September 18

Jesus On The Cross

Preparation. - After contemplating the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi and his tender devotion to the Passion of Christ, we shall see, first, how our adorable Saviour is crucified by His enemies, and secondly, how He Himself crucifies His friends. Let us examine to which class we belong. When we offend Him, we turn against Him; when we overcome our evil inclinations, we are with Him injunction: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and follow Me” (Luke 9. 23).

I. How Jesus Is Crucified By His Enemies

Nineteen centuries ago a drama was enacted on Golgotha, which never had its like in the universe. The Creator of mankind, restraining His almighty power, allowed His creatures to bind Him, to ill-treat Him, and to bring Him to the summit of Calvary, where they nailed Him to a gibbet of shame and caused Him to die thereon between two notorious criminals. Who will ever be able to understand so monstrous an ingratitude? All nature was moved by it; the earth trembled, the sun refused its light to the deicide, and never will future ages forget this cruel death, the work of sinners, the enemies of Jesus.

But are these sinners contented with having immolated Him on the cross? No, for they still daily persecuted Him. A holy old man foretold of Him when an infant, that He would be an object of contradiction (Luke 2. 34). This contradiction has not ceased. In our own times, as in the days of paganism, Jesus is attacked not only in His doctrine, but also in His Sacrament of love, in which He conceals Himself to bestow His goods upon us. And who would believe it? Men have gone so far as to tread Him under foot, to cast into water, fire, to unclean beasts even, consecrated hosts, and even to offer them as a homage to the devil. The pen refuses to write down the horrors of which this great God is the object in the adorable Eucharist. This is, indeed, a powerful motive for us to offer Him our best homages in the churches wherein He dwells night and day.

But the outrages of the faithful, when committing mortal sin, are not less than those inflicted on Him by the Jews. The latter, says St. Paul, in crucifying the Redeemer, transgressed the law of Moses, but this they did through ignorance. But what should be said of the ungrateful sinner, clearly enlightened by the Gospel, who treads under foot the only-begotten Son of God and crucifies Him afresh? “Revenge is Mine,” says the Lord, “and I will repay” (Deut. 22. 35). This horrid crime seems to partake of the malice of sacrilege, for St. Paul adds, that in banishing God from his heart, the sinner profanes the blood of the New Testament and insults the spirit of grace dwelling in him.

O Jesus, how great is my misfortune in having so many times offended and rejected Thee, my Saviour, my supreme Good and my last end! Fill me with horror for my sinful life. In order to repair it, I will often meditate on the motives that urge me to hate sin, especially the sight of a God hanging between heaven and earth, and dying in pain to expiate my sins.

II. How Jesus Crucifies His Friends

He does this, first, by His doctrine on giving up ourselves and all that is not God. He enjoins on us to take the narrow way, to do violence to our inclinations, to love our enemies, to return good for evil, to pray for those who persecute and calumniate us. He sent his apostles as sheep among wolves, commanding them to allow themselves to be torn to pieces and put to death, rather than make any resistance. “If one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other,” said He; “and if a man will take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him” (Mat. 5. 39, 40). Is not such a teaching, reduced to practice the crucifixion of our fallen nature, of the old man living us?

Our Lord preaches this to His disciples, to His friends. “If a man will come after Me.” But under an apparent austerity this language or doctrine must contain sweet and precious advantages. And, in fact, self-denial destroys in us all the obstacles to God’s reign within us; it disposes us to receive from His goodness the graces that form saints and, therefore, makes us worthy also of the richest rewards. Consequently, our divine Master gives us a mark of His love, when He reveals to us this mystery which is concealed from worldlings and the slaves of their vicious inclinations.

He manifests equal love to us by sending us afflictions. He did not spare these to His apostles and martyrs, to His most privileged saints, without excepting His Blessed Mother. Hence to complain of the cross, to murmur about it, to refuse it, is to reject clear marks of Christ’s friendship, to check His manifestations of love for us. “Life and salvation are in the cross,” says the Imitation; “outside the cross there is no progress or hope of a blissful eternity for the soul.” When we lack patience in adversity, we deprive ourselves of infinite goods, with which Jesus, in His goodness, intended to enrich us, to sanctify and save us.

O my amiable Redeemer, enlighten me as to the value of self-denial and resignation in trials, for then, instead of believing myself removed from Thy Heart on account of the difficulties and the desolation besetting me, I will esteem myself dearer to Thee, since I shall be more like unto Thee. Wherefore I am resolved, first, often to implore of Thee the love of sacrifice and the strength to renounce my eager desires, my perverse propensities, and my own will; and secondly, calmly and meekly to embrace al the annoyances of this life, by uniting them to the torments of Thy Passion and to the boundless love which induced Thee to suffer so much for my salvation.

