September 19

Devotion To The Crucifix

Preparation. - St. Francis of Assisi, as we have seen, deserved, through his devotion to Jesus crucified, most signal graces. That we may participate therein, we shall consider the sentiments, first, of repentance, and secondly, of confidence, with which the crucifix should inspire us. And then we shall propose often to look at the crucifix, whilst making acts of contrition for our sins, of hope of forgiveness at the thought of the infinite love that prompted our Saviour to die for each one of us. “He love me, and delivered Himself for me” (Gal. 2. 20).

I. The Crucifix Inspires Us With Contrition

O my God, supreme Majesty, who will enable us to understand the greatness and the extent of the disasters sin brought over all creation? It ruined millions of angels, turning them into demons, and precipitating them from heaven into the dungeons of hell, from glory into disgrace, from eternal joys into endless torments. And to what has it reduced man? Expelled from paradise after his disobedience, Adam was condemned with all his posterity to undergo every kind of evil, including death; and this frightful, but just sentence, has been put into execution for six thousand years.

But there is another far more terrible sentence which ought to make us shudder at the thought of our iniquities; it is the sentence pronounced by Pilate, or rather by divine justice, against the King of glory. When I consider it, it grieves me more than the fall of the immense multitude of angels; I am more frightened by it than by seeing the human race condemned to every kind of scourges. For there is nothing so great, so perfect, so excellent as God, and it is the thrice holy God who is hanging on a gibbet of infamy on account of our sins! O inconceivable sight, which should ever penetrate us with horror at our revolts against the divine Majesty.

The impious dare to question the justice of punishing a momentary crime with endless punishments; and the crucifix replies: “If the mere shadow of sin satiated with sufferings the uncreated Goodness incarnate among us, what does not our nothingness deserve for having dared to trample under foot the infinite greatness of God? Must not our just punishment, necessarily limited as to its intensity, be boundless in its duration?” O, sin, incomprehensible evil, how evident thy malice becomes by the light of a crucified God!

O Jesus, my Saviour, should I not, at the remembrance of my misdeeds, have my heart pierced with a thousand swords, especially on beholding thee hanging on the cross as the worst of criminals? If the sight of the princes of the angelic host falling from heaven for a single sin of thought, makes me shudder; if all the scourges that have afflicted mankind during sixty centuries for a single act of disobedience, horrify me, what impression should not be produced on me by the aspect of the Creator dying instead of His guilty creatures! Grant me, then, O Jesus, a sincere contrition, an intense repentance for having offended Thee, the infinite Goodness, and for having so cruelly contributed to Thy sufferings and ignominies on the cross. Give me the courage to repair the past, by preferring death to the misfortune of displeasing Thee, and by daily striving to increase in Thy friendship, which constitutes my soul’s nobility, beauty, wealth and salvation.

II. The Crucifix Awakens Our Confidence

The Crucifix recalls to us the charitable Shepherd, who, having one hundred sheep, the angels and men, suddenly beheld our poor human nature going astray and losing itself in the way of sin. Wherefore, leaving His heavenly sheep, He came down upon earth, to seek us, going over mountains and valleys, that is, becoming a mortal man, leaving delights for sufferings, glory for shame; and after finding us, placing us upon His divine shoulders, and even sheltering us in His Heart until after triumphing on Calvary over the infernal powers, He opened to us the gates of the eternal fold.

Who is not moved by such devotedness? He who seeks and saves us is not an angel, a cherub or a seraph, but God, our Creator, the Almighty, He whom we have offended, and who, to forgive us, underwent Himself the punishments due to us. O incomprehensible goodness, O ever unspeakable mercy, how can we ever despair of Thee? If a monarch, to prove to a rebellious subject that he has forgotten his crime, wished to undergo capital punishment in his stead, who would ever doubt the sincerity of such a forgiveness? And how then, when beholding the crucifix, can we suspect Jesus of any resentment or bitterness against us?

If we repent, we are sure to recover His friendship, for He never despises a contrite and humble heart. But perhaps we fear relapsing into our previous faults. Where shall we find victory in our combats, except in Jesus crucified? By Him the virgins and martyrs have triumphed over their foes. Why, then, are we so timid and pusillanimous? But we do not know whether we shall be saved. And how can we doubt it when we look at the Crucifix? Is it not the most complete expression and assurance of God’s mercy towards us? How can He allow us to perish, who died on Calvary and still daily dies mystically on thousands of altars, to preserve us from hell and open heaven to us?

O Jesus crucified, I will not be disturbed or discouraged by my wretchedness, but henceforth I will place my trust in Thy infallible promises, in Thy riches, or infinite merits, in the charity that invincibly, as it were, induces Thee to receive us graciously, when we return to Thee, to forgive us when we repent, to lavish favors upon us when we implore Thy infinite goodness. Wherefore I firmly expect from Thee the pardon of my sins, victory over temptations, final perseverance, the grace of a good death and the eternal bliss of the elect.

