Page:StJosephsManual1877.pdf/815

 sake, cause  thy  sufferings  to  be  so  deeply  impressed upon my  soul  that  I may  never  forget  them.

Consider what  were  the  painful  objects  that,  like so many  cruel  executioners,  afflicted  the  heart  of Jesus. The first  and  most  appalling  were  our  sins. The vivid  knowledge  of  all  the  sins  of  men,  a sight of their  enormity,  a most  intense  horror  of  their  malignity, filled  his  heart,  pressed  upon  it  with  such piercing intensity,  as  to  produce  a sorrow  and  a sadness that  can  not  be  imagined. Jesus knows,  and comprehends the  entire  malice  and  atrocity  of  sin,  the enormity of  the  insult  thereby  offered  to  his  heavenly Father; and loving  his  Father  with  a supreme  love, he experiences  a grief  so  poignant,  a horror  so  excessive of  human  wickedness  — all  portrayed  before  him in such  deformity — that  he  is  ready  to  expire  of  intense grief. The sins,  then,  of  all  men,  past,  present, and to  come,  were  the  cruel  tormentors  which  rent without pity  the  sad  heart  of  our  agonizing  Redeemer. My soul,  what  share  had  thy  misdeeds  in  embittering the heart  of  thy  Jesus? Those sins  that  seemed  to thee  once  so  trivial,  agonized  thy  Jesus  with  unalloyed grief. Those sins  thou  hast  committed  for amusement, for  nothing,  have  barbarously  rent  the heart of  Jesus. His sadness,  his  anguish,  his  agony, were increased  by  thy  sins,  by  the  malice  of  thy iniquities. O, how  much  less  would  Jesus  have suffered, hadst  thou  but  sinned  less! Ah! weep bitter tears  now  for  thy  crimes,  detest  thy  malice,  and resolve never  more  to  offend  so  loving  a Redeemer.

Prepare thyself,  my  soul,  for  affliction  and tears, as  thou  comest to  contemplate  the  frightful tortures  practised  on  thy  Redeemer. Enter a