NV-Passion

NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR GOOD FRIDAY
(based upon the Last Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross)

What is a Novena?
A novena is a traditional devotion consisting of specific prayers recited on nine successive days. Besides being a form of praise, a novena is frequently offered for a particular intention. The first novena took place in the Cenacle, during the nine days preceding Pentecost, or the coming of the Holy Ghost. As a regular popular custom, this practice began in 12th century Christianity and continues to be beneficial today as a way of praying for healing, protection or other blessings for ourselves or others.

This particular novena is prayed to God in honor of and thanksgiving for the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, without which there would be no salvation. Though we speak of the Passion and Death of Our Lord, we must not imagine that He only experienced sorrows at the end of His life! His whole life was a life of constant suffering, which was crowned by the supreme sufferings undergone in His Passion and Death.

In praying this Novena, as in the case of all prayer, it is good to begin by opening ourselves wholeheartedly to God's will, offering a simple act of trust in God's wisdom and in His providential love for us all, that disposes all things for the ultimate benefit of our souls and their salvation.

How to Pray This Novena
This novena is based on the Seven Last Words spoken by Jesus while He was dying nailed to the Cross., including extracts from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda and The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the Blessed Anne Catherine Ememrich. Each day of the novena is divided into the following parts: (1) a look at one of the Seven Last Words of Our Lord, with a reflection on the meaning and extent of those words; (2) if applicable, the actual account revealed by Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich; (3) an occasional quote from Holy Scripture wherever relevant; (4) an occasional quote from a saint or a pope; (5) a Prayer; (5) after mentioning your intention, pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary; (7) a Closing Prayer.

FIRST DAY OF THE NOVENA
(new meditations posted each day)

Topic to Contemplate:
Father, forgive them!
They know not what they do!

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

First Word of Jesus on the Cross
As soon as the executioners had crucified the two thieves and divided the garments of Jesus between them, they gathered up their tools, addressed a few more insulting words to our Lord, and went away. The Pharisees, likewise, rode up to Jesus, looked at him scornfully, made use of some opprobrious expressions, and then left the place. The Roman soldiers, of whom a hundred had been posted round Calvary, were marched away, and their places filled by fifty others, the command of whom was given to Abenadar, an Arab by birth, who afterwards took the name of Ctesiphon in Baptism; and the second in command was Cassius, who, when he became a Christian, was known by the name of Longinus: Pilate frequently made use of him as a messenger. Twelve Pharisees, twelve Sadducees, as many Scribes, and a few Ancients, accompanied by those Jews who had been endeavoring to persuade Pilate to change the inscription on the Cross of Jesus, then came up: they were furious, as the Roman governor had given them a direct refusal. They rode round the platform, and drove away the Blessed Virgin, whom St. John led to the holy women. When they passed the Cross of Jesus, they shook their heads disdainfully at Him, exclaiming at the same time, “Vah! Thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days buildest it up again, save Thyself, coming down from the Cross. Let Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the Cross, that we may see and believe.” The soldier, likewise, made use of derisive language.

The countenance and whole body of Jesus became even more colorless: He appeared to be on the point of fainting, and Gesmas (the wicked thief) exclaimed, “The demon by whom He is possessed is about to leave Him.” A soldier then took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and presented it to Jesus, who appeared to drink. “If thou art the King of the Jews,” said the soldier, “save Thyself, coming down from the Cross.” These things took place during the time that the first band of soldiers was being relieved by that of Abenadar. Jesus raised His head a little, and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And Gesmas cried out, “If Thou art the Christ, save Thyself and us.” Dismas (the good thief) was silent, but he was deeply moved at the prayer of Jesus for His enemies.

When Mary heard the voice of her Son, unable to restrain herself, she rushed forward, followed by John, Salome, and Mary of Cleophas, and approached the Cross, which the kind-hearted centurion did not prevent. The prayers of Jesus obtained for the good thief a most powerful grace; he suddenly remembered that it was Jesus and Mary who had cured him of leprosy in his childhood, and he exclaimed in a loud and clear voice, “How can you insult Him when He prays for you? He has been silent, and suffered all your outrages with patience; He is truly a Prophet—He is our King—He is the Son of God.” This unexpected reproof from the lips of a miserable malefactor, who was dying on a cross, caused a tremendous commotion among the spectators; they gathered up stones, and wished to throw them at him; but the centurion Abenadar would not allow it.

