Him,even Him,whom my soul loveth,I see dying!And as I thus lifted up my voice in lamentation,behold,my Child consoled me very affectionately,and,among other things,said:That in no other way might mankind be redeemed,and that on the third day He intended to rise again and appear to me and His disciples;and He said further:Woman,cease thy weeping;weep no more,my fair mother,I will not forsake thee for ever!And while my Child thus tenderly consoled me,and commended me to the disciple whom He loved,and who also stood by,full of sorrow (those words of His were conveyed to my heart in a tone so lamentable,and so broken by sighs,that they pierced through my heart and soul like a sharp sword),even the hard hearts of the Jews were moved to compassion for me.I cast up my arms and my hands,and,in the anguish of my heart,would gladly have embraced my beloved,yet this I might not do.And then I sank down,overwhelmed by my heart-rending grief,at the foot of the cross and became speechless;and when I returned to myself,and could do nothing else,I kissed the blood that trickled down from His wounds,so that my pale cheeks and mouth were all tinged with blood.
The Servant.--Ah,Thou unfathomable goodness,what infinite torture,what infinite misery is this!Whither shall I turn,or to whom shall I cast my eyes?If I look up at the beautiful Wisdom,I only see woe and distress,at which my heart is like to sink within me.They cry out and shout against Him outwardly,the agony of death struggles with Him inwardly,all His veins are on the rack,all His blood gushes away,it is nothing but ejaculations of woe,and cheerless dying without recovery.Then,if I but turn my eyes to His pure Mother,I see her tender heart pierced,alas!with wounds as though a thousand blades had transfixed it.I see her pure soul lacerated by woe.
Never were such gestures of misery and longing seen as hers;deprived was her sick body of all strength,her fair countenance besmeared with mortified blood.Oh,great misery above all misery!The torture of His heart consists in the affliction of His sorrowing Mother;the torture of His sorrowing Mother consists in the innocent death of her beloved Son,more painful to her than her own death.He beholds her and consoles her tenderly;she stretches out her hands to Him,and would gladly die instead of Him.Alas!
which of the two feels here the most bitterly?Whose is the greater distress?To both it is so unfathomable that there never was any equal to it.Alas!the motherly heart.Alas!the tender womanly mind.How was thy maternal heart ever able to support this infinite sorrow?Blessed be that heart compared to whose sorrow everything that ever was uttered of a heart's sorrow is only as a dream to the reality.Blessed be Thou,O rising blush of morning,above all creatures!And blessed be the flower-enamelled rose-scented meadow of Thy fair countenance,adorned with the ruby red blood of Eternal Wisdom!Alas!Thou affable countenance of beautiful wisdom,how dost Thou fade in death!Alas!Thou beautiful body,how dost Thou hang suspended!Woe is me,Thou pure blood,how hotly dost Thou run down on Thy pure Mother who bore Thee!Lament,ye mothers,lament with me over this affliction!All ye pure hearts,let this rose-coloured,pure blood which so be sprinkles your pure Mother,go to your hearts!Behold,all hearts,ye who ever had sorrow,behold and see,if ever there was sorrow like unto this sorrow!Truly,it is a wonder that our hearts melt not here for pity and compassion;so great,indeed,was this distress,that hard stones were rent asunder,the earth trembled,the sun was extinguished,because they would fain show compassion for their Creator!
CHAPTER XVIII.How It Was With Him At That Hour in Regard of His Interior Man The Servant.
--Eternal Wisdom!the more one reflects on Thy measureless Passion,the more unfathomable it appears.Thy extremity was so very great under the cross,but still more so on the cross,according to Thy exterior powers which,at that hour,felt all the pangs of bitter death.But,gentle Lord,how was it with Thy interior Man,with Thy noble Soul?Had it no consolation,no sweetness like other martyrs souls,so as to mitigate its cruel sufferings?Or,when did Thy sufferings come to an end?