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September 17

The Stigmata Of St. Francis Of Assisi

Preparation. - To re-animate our devotion to the Saviour’s Passion, we shall meditate, first, on the love of St. Francis of Assisi for Jesus crucified, and secondly, the miracle wrought in his body by the power of his love. Thence we shall conclude with the sincere resolution often look at the crucifix and to draw therefrom the courage to bear generously in ourselves the stigmata of mortification by a life of penance and patience, like that of the saints. “I bear the marks of my Lord Jesus in my body” (Gal. 6. 17).

I. The Love Of St. Francis For Jesus Crucified

From the very beginning of his conversion Francis of Assisi had, like St. Bernard, made for himself a bouquet of myrrh from the remembrance of the diverse sufferings and humiliations of Jesus, to be able unremittingly to recall them and lovingly compassionate them. He considered the Saviour’s Passion as the source of all goods. And is it not, according to St. Paul, the power and the wisdom of God and for us sanctification and redemption? (1 Cor. 24. 30).

Our saint wept so much over the sufferings of his good Master, that he was near losing his sight. When meditating thereon, he would often utter plaintive cries. During an illness he looked continually at the crucifix, and the physician endeavored to distract him therefrom; but he replied that, if he was forbidden to contemplate so sweet an object, he preferred becoming blind, for he found nothing here below that could attract his look, except Jesus crucified. He said, moreover, that he could gaze on the crucifix to the end of the world without ever getting weary. So tender and ardent was the love of the seraphic patriarch for Jesus suffering!

Our divine Saviour was not indifferent thereto, for He often appeared to him covered with wounds to prepare him for the signal favor of the stigmata. A religious beheld a cross proceeding from the saint’s mouth, and another witnessed a vision in which two swords, in the form of a cross, pierced his bowels. Do not all these prodigies testify the intimate union of Francis with the suffering Redeemer?

Are we thus united to Jesus? We often meditate on the Passion; what profit do we derive therefrom? Instead of loving pain, humiliation and hardship, do we not abhor them? Do we not complain at the least untoward event, as if we were on earth merely to enjoy ourselves, and not in order to resemble the Chief of the predestined?

O my amiable Redeemer, I repent of having so often been ashamed of Thy cross by refusing the sufferings coming to me from The paternal Providence. Enable me not to seek any relief in my trials, except the remembrance of Thy torments and ignominies. I am resolved, first, to think habitually on Thy Passion, especially on Thy crucifixion on Calvary; and secondly, to draw from that touching sight sentiments of gratitude for Thy devotedness to my soul’s welfare, motives for confidence in Thy infinite merits and the most intense desire to testify my love for Thee by practicing mortification and patience.

II. Prodigious Effect Of Love In St. Francis Of Assisi

The whole life of this glorious patriarch having been a perfect imitation of Jesus crucified, was it not befitting, says St. Bonaventure, that after he had been so ardently inflamed with the desire of resembling Him in suffering, he should receive from Him sensible marks of His torments?

Being one day engaged in mental prayer on Mount Alverno, he beheld coming to him from heaven a seraph, having six luminous and flaming wings, who suddenly appeared to him as a crucified man. He at once felt in his soul a mixture of unspeakable joy and pain. After a sweet converse with the heavenly spirit, the vision disappeared. And then Francis felt in his heart a seraphic ardor, and his body painful impressions rendering him conformable to his crucified Saviour.

Thenceforth, O wonder, there appeared in his hands, feet and right side the marks of the Saviour’s wounds, whence much blood flowed. But how should this prodigy be explained? St. Francis de Sales answers, that the ardent love of the seraphic patriarch for Jesus caused the intense pain of his compassion to break out externally, so that the saint’s soul wounded its own body with the dart with which it was itself pierced.

Were we also interiorly wounded by the love of Jesus crucified, the world would appear to us so little worthy of our esteem and affection. We would life in it as in an exile, sighing constantly after Jesus Christ. But, alas! to judge from our conduct, it would seem as if Jesus had died, not for us, but only for the saints. We live without ever thinking of the labors and sacrifices He imposed upon Himself to keep us out of hell, and instead of thanking Him for it and corresponding with the exertions of His love, we forget and forsake Him, and we even offend Him, and by our tepidity and unfaithfulness, we render useless for us His blood, His sufferings, His opprobriums.

O Jesus, deign to forgive my ingratitude and grant me the gift of Thy love, but a generous, compassionate and active love. Engrave in my heart Thy sacred wounds, first, the wounds of Thy feet, so that they may penetrate me with repentance and the desire to walk in the ways of penance and resignation; secondly, the wounds of Thy hands, that they may help me to perform perfectly the works that interest and procure Thy glory; and thirdly, the deep wound in Thy divine side, from which the holy flames escape which should consume me with the love of Thee. After the example of Thy loving Mother and St. Francis of Assisi, enable me to bear with Thee and for Thee the stigmata of mortification and self-denial in my body and in my soul.

