Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/235

 indignation, solicitude  for  those  He  loved,  and  other emotions, struggled  within  Him. " He  shall  be  filled with  reproaches." (Lament, iii.  30.)

IV. The Length. — How long  His  torments  lasted! His whole  life  before  had  been  a  continual  suffering. "I am poor  and  in  labors  from  My  youth,"  says  He  by  the royal Psalmist. (Ps. lxxxvii.  16.)  The  pains,  however, which He  suffered  from  His  last  supper  until  His  expiration, were  excruciating  and  intolerable,  and  endured  all that night,  and  the  day  following,  for  about  twenty hours. Contemplate the  cruel  and  loving  scene,  and  express those  feelings  which  condolence  and  affection  suggest.

I. After  Christ  was. dead, His  sacred  body  was  taken down from  the  cross  by  Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea. They laid  the  sacred  treasure  in  the  Mother's arms,  fulfilling  the  expression  in  the  Canticle,  "A  bundle of  myrrh  is  my  beloved  to  me;  He  shall  abide  between my  breasts." (Cant. i.  12.)  Observe  with  what  sighs  and tears and  what  expressions  of  profound  grief  she  received the  mangled  body. Ponder what  was  said  and done by  her  and  her  devout  companions  on  this  occasion. Take care  that  you  make  your  beloved  Saviour "a bundle  of  myrrh"  in  your  regard,  by  frequent  and  affectionate contemplation  on  His  passion. "Gather this bundle  for  yourselves,"  says  St.Bernard.

II. After grief  and  love  had  performed  their  parts  over the dead  body  of  our  Lord,  His  sorrowing  friends  embalm it  and  wrap  it  in  a  clean  winding-sheet. Christ loves cleanliness  even  in  the  grave. Learn hence  to