Page:PassionDeathOfJesusChristV5.djvu/34

 How much  do  I not  owe  Thee,  O Jesus  my  Saviour ! Oh, if  I were  to  give  my  blood  a thousand  times  over, — if I were  to  spend  a thousand  lives  for  Thee, — it  would yet be  nothing. Oh, how  could  any  one  that  meditated much on  the  love  which  Thou  hast  shown  him  in  Thy Passion, love  anything  else  but  Thee? Through the love with  which  Thou  didst  love  us  on  the  cross,  grant me the  grace  to  love  Thee  with  my  whole  heart. I love Thee, infinite  Goodness; I love  Thee  above  every  other good; and I ask  nothing  more  of  Thee  but  Thy  holy love.

“But how  is  this?”  continues  St. Augustine. How is it  possible,  O Saviour  of  the  world,  that  Thy  love  has arrived at  such  a height  that  when  I had  committed  the crime, Thou  shouldst  have  to  pay  the  penalty? “ Whither has Thy  love  reached? I have sinned; Thou  art  punished.”

And what  could  it  then  signify  to  Thee,  adds  St.  Bernard,  that  we  should  lose  ourselves  and  be  chastised,  as we  well  deserved  to  be; that  Thou  shouldst  choose  to satisfy  with  Thy  innocent  flesh  for  our  sins,  and  to  die in order  to  deliver  us  from  death! “ O good Jesus,  what doest Thou? We ought  to  have  died,  and  it  is  Thou who diest. We have  sinned  and  Thou  sufferest. A deed without precedent,  grace  without  merit,  charity  without measure.” O deed  which  never  has  had  and  never  will have its  match! O grace which  we  could  never  merit! O love which  can  never  be  understood!

Isaias had  already  foretold  that  our  blessed  Redeemer should be  condemned  to  death,  and  as  an  innocent  lamb