The Blessed Virgin was much comforted and strengthened by the prayer of Jesus, and Dismas said to Gesmas, who was still blaspheming Jesus, “Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art under the same condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done no evil. Remember thou art now at the point of death, and repent.” He was enlightened and touched: he confessed his sins to Jesus, and said: “Lord, if thou condemnest me it will be with justice.” And Jesus replied, “Thou shalt experience my mercy.” Dismas, filled with the most perfect contrition, began instantly to thank God for the great graces he had received, and to reflect over the manifold sins of his past life. All these events took place between twelve and the half-hour shortly after the crucifixion; but such a surprising change had taken place in the appearance of nature during that time as to astonish the beholders and fill their minds with awe and terror.

FR. ALBAN GOODIER S.J.
The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The First Word: “Father, forgive them! They know not what they do!”
While the enemy wrangles with each other at the house of Pilate, the Evangelist brings us back to the foot of the cross, that we may hear the first words that fall from the lips of Him who hangs upon it. Two characteristics of Jesus have already been the source of accusations against Him—Jesus the Friend of sinners and Jesus the King; we have now a third characteristic that reaches its crowning point upon Calvary. In all the teaching and practice of Jesus, nothing had been so striking, nothing, if we may so express it, so new, as His constant forgiveness. The Paralytic at Capharnaum, the woman who was a sinner in Magdala, the adulteress in Jerusalem, the Samaritans who refused Him, His enemies at every turn, all these scenes had all but shocked His followers; He had seemed to them to sacrifice justice for mercy, honor for meekness, strength for peace, almost truth itself; that sin might be forgotten and the sinner might go free. Yet in His teaching He had but emphasized the lesson of His deeds. “Forgive and you shall be forgiven” … “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us” … “Seven times?—Seventy times seven times!” The refrain had run through all His life:

“I say to you, Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you.”

There is a Limit to Forgiveness
Still there was a limit even to forgiveness. In Galilee He had pronounced “Woe” on Corozain and Bethsaida; He had said that Capharnaum should go down even to Hell, because they had not heard Him nor received His kingdom as they ought. Over Jerusalem, too, He had wept; Jerusalem would perish because it would not have Him. It would look for Him and it would not find Him; the day would come when there would be left of it not a stone upon a stone. On the Tuesday evening of that very week, when for the last time He had left the Temple and its battles behind Him, as He sat with His Twelve on the Mount of Olives looking down on the beauty of the city below Him, He had foretold to them the doom that was to come. He had added that one day the Son of Man would return in all His majesty, and would pronounce on those who had shown themselves His enemies the sentence:

“Depart from me, you accursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Surely now the time for the fulfilment of that prophecy had come. He had run His course. He had declared Himself; and had been declared, a king; openly at last He had claimed to be the Son of God; and while Pilate crucified Him for the first, His own people crucified Him for the second. Should He now die unavenged, unvindicated, with all this ignominy heaped upon Him, would not His death, unworthy of a king, utterly unworthy of a Son of God, prove His enemies to be right, and His own claims wrong? In the face of such a scandal, what disciple, no matter how devoted, would be able to uphold Him in the future? Moreover, what provocation could be compared to this? He had offered these men the kingdom, and they had refused it; life, and they had rejected it; light, and they had loved darkness rather than the light; Himself, and they had crucified Him. He had warned them of what they did; of the consequences that would come to them; plainly in words, clearly enough in parables, so that When the chief priests and prophets Had heard his parables “They knew that he spoke of them.”

With that irony which He knew so well how to use, once He had led them on unwittingly to pronounce judgment on themselves: “Last of all he sent to them his son, saying: ‘They will reverence my son!’ But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves: ‘This is the heir! Come let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!’ And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard and killed him. ‘When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season.’ Jesus saith to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures? “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord hath this been done and it is wonderful in our eyes.” Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof.’ ” (Matthew 21:37-43).

If then He now came down from the cross, if at this dramatic moment He pronounced on these His murderers the doom with which He had already threatened them, would not all posterity applaud the magnificent act of justice? Would not all the world resound with hosannas to the Son of David, who had so vindicated His own honor? Would it not be said that once more the prophecies and types had been fulfilled, the floods of Noe, Sodom and Gomorrha, the destructions in the desert, the exile of the Chosen People themselves in foreign lands?