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September 16

The Tree Of The Cross

Preparation. - As we have previously meditated on the exaltation of the holy Cross, let us now exclaim with the Church: “How beautiful and bright art thou, O tree adorned with the purple of the King!” We shall consider the tree of the Cross, first, as a tree of hope, and secondly, as a tree of life. Then we shall resolve daily to gather from it the fruit of virtues, especially humility, confidence and patience, the fruits that nourished so many saints devoted to the Cross of Jesus. “Beautiful and resplendent tree, adorned with the purple of the King.”

I. The Cross, A Tree Of Hope

One day in a sentiment of humility and confidence, St. John the Silent made a small opening in the rock, against which he had built his cell, and placed therein a few fig-seeds, saying: “I shall know that God will cover me with His mercy, if He deigns to cause this seed to grow.” Some time after a beautiful fig-tree arose miraculously out of the rock and covered the cell of the saint and furnished him with its fruit. Then weeping with joy, the happy solitary recognized by that sign the divine mercy resting over him.

We who have seen rising from the rock of Calvary the bloody tree of the Cross as a pledge of pardon, cannot entertain any doubt as to the remission of our sins, if we truly repent of them. Let us, then, banish from our heart all feelings of diffidence when we gaze at the sacred wood, for by its means the Lord’s “mercy is confirmed upon us” (Ps. 116. 2).

The Israelites, being unable to bear the bitterness of the waters of Mara, Moses, by the Lord’s order, cast therein some branches of a certain tree growing there, and the waters became fit for drinking (Exod. 15. 23-25). How often the tribulations that befall us, make our life bitter and unbearable. Instead of getting discouraged on that account, let us gather a few branches from the tree on which Jesus died, that is, let us look at the cross and bear in mind the Saviour’s goodness, patience and sufferings, and we shall soon look upon our troubles as signs and presents of His tender love for us.

Eve, gazing at the fruit of the tree of knowledge and gathering it contrary to God’s prohibition, unfortunately precipitated us into every evil; we, on the contrary, shall find all goods by contemplating Jesus on the Cross, and asking of Him the graces of sanctification, of which His merits are the source. He Himself gives us the example of every virtue, and helps us to practice them, when we pray to Him for this with confidence and perseverance.

O Jesus crucified, I purpose often to meditate on Thy sorrowful Passion in the hope of obtaining from Thee the pardon of my sins, resignation in suffering and the courage to labor efficaciously at my sanctification. With these dispositions I will find my delight in resting under the shade of Thy Cross, so as to enjoy there by means of mental prayer, the fruits of mercy that are to purify and strengthen my soul and adorn her with virtues. “I sat down under His shadow, whom I desired; and His fruit was sweet to my palate” (Cant. 2. 3).

II. The Cross, The Tree Of Life

In the earthly paradise there was a tree, whose fruits preserved from death those who ate of them. Hence, when expelling our first parents from Eden, God said: “Lest perhaps Adam put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever.” Hence “He placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubim and a flaming sword turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen, 3. 22, 24).

But now that a new tree of life has been planted on Calvary, God no longer forbids us to approach it and take therefrom fruits of immortality. On the contrary, from His Cross Jesus expiring says to us: “I am the vine, you are the branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 14. 4-7).

These words of Christ are verified especially in the Sacrament of the altar, in which the sacrifice of Calvary is daily renewed. We participate especially in this sacrifice by sacramental Communion, which unites us to the God-Man most intimately, and imparts abundantly to us the fruits of the Redemption. It particularly strengthens in us the life of grace, which is superior to every created nature, since it is a participation of the uncreated Nature. Shall we, who are called to such a life by the sufferings and death of a divine Person, hesitate to correspond with so sublime a vocation? When we see Jesus nailed to an infamous gibbet and shedding His precious blood to cure us of our vices and to restore our souls to perfect health, should we not desire to lead here below with Him a life of sacrifice, obedience, charity and devotedness, so as daily to increase in us His supernatural and divine life?

“O holy Cross, the only noble tree; no wood has ever borne fruit like unto that hanging from Thy bloody branches. In thee all is sweet, the nails, the wood and the weight it sustains.” The nails and the wood remind us of the torments of Him who suffered in our stead, and thereby preserved us from everlasting misery. Attached with nails to that wood, our Saviour is that delicious fruit, which in the Eucharist imparts to us the supernatural life which will make us worthy of the blissful immortality.

My dearest Redeemer, the mystical vine, keep me ever united to Thee, and enable me to draw from Thy sacred wounds the spiritual sap which will strengthen my heart and daily raise it higher from grace to grace, from virtue to virtue. And thou, O Mother of sorrows, standing at the foot of the Cross, repair in me the ravages wrought by the fall of unfortunate Eve, and prepare me to receive in holy Communion the fruit of life which is to strengthen my soul for endless bliss.

