is. xii. 3, 4). In short, as St. Paul says: In all things you are made rich in him . . so that nothing is wanting to you in any grace-(l Cor. i. 5, 7).

I. Having, therefore, a great High-Priest who hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high-priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin-(Heb. iv. 14). Since, says the Apostle, we have this Saviour, Who has opened to us Paradise which was at one time closed to us by sin, let us always have confidence in His merits; because from having of His goodness willed to suffer in Himself all our miseries, He well knows how to compassionate us: Let us, therefore, go with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid-(Heb. iv. 16). Let us, then, go with confidence to the throne of the Divine mercy, to which we have access by means of Jesus Christ, that so we may there find all the graces that we need. And how can we doubt, adds St. Paul, but that God, having given us His Son, has given us together with that Son all His goods: He delivered him up for us all; how hath he not, with him, given us all things?-(Rom. viii. 32). Cardinal Hugo comments on this: “He will give the lesser, that is to say, eternal life, Who hath given the greater, that is to say, His own Son.” That Lord will not deny us the lesser, which is eternal life, Who has gone so far as to give us the greater, which is His own Son Himself.

O my chief and only Good, what shall I render Thee, miserable as I am, in return for so great a gift as that which Thou hast given me of Thy Son? To Thee will I, with David say: The Lord will repay for me-(Ps. cxxxvii. 8). Lord, I have not wherewith to recompense Thee. That same Son of Thine can alone render Thee worthy thanks; let Him thank Thee in my stead. O my most merciful Father, by the Wounds of Jesus, I pray Thee to save me. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness, and because I love Thee I repent of having offended Thee. My God, my God, I wish to be all Thine own; accept me for the sake of the love of Jesus Christ. Ah, my sweet Creator, is it possible that Thou, after having given me Thy Son, shouldst deny me the good things that belong to Thee-Thy grace, Thy love, Thy Paradise?

II. St. Leo declares that Jesus Christ, by His Death, has brought us more good than the devil brought us evil in the sin of Adam: “We have gained greater things through the grace of Christ than we had lost through the envy of the devil.” And this the Apostle distinctly says, when writing to the Romans: Not as the offence so also the gift . . . Where sin abounded, grace did more abound-(Rom. v. 15, 20). Cardinal Hugo explains it: “The grace of Christ is of greater efficacy than is the offence.” There is no comparison, says the Apostle, between the sins of man and the gift which God has made us in giving us Jesus Christ; great was the sin of Adam, much greater by far was the grace which Jesus Christ, by His Passion, merited for us: I have come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly -(John x. 10). I am come into the world, the Saviour protests, to the end that men who were dead through sin may receive through Me not only the life of grace, but a life yet more abundant than that which they had lost by sin. Therefore it is that Holy Church calls the sin happy which has merited to have such a Redeemer: “O felix culpa, qure talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!”

Behold, God is my Saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear-(Is. xii. 2). If, then, oh my Jesus, Thou, Who art an Omnipotent God, art also my Saviour, what fear shall I have of being damned? If, in time past, I offended Thee, I repent of it with all my heart. From this time forth I wish to serve Thee, to obey Thee, and to love Thee. I firmly hope that Thou, my Redeemer, Who hast done and suffered so much for my salvation, wilt not deny me any grace that I shall need in order to be saved: “I will act with confidence, firmly hoping that nothing necessary to salvation will be denied me by Him Who has done and suffered so much for my salvation. ”