Eternal Wisdom.--When thou dost strive to do thy best as well as thou dost understand it,and for so doing,dost earn scornful words and contemptuous gestures from thy fellow men,and they so utterly despise thee in their hearts that they regard thee as unable,nay,as afraid,to revenge thyself,and still thou continuest not only firm and unshaken in thy conduct,but dost lovingly pray for thy revilers to thy heavenly Father,and dost sincerely excuse them before Him;lo!as often as thou diest thus to thyself for love of Me,so often is My own death freshly renewed and made to bloom again in thee.When thou dost keep thyself pure and innocent and still thy good works are so misrepresented,that with the joyful consent of thy own heart thou art reckoned as one of the wicked,and that from the bottom of thy heart thou art as ready to forgive all the injury thou hast received as though it never had happened,and,moreover,to be useful to and assist thy persecutors by word and deed,in imitation of My forgiveness of My crucifiers,then truly art thou crucified with thy Beloved.When thou dost renounce the love of all mankind,and all comfort and advantage,so far as thy absolute necessities will allow,the forsaken state in which thou dost then stand,forsaken by all earthly love,fills up the place of all those who forsook Me when My hour was come.When thou dost stand,for My sake,so disengaged from all thy friends in those things by means of which they are an impediment between Me and thee,even as though thy friends did not belong to thee,then art thou to Me a dear disciple and brother,standing at the foot of My cross,and helping Me to support My sufferings.The voluntary detachment of thy heart from temporal things,and its devotion to Me,clothe and adorn My nakedness.When,in every adversity which may befall thee from thy neighbour,thou art oppressed for the love of Me,and dost endure the furious wrath of all men from whichever side its blast come,how fiercely soever it come,and whether thou be right or wrong,as meekly as a silent lamb,so that,in virtue o'thy meek heart,and sweet words,and gentle looks,thou disarmest the malice of the hearts of thy enemies;behold even this is the true image of My death accomplished in thee.Yes,wherever I find this likeness,what delight and satisfaction have I not then,and My heavenly Father also,in man.Oh,carry but My bitter death in the bottom of thy heart,and in thy prayers,and in the manifestation of thy works,and then wilt thou fulfill the sufferings and fidelity of My immaculate Mother and My beloved disciple.
The Servant.--Ah,loving Lord,my soul implores Thee to accomplish the perfect imaging of Thy miserable Passion on my body and in my soul,be it for my pleasure or my pain,to Thy highest praise and according to Thy blessed will.I desire,also,in particular,that Thou wouldst describe something more of the great sorrow of Thy sorrowing Mother,and wouldst relate to me how she bore herself in the hour that she stood under the cross.
CHAPTER XVI.On The Worthy Praise of The Pure Queen of Heaven The Servant.
--Oh,the great riches of the Divine knowledge and wisdom!
how very inscrutable are Thy judgments,and how unknown Thy ways.How many a strange way hast thou of bringing poor souls back to Thee!What were Thy thoughts,or how glad at heart must Thou not have been in Thy eternal immutability,when Thou didst so nobly create the pure,tender,illustrious creature above all pure creatures!Lord,then couldst Thou indeed say:I think the thoughts of peace.[8]Lord,Thou hast,out of the abyss of Thy essential goodness,reflected Thy glory interiorly to Thyself again,inasmuch as Thou hast led back to their origin all beings gone astray in their divine emanation.Yes,Heavenly Father,how should a sinful creature dare to approach Thee,unless Thou hadst given him Thy own elected child,Eternal Wisdom,for a guide?Yes,Eternal Wisdom,how should a sinful creature dare at all times to discover his uncleanness before such purity,unless indeed he took the mother of all compassion for his protectress?
Eternal Wisdom!if Thou art my brother,Thou art also my Lord;if Thou art truly man,woe is me!so art Thou also truly God,and a very severe judge of evil deeds.For this reason,when our poor souls are in the narrow prison-house of fathomless sorrow of heart,and we can neither stir here nor there,nothing remains for us except to lift up our miserable eyes to thee,O chosen Queen of Heaven.Therefore,thou mirror reflecting the brightness of the eternal sun,thou hidden treasure of infinite compassion,this day do I and all penitent hearts salute thee!O ye exalted spirits,ye pure souls,stand forth,extol and praise,commend and exult in the ravishing paradise of all delight,the sublime Queen!for I am not worthy to do so,unless in her goodness she vouchsafe to allow me.O thou chosen bosom friend of God,thou fair golden crown of Eternal Wisdom,permit me,a poor sinner,even me in my weakness,to speak to thee a little in confidence.With a trembling heart,with a countenance of shame,with dejected eyes,my soul falls down before thee.O thou mother of all graces,methinks neither my soul nor any other sinful soul requires permission or a passport to repair to thee.Art thou not the immediate mediatrix of all sinners?The more sinful a soul is,the more reasonable it seems to her that she should have free access to thee;the deeper she is in wickedness,the more reason she has to press forwards to thee.Therefore,my soul,step joyfully forth!If thy great crimes drive thee away,her unfathomable goodness invites thee to draw near.
