Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/153

 make now  the  firm  resolution  to  offend  thee  no more.

Alas! was it  just,  was  it  right,  that  after  being brought into  existence  by  God,  and  receiving  innumerable benefits  at  his  hand,  I should  be  so ungrateful  to  offend  him  as  I have  done? When this unseen and  omnipotent  hand  formed  me  in  my mother’s  womb,  and  gave  me  hands,  feet,  eyes,  ears, and a heart,  was  it  for  me  to  use  them  in  this  way as so  many  instruments  to  insult  and  violate  thy sublime Majesty? Ah ! unhappy eyes! O wicked hands! O faithless heart! you by  your  sins  have been the  cause  of  grief  to  a God  of  infinite  goodness, the most  loving  and  tender  of  fathers.

Look upon  your  loving  Saviour  on  the  cross  of Calvary! His sacred  hands  and  feet  are  pierced through and  through  with  rude  nails  hammered  deep into the  wood:  his  kingly  head  is  crowned  with thorns; his  sacred  body  is  covered  with  marks of the  cruel  scourges;  and  his  unspeakable  agony appears in  his  dying  eyes  and  the  convulsions  of his  suffering  limbs. Who is  it? and what  is  the cause of  this  bloody  spectacle? Ah! sinner, it  is your  Saviour,  and  your  sins  have  brought  him  to  this sad extremity. Yes, for  your  sake  he  became  man, for the  pardon  of  your  sins  he  suffered  and  died. Cruel Jews! cruel soldiers! but far  more  cruel sinners, who,  in  our  day,  still  crucify  their  Lord,  and mock at  his  pains; for  the  Apostle  speaks  of  them when he  says: “ They  crucify  again  to  themselves the Son  of  God,  and  make  a mockery  of  him.” (Heb . vi 6.)