Maybe the world would have applauded; maybe even the Christian world would have bowed in homage before a proof of divine justice, but such was not the way of Jesus Christ. The prophets had said of Him that He “Would not break the bruised reed”, and He had said of Himself that He had “Come not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

He had preached forgiveness as no other man had ever preached it before Him. He had said that if a man be struck in the face he should not retaliate ; that vengeance belonged not to men, not even to Himself, but to the Father who knew all things and to Him alone. He had said that He would be the example of men, in this as in all things else; He was “The way, the truth and the life.”

If, then, He had so taught forgiveness, that greatest of virtues in so far as it is the hardest, the most opposed to human nature, of all the things that He taught, then as Man must He give a supreme example. If, as He had said, forgiveness makes man most akin to God the Father, then, to prove Himself indeed the Son of that Father, must He put forgiveness before the world as His own last manifestation. From the throne to which He was nailed, lifted up at last so that He might draw all things to Himself, at the solemn moment when He was to be declared the Redeemer of the world, He must set an example of forgiveness beyond which no man could go. He had told men to forgive that they might be “The children of your Father Who is in heaven.”

This, then, would be the way He would prove He was the Son of that Father, not the way men expected, or these His very enemies demanded of Him. He would be “Perfect, as the heavenly Father is perfect.”

He looked, not at men and their judgments, not at His enemies and their defiance, but upwards to the Father Himself. He spoke, not as the Judge that He was to be, not as the Master that He had always been, but as the Redeemer that at that moment He was. He searched for a reason to forgive, and even in that vast ocean of evil His infinite love found it, as love always finds it when it seeks. He allowed the words to be heard, by some at least around Him. That they were words of prayer did not surprise them; those who knew Him were accustomed to His prayer. But this was a prayer to be ever remembered; the prayer of Jesus crucified, for these His executioners, in such a place, at such a time, under such conditions.

And Jesus said: “Father! Forgive them! For they know not what they do.”

MEDITATION

Forgiveness
The first words that Jesus spoke after being nailed to the Cross were words of forgiveness. He had gone through much suffering and strain. He had been taken from court to court, from Caiphas to Pilate to Herod and back to Pilate. He had felt the angry tide of human passion explode against Him in false testimony, in insults and in shouting for His death. He had already sweat blood, had been scourged and crowned with thorns. He had walked the exhausting, bitter steps carrying His Cross to Calvary and had been stripped of His garments.

He Forgives
But no doubt the actual nailing to the Cross brings with it a new and more severe pain. The long, roughly shaped spikes tearing through His hands and feet not only burn like fire but send new throbs of pain throughout His whole body. Most of the poor slaves or criminals who were executed by crucifixion screamed and shouted in despair at this point. Ordinarily all this new, intense suffering wrung words from the mouth of the victim of crucifixion. But Christ put into practice what He had counseled, by praying for those who were His enemies. The height of physical pain wrung from His lips only the words of forgiveness: "Father, forgive them." He asked forgiveness for the soldiers, for the Jews who had maneuvered His execution, for all who by sinning in the years to come were to co-operate in His death.

He Excuses
Christ added words of excuse: "For they know not what they do." No doubt these words applied most fully to the Roman soldiers, for they were just the rough instruments of execution. But the words were put forth as a plea for all, considering the blindness of human reason and the force of passion on the human will. The high priests and other leaders knew quite well what they were doing, but even for them the enormity of the crime may not have been altogether clear. Our Lord prayed for their forgiveness.

He had much to forgive even as a man, abstracting from the fact of His Divine Nature. These people who had brought on Him so much pain and disgrace were the very ones whom He had been trying to help. He had spent the past few years going about their country preaching, working miracles, even raising the dead from the grave. Yet, they closed their eyes to all this. They invented lies, tried to make it appear that this Man who lived in poverty, who had fled when some would make Him king, was plotting to overthrow the government and take over the power for Himself and His followers. The accusations against Him during the trial were absolutely false, as Pontius Pilate, the neutral Roman, also recognized.

Hard to Take
Most of us probably know from experience that if there is anything hard to take, it is a deliberately false accusation. If we are accused of something we have not done, our blood begins to boil immediately, and angry words rush to our lips. When false accusations come from ones we have been trying to help, they are even harder to take, for the ingratitude stings us. Yet this is exactly the situation, humanly speaking, that Christ found Himself in. To false accusation, to ingrained ingratitude, He reacts by a prayer for forgiveness.

St. Stephen
St. Stephen, the first martyr, comes to mind as a striking instance of one who followed the example of his Master in forgiving. His words of wisdom and truth so cut the Jewish leaders to the heart that they gnashed their teeth. They took Stephen out and cast stones at him. But while they were stoning him to death, he fell on his knees and prayed: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:59). He could have called out to those who stoned him: "Do not forget that there is a just God, and that you will be punished for this!" Filled with the spirit of Christ, he prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies.

