Page:PassionDeathOfJesusChristV5.djvu/28

 spit upon  on  his  face,  and  suspended  upon  an  infamous gibbet?

Who could  love  any  other  object  besides  Jesus  when they see  him  dying  in  the  midst  of  so  many  sufferings and insults,  in  order  to  captivate  our  love? A certain devout solitary  prayed  to  God  to  teach  him  what  he could  do  in  order  to  love  him  perfectly. Our Lord  revealed to  him  that  there  was  no  more  efficient  way  to arrive  at  the  perfect  love  of  him  than  to  meditate  constantly on  his  Passion. St. Teresa  lamented  and  complained of  certain  books  which  had  taught  her  to  leave off meditating  on  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ,  because this might  be  an  impediment  to  the  contemplation  of  his divinity; and  the  saint  exclaimed,  “ O Lord  of  my  soul, O my Jesus  crucified,  my  treasure! I never remember this opinion  without  thinking  that  I have  been  guilty  of great  treachery. And is  it  possible  that  Thou,  my  Lord, couldst be  an  obstacle  to  me  in  the  way  of  a greater good? Whence, then,  do  all  good  things  come  to  me, but from  Thee?”  And  she  then  added,  “ I have  seen that, in  order  to  please  God,  and  to  induce  him  to  grant us great  graces,  he  wills  that  they  should  all  pass  through the hands  of  this  most  sacred  humanity,  in  which  his divine majesty  declared  that  he  took  pleasure.”

For this  reason,  Father  Balthasar  Alvarez  said  that ignorance of  the  treasures  that  we  possess  in  Jesus  was the ruin  of  Christians; and  therefore  his  most  favorite and usual  meditation  was  on  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ. He meditated  especially  on  three  of  the  sufferings  of Jesus, — his  poverty,  contempt,  and  pain;  and  he  exhorted his penitents  to  meditate  frequently  on  the  Passion  of our  Redeemer,  telling  them  that  they  should  not  consider that  they  had  done  anything  at  all,  until  they  had arrived at  retaining  Jesus  crucified  continually  present in their  hearts.