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September 14

Exaltation Of The Cross

Preparation. - “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,” said our divine Saviour, “I will draw all things to Myself” (John 12. 32). He was speaking of His death on the tree of the Cross. We shall consider tomorrow, first, what the Cross is for Jesus, and secondly, what it ought to be for us. We shall then resolve to venerate and love the Cross, the crucifix, wherever we see it, since it recalls to us the mystery of a God, who died to restore life to us and to draw us to Himself. “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all things to Myself.”

I. What The Cross Is For Jesus

During His agony on Calvary the Redeemer seemed to be the weakest of mortals and to succumb to the hatred of His enemies. But at that very hour the sacred wood on which He was expiring, became the mysterious instrument of His power, which was triumphing over death, hell and sin, appeasing the divine justice, reconciling heaven with the earth, and opening to us the gates of the blissful eternity. Moreover, Jesus made it the instrument of His conquest of souls. According to St. Paul, the word of the Cross was preached in the whole universe (1 Cor. 1. 18). As a double-edged sword (Hebr. 4. 12), it separates on earth virtue from vice, the chaste, patient and enlightened generation from the impure, cruel and idolatrous race. It founded among the nations the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Wherefore all who practice the Saviour's teachings are the disciples and soldiers of the Cross; those walk under its standard, who understand this saying of their Chief: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, carry his cross and follow Me” (Luke 9. 23). Happy will they be, if obeying this maxim, this cry of war and of rally, they conquer their passions to the last, patiently endure the trials of this life and walk in the Saviour's steps by practicing every virtue! They will one day take their place in the chosen ranks of the guard of the King of glory, when He will return on the clouds of heaven, bearing His Cross as the scepter of His power to judge the living and the dead. At this sight the sinners and the enemies of the Christian name will utter cries of despair; and the disciple of Jesus, on the contrary, will be filled with joy and love.

If we wish to find out whether we shall be among the latter, let us examine whether the Cross, or the mystery of our Redemption, is not for us, at least in practice, a scandal or a folly. Do we not do all in our power to ward off pain? And when our Lord sends us afflictions, do we not break out into complaints, acts of impatience and murmurs? We are only cowardly soldiers of the Cross, who do not even know how to bear silently and calmly the trials inherent in the duties of our state.

O Jesus, help me henceforth to meditate on the great mystery of Thy sufferings, wherein I may learn to bear and even to love my daily crosses. For this intention I will make the Way of the Cross, uniting my heart to Thy Sacred Heart and to that of Thy holy Mother, in order to accept beforehand and generously embrace all the trials and afflictions awaiting me in the future.

II. What The Cross Is For Us

The world is like a stormy sea in which we are sailing in the midst of shoals and other dangers. We need a brilliant lighthouse to indicate perilous places and to enable us happily to reach the harbor. This lighthouse, according to St. John Chrysostom, is the Cross of Jesus. By its light we are enabled to discover the falsehood of worldly maxims, of the vain pretexts of our fallen nature, which refuses to humble itself, to forgive, to obey, to be detached, to mortify itself, and thus precipitates itself into the abyss of sin and damnation. We, the poor passengers on earth, should often raise our eyes to the Redeemer's Cross, and it will show us our pride condemned by His humiliations, our greed, by His poverty, our daintiness, by His pains, our domineering spirit by His entire submission to His executioners.

By allowing himself to be nailed to the Cross, our Saviour procures us the means of doing worthy fruits of penance. His crown of thorns expiates the malice of our bad thoughts, of our intentions lacking uprightness and often vitiated; the bitter gall He tastes is a remedy for our gluttony and intemperance; all the sufferings of His sacred body teach us to shun sensual and earthly pleasures, and induce us to prefer the narrow way of self-denial to the broad road taken by the world, which is so fond of honors, ease and comfort of enjoyment and pleasures.

According to St. John Damascene, we can draw from the Cross the cure of all our ills. And, indeed, what hope of spiritual health and life should we have without the Redemption Christ wrought on this sacred wood? When the Israelites looked at the brazen serpent raised on high by Moses in the desert, they were cured of the bites of the fiery serpent. In like manner, will all the wounds of our souls be healed, if we often meditate on Jesus hanging on the cross.

O my God, prostrate in Thy divine presence, I am resolved frequently to recall the sufferings of Thy adorable Son. Enable me to seek at the foot of His cross, first, the true light that will show me the principles of solid virtue, which do not flatter the passions; secondly, the spirit of penance, which will teach me to follow the steps of Jesus by self-denial, detachment and patience; and thirdly, the abundant graces which will help me to heal my fallen nature and to impart to it the holy inclinations of my Saviour and His Blessed Mother.

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