So have the true followers of Christ acted through the ages. The lives of Saints are full of examples of ready forgiveness. The early martyrs prayed for their executioners. From our own shores have come stories of those who were tortured, yet prayed for those who tortured them.

In March of 1649, Father Jean de Brebeuf endured martyrdom at the hands of the Iroquois Indians. Many times he spoke the words: "Jesus, have mercy on us," begging perseverance for himself and the other Christian prisoners, and forgiveness for their tormentors. The Indians poured scalding water over his head, jesting that without this baptism he could not be saved. "Jesus, have mercy on us" was his answer. He asked that God might forgive them since they did not know what they were doing, and would lead them all to a true Baptism. In fury at not being able to break Father de Brebeuf's spirit, the Iroquois cut off his nose and upper lip. Unable to endure his prayers for mercy for them, they cut out his tongue. Even then, the dying martyr forced from his tongueless mouth a hoarse, guttural: "Jesus, have mercy!"

St. John Gualbert
Back in the eleventh century, a man by the name of John Gualbert set out to avenge the death of his brother, Hugh. Hugh had been murdered, and John swore that he would kill the murderer. The father, also full of sorrow and resentment, encouraged him. John was a soldier and considered it upholding his honor to make up for the death of an only brother. So he set out to look for the killer.

He met him on Good Friday in a passage so narrow that there was no escape. The man was unarmed and fell on his knees. He stretched out his arms in the form of a cross and asked, for the love of Jesus Crucified, to be forgiven his crime. John Gualbert did not hesitate long. He responded to grace and forgave the man in the name of Jesus Crucified; he even went forward and embraced him. God did not allow John to go unrewarded, but filled his soul with grace, leading him to the monastery, where he was to lead a strict and holy life. The Catholic Church now celebrates the Feast of St. John Gualbert on July 12th. Had he refused the plea for forgiveness, he would himself have become a vindictive murderer. But he forgave and became a Saint.

Not Always Easy
This does not mean to say that to forgive is always easy to do. In certain cases it may take great effort to forgive. Suppose somebody causes you to lose a good job; imagine somebody who deliberately ruined your health; put yourself in the position of St. John Gualbert, whose brother was murdered. No matter what effort it takes, no matter how greatly we have been wronged, the commandment of Christ stands. We must forgive.

"I say to you, love your enemies"
In some instances the wrong we suffer is genuine. In many more instances, it is much more a matter of hurt feelings and often of childishness that creates the wrongs. Very often the whole case can be seen by an unprejudiced observer to be a matter of pride. Perhaps there were some words spoken to us in anger, not altogether justifiable. The person who spoke them may regret his words very soon. But we rear up in indignation and make a big thing of them. Long after our "enemy" has humbly accused himself in Confession of harsh words, they still rankle in our hearts. A long-term grudge begins. There is not really much to forgive; but by refusing to forgive, the grudge becomes solidified. As time goes on, it is usually harder to forgive.

Forgive Us ... As We Forgive
Each day as we pray the Our Father, the prayer taught to us by His eternal Son, we pray to be forgiven even as we forgive—"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." If we do not forgive those who trespass against us, we are actually praying to God not to forgive us our own sins. We pray to be forgiven as we forgive.

Robert Louis Stevenson, the English author, the writer of Treasure Island and other stories, was one night leading the prayers in his family circle. When he came to the words: "Forgive us our trespasses," he jumped up and went outside. After about twenty minutes he returned and, with great emotion, finished the prayers. Later he explained to his wife and children: "When I came to those words, 'Forgive as I wish to forgive others,' I thought of a certain man who had offended me today. Feelings of hatred stirred up in my heart. I could not go on with that beautiful prayer until I had fought these feelings down and made myself forgive as I asked to be forgiven." During the time that Robert Louis Stevenson was gone, he had conquered his feelings and gone to the home of the offender and assured him that all was well between them.

All of us hope that God will forgive us our sins. All of us have sinned, and perhaps mortally, many times. If we expect forgiveness, we must extend it to others. Otherwise, we will be like the unmerciful servant spoken of by Our Lord. (Matt. 18:2335). This man was called by the king to pay a very large debt. But he had no means of paying, so the king ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children. But the servant fell down and besought the king, saying: "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." So the king, moved by compassion, released him and canceled the entire debt. Then this servant, going out, met a fellow servant who owed him a small debt. He laid hold of him and demanded payment. The fellow servant fell down before him, saying: "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." But the first servant would not listen, and instead had him cast into prison. When the king was informed of this, he called in the first servant and said to him: "Wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?" And being angry, he handed him over to the torturers until he should pay all. At the end of this parable, Our Lord said: "So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts."

