Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/214



I. Having  represented  Christ  to  the  eyes  of  your  soul, crowned with  thorns  and  clad  in  a  robe  of  scorn,  covered with wounds  and  fainting  under  them,  imagine  you  hear the words  "  Behold  the  man"  addressed  to  you  by  the Holy Ghost. Believe that  the  divine  Spirit  thus  addresses you,  in  order  that  you  may  more  attentively  contemplate the  Man-God. He whom  you  behold  clothed  in the  semblance  of  man  is  the  Supreme  God,  the  Lord  of  all things, the  long-expected  Messias,  your  Saviour,  the teacher and  shepherd  of  your  soul. For love  of  you  He has  thus  debased  Himself  beneath  the  condition  of  a slave.

II. Next imagine  that  these  same  words,  "  Behold  the man!" are addressed  to  you  by  the  eternal  Father,  proposing  his  Son  to  you  as  an  example  of  every  virtue which you  ought  to  imitate. "Behold the  man,  behold the  servant  whom  I  have  chosen,  My  beloved,  in  whom My  soul  hath  been  well  pleased." (Matt. xii.  18.)  My Son  suffers  Himself  to  be  contemned  and  insulted,  to heal  your  pride;  He  is  naked,  in  order  that  He  may  correct your  covetousness;  He  endures  excessive  torments, to atone  for  your  sensualities;  "He  turns  His  cheek  to him  that  striketh  Him"  (Lament,  iii.  30),  to  teach  you how to  annihilate  your  angry  passions. Examine in what  you  can  imitate  Him.

III. These words,  "  Behold  the  man,"  may  be  addressed by you  and  by  the  whole  Church  to  the  eternal  Father, offering Christ  as  a  peace  offering  for  all  our  sins. O eternal God,  behold  the  man  who  in  the  name  and  on behalf  of  all  mankind  offers  Himself  as  an  atonement