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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 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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August 19

The Crucifix, A Faithful Mirror

Preparations. - Let us not content ourselves with imitating St. Helena’s devotion to the Saviour’s Cross, but let us also meditate on the Crucifix, as a faithful mirror, first, of the hideousness of our sins, and secondly, of the beauty of the virtues. Let us propose often to contemplate Jesus on the cross as a safeguard against the passions He reprobates, and as an incentive to practice the opposite virtues, of which He gave us the example until His death. “He gave Himself, that He might redeem us, and cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works” (Tit. 2. 14).

I. The Crucifix Shows The Hideousness Of Vice

Jesus crucified, being the spotless mirror of the Deity, manifests to us the deformity of our evil habits by more clearly setting forth the beauty of the divine attributes, that is, of the Goodness that consents to the death of the Incarnate Innocence, in order to save the guilty; of the Justice and Holiness which so terribly punish and require a boundless reparation. What a contrast between our defects and such sublime perfections!

Moreover, nothing is more odious than ingratitude, especially that of a creature that has received every thing, towards the boundless charity of the Creator, from whom all benefits proceed. But our ingratitude towards God has never appeared blacker and more monstrous than on Calvary, where God Himself returned to us good for evil, so far as to sacrifice Himself and shed every drop of His infinitely precious blood for our sake. Oh, how the sight of the crucifix, of Jesus on the cross, ought to confound us, and inspire us with horror for ourselves at the thought of our sins!

And what are our sins, when considered in the infinite Innocence, so fearfully punished for their mere appearance in Him? If our misdeeds excite so much horror in God, that He cannot even bear their shadow in His own Son, how does He look at their reality in us, wretched sinners! Who can tell us how deformed and hideous our faults render us in the sight of the Lord? It is the crucifix that discloses this mystery to us!

O my adorable Redeemer, on Calvary at the foot of Thy cross, I contemplate, as in a mirror, the deformity and malice of my sins. I behold in Thy humble face how monstrous my pride is, which inflicts on Thee so many insults, so much confusion, on Thee who art the only-begotten Son of the Most High. I discover in Thy bleeding body the deformity of my sensual inclinations, which are the sources of so many sins, which I have committed against the God who loved me so much. Deign to cause a fountain of tears to flow in my heart, which, mingled with Thy blood, may wash away the stains of my sins and restore to my soul its former beauty, received in the sacrament of baptism. May the sight or thought of Thy shame and sufferings humble my vain and pretentious mind, and inspire me with the resolution of mortifying myself and doing penance, Detach me from every thing created, and enable me to gain the victory over the three concupiscences, which are the sources of all my vices, and over which Thou hast triumphed by Thy cross.

II. The Crucifix Shows Us The Beauty Of The Virtues

St. Clara of Assisi said one day to her nuns: “The crucifix is the spotless mirror, into which you should continually look, so as to adorn yourselves interiorly and exteriorly with the most varied flowers of all the virtues, and put on the ornaments befitting the daughters and spouses of the supreme King.” This saint was wont daily to draw from Jesus crucified an insatiable love of poverty, contempt, suffering and penance.

In fact, do we not find in the mirror of the crucifix both doctrine and example? Doctrine, inasmuch as it reproduces or recalls to our mind, by the sight of the Saviour’s torments, the austere teaching of the Gospel on self-denial, patience, forgiveness of injuries, the narrow way of mortification of the senses and of all the passions. The example of the Saviour’s virtues, practiced in suffering, shows us still more clearly the splendors of real holiness. Is not humility, in fact, most charming, when we consider it personified in a God of love, who drinks to the very dregs the cup of opprobrium? And what great attractions are there not in obedience, when we see it practiced by Him who, though commanding the whole universe, does not hesitate to submit to His very executioners? His meekness amid ill-treatment, His invincible constancy in the cruel torments of the cross, His constant prayer in the anguish of so painful a death, all that we see in Him, should impel us to walk in His steps.

Ye angels of heaven, come and admire with us the spotless Mirror of the God of majesty, in which the divine perfections are so clearly reflected. In creation they are veiled; but in the dying Creator, they dazzle our sight. The sight of His sovereign majesty debased, of His greatness disgraced, of His power, as it were, annihilated, of His innocence unjustly oppressed, of His wisdom turned into derision, and of His boundless charity ignored, all this most conspicuously shows forth the virtues of Jesus manifested under such circumstances. If the sight of a just man dying a victim of calumny appeared in the eyes of pagan antiquity the paragon of the morally beautiful, what shall we say of the infinitely Just One dying in fearful pains from the blows of His ungrateful creatures?

