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170 consider how His Soul adored God, gave Him thanks, and offered Itself wholly to Him.

Secondly, see how God Himself acted towards the Soul of Christ; how He willed and moved It to endure for our sake buffetings, spittings, blasphemies, scourgings, thorns, and at last the Cross, revealing to It all the satisfaction which He felt in seeing It laden with every kind of affliction and ignominy.

Thirdly, pass to the consideration of the Soul of Christ in reference to Itself. Think how His understanding, which is all Light, perceived how great this good pleasure of God was in seeing Him suffer; and how with Its affection, which is all Fire, It loved His Divine Majesty with unbounded love, because of His infinite Excellence and Its infinite indebtedness to Him. Think also how, being thus called by Him to suffer for our sake and for our example, His will contentedly and joyfully accepted and obeyed with readiness the Divine appointment. And who can penetrate the deep longings of that most pure and loving Soul thus to suffer? It dwelt, as it were, in a labyrinth of sorrows, ever seeking new modes of suffering, and never (as It would) satisfying the desire. It gave Itself freely and wholly, and Its most innocent Flesh, as a prey to wicked men and infernal spirits, to be dealt with as they pleased.