Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/165

 querable, and  never  yielded  to  the  most  grievous  tor tures.

VIII. He practised  the  virtue  of  obedience  in  its highest degree  during  His  sufferings. He was  "obedient unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross." (Phil. ii.  8.) He was  obedient  not  only  to  His  eternal  Father,  but even to  His  cruel  executioners. " I  have  given  my  body to  the  strikers,"  He  says  of  Himself  by  His  prophet, "and my  cheeks  to  those  who  plucked  them;  I  have  not turned  away  my  face  from  those  who  rebuked  me  and spat  upon  me." (Is. 1.  6.)  Examine  minutely  this  perfect model  of  patience  and  virtue,  and  "  go  and  do  thou likewise."

"I will  sow  her  unto  Me  in  the  earth,  and  I  will  have  mercy  on  her who  was  without  mercy." (Osee ii.  23.)

I. "A  sower  went  forth  to  sow  his  seed." (Luke viii. 5.)  Christ  our  Lord  is  both  the  sower  and  the  seed  itself. He intrusts  the  soil  of  our  souls  with  His  own  precious body  and  blood. He wishes  this  divine  grain  to yield  a  harvest,  not  of  temporal  and  corruptible,  but  of eternal  and  incorruptible,  increase. For "  he  whosoweth in  the  spirit  shall  reap  life  everlasting." (Gal. iii.  8.) Earnestly wish  for  this  blessed  harvest  in  your  soul.

II. Although this  divine  seed  be  in  itself  most  fruitful, it requires,  nevertheless,  the  concurrence  of  a  good  soil to produce  a  harvest. Hence, if  it  fall  on  the  highway, it will  be  immediately  trampled  down;  if  among  thorns,  it will  be  choked  up. Examine, then,  whether  your  soul be a  proper  soil  for  this  seed;  whether  it  be  trampled