O Jesus, Jesus on the cross, I wish often to consider Thee, or in the touching image of the crucifix the incomparable beauty of evangelical perfection, where, as in a mirror, I will contemplate the charms of Thy humility so generous and so profound, the powerful attractions of Thy meekness ever calm and resigned, the noble disinterestedness of Thy boundless charity, devoting itself to our salvation. Deign, through the intercession of Thy loving Mother, the compassionate witness of Thy last anguish, to teach me to meditate on the beautiful examples of Thy virtues, which have enlightened and sanctified so many souls in all the ages of Christianity.

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August 18

St. Helena, Empress

Preparation. - This saint is celebrated on account of the service she rendered the Church in finding the sacred wood of the true Cross. Wherefore we shall consider, first, her remarkable virtues, and secondly, her devotion to the instrument of our salvation. And then we shall often and most respectfully make over ourselves the august sign of our Redemption, which St. John Damascene considered as a pledge of Christ’s presence within us. “Where the sign of the cross is, there also is Christ.”

I. Virtues Of St. Helena

The worthy mother of Constantine shares with him the glory of establishing the Christian religion all over the Roman empire after three centuries of bloody persecutions. Her faith and her zeal, says Rufinus, were beyond comparison. Forgetful of her dignity, she mingled among the people in church, when assisting at the divine services. Her whole happiness consisted in joining with the other faithful in the prayers and ceremonies, and in enkindling in the hearts of the new Christians the fire that burned in hers. Having the wealth of the empire at her disposal, she made use of it to relieve the unfortunate, to build and adorn churches.

Inflamed with the zeal to discover the wood of the true Cross, which she considered as a precious treasure, she undertook at an advanced age this difficult task. We may imagine her joy when, after a long and difficult search, the holy Cross of the Redeemer was found buried deep under ground near the holy Sepulcher. Her happiness was at its height at witnessing two striking miracles wrought by the simple contact of that sacred wood, the instantaneous cure of a sick woman and the resurrection of a dead person. O holy Cross, hope of Christians, thou recallest to us the ineffable mysteries of our spiritual restoration, which gave back life and health to our souls, and opened to us the gates of eternal bliss.

Do we, like St. Helena, possess a lively faith and the “zeal of the house of God”? To us, as to her, faith should ever remind us of the majesty of our august religion, its important truths, the necessity of saving our souls, if we wish to escape the punishments of the reprobate. Zeal, which is the offspring of faith and charity, should inspire our heart with a tender compassion for so many who are straying away to their ruin. We would be ready to assist those who are in danger of losing their life; let us, then, not allow those souls to perish that are exposed to eternal death.

O my divine Redeemer, through St. Helena’s intercession, enable me to meditate day and night on what Thou hast done and suffered for the souls of mankind, and especially for mine. Grant me the desire to sanctify myself, and the will to lead to salvation, at least by my prayers, all those that divine Providence has entrusted to my care.

II. St. Helena’s Devotion To The True Cross

From the time Constantine had seen the miraculous cross in the sky and by this sign had vanquished the foes of the Christian name, his mother Helena conceived a special devotion to the Saviour’s Cross, the pledge of our salvation. When, after much labor, she had found the sacred wood, she caused a magnificent church to be built over the Holy Sepulcher, and placed therein a portion of the true Cross, and sent the rest to Rome and Constantinople. These events aroused, most wonderfully, among the faithful the remembrance of the mysteries of our Redemption. Thanks to this devotion, St. Helena practiced heroic virtue. She ceased not, during the remainder of her life, multiplying her good works and sacrificing herself in memory of Him who, for our sake, spared not Himself.

The thought of the Cross, the instrument of our Redemption, should inspire us with generous sentiments. By the cross the early Christians triumphed over the devils, affronted tyrants and underwent the most cruel torments without complaint. “At every step,” says Tertullian, “in coming in and going out, in sitting down to meals; in rising and retiring, before every action, we make the sign of the cross.” “Let us,” says St. Ephrem, “engrave it over our doors; let us mark with it our forehead, our mouth, our breast; let us clothe ourselves with that impenetrable armor.” “The cross,” observes St. John Damascene, “is our defense against the prince of darkness; it raises us up, supports and fortifies us, and all goods of grace are granted to our prayers.”

O Jesus, under the auspices of Thy holy Mother and St. Helena, I am resolved, first, often to meditate with gratitude and love on the great mystery of Thy Cross, of our Redemption, and to engrave it in my mind and heart and in my dearest affections; secondly, to make over myself this sacred sign, in order to obtain strength in sufferings, difficulties and temptations, and to mark with it the objects destined for my use, and to bless with it my table and my bed; and thirdly, in beginning the day, to make this holy sign on my forehead, mouth and breast, being convinced, like St. John Damascene, that where is found the mark, the remembrance of our Redemption, there also is found the Redeemer Himself, or His powerful protection over the souls imploring His help. “Where the sign of the cross is, there also is Christ.”

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