Any time that we feel resentment and the growing of hard feelings and grudges within us, let us remember these things. Above all, let us look back to Calvary and remember the words of Our Lord: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

PRAYER

O Lord Jesus Christ, fount of love and mercy, Who didst say: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7) and when Peter asked Thee if we were to forgive forgive our neighbor as much as seven times, Thou didst reply: "I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times" (Matthew 18:22). You have forgiven me on more than seventy-times seven occasions and still I keep sinning! Grant me grace of gratitude for Thy overwhelming mercy and help me not abuse Thy merciful Heart through continued sin, indifference and lukewarmness. I beg this grace of Thee through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of the Mother of Mercy. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.

Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

LITANY OF THE PASSION

Lord, have mercy on us!
Christ, have mercy on us!
Lord, have mercy on us!

Christ, hear us!
Christ, graciously hear us!

God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us!
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us!
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us!
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, the eternal Wisdom,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, conversing with men,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, hated by the world,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, sold for thirty pieces of silver,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, prostrate in prayer,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, strengthened by an angel,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, agonizing in a bloody sweat,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, betrayed by Judas with a kiss,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, bound by the soldiers,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, forsaken by Thy disciples,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, before Annas and Caiaphas,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, struck by a servant on the face,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, accused by false witnesses,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, declared worthy of death,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, spat upon in the face,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, blindfolded,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, struck on the cheek,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, thrice denied by Peter,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, delivered up to Pilate,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, despised and mocked by Herod,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, clothed in a white garment,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, rejected for Barabbas,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, torn by scourges,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, bruised for our sins,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, regarded as a leper,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, covered with a purple robe,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, crowned with thorns,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, struck with a reed,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, demanded for crucifixion,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, condemned to death,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, given up to Thy enemies,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, laden with the Cross,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, led as a lamb to the slaughter,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, stripped of Thy garments,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, fastened with nails to the Cross,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, wounded for our iniquities,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, praying for Thy murderers,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, reputed with the wicked,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, blasphemed on the Cross,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, reviled by the malefactor,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, promising Paradise to the thief,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, commending Saint John to Thy Mother as her son,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, forsaken by Thy Father,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, given gall and vinegar to drink,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, testifying that all things written concerning Thee were accomplished,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, commending Thy spirit into the hands of Thy Father,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, obedient even unto death,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, made a propitiation for us,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, taken down from the Cross,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, laid in a sepulcher,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, rising gloriously from the dead,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, ascending into Heaven,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, our Advocate with the Father,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, sending down the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, exalting Thy Mother,
Have mercy on us!

Jesus, Who shall come to judge the living and the dead,
Have mercy on us!

Be merciful,
Spare us, O Lord!
Be merciful,
Graciously hear us, O Lord!

From all evil,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

From all sin,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

From anger, hatred, and every evil will,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

From war, famine, and pestilence,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

From all dangers of mind and body,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

From everlasting death,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy most pure conception,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy miraculous nativity,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy humble circumcision,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy baptism and fasting,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy labors and watchings,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy cruel scourging and crowning,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy thirst, and tears, and nakedness,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy precious Death and Cross,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

Through Thy sending forth the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,
Deliver us, O Jesus!

On the Day of Judgment, we sinners,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst spare us,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst pardon us,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst bring us to true penance,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst pour into our hearts the grace of the Holy Spirit,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst defend and propagate Thy Church,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst preserve and increase all societies assembled in Thy Holy Name,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst bestow upon us true peace, humility, and charity,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst give us perseverance in grace and in Thy holy service,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst deliver us from unclean thoughts, the temptations of the devil, and everlasting damnation,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst unite us to the company of Thy Saints,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

That Thou wouldst graciously hear us,
We beseech Thee, hear us!

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world;
Spare us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world;
Graciously hear us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world;
Have mercy on us!

Christ hear us!
Christ, graciously hear us!

Lord, have mercy!
Christ, have mercy!
Lord, have mercy!

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!

SECOND DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Second Word of Jesus on the Cross
A little hail had fallen at about ten o'clock,—when Pilate was passing sentence—and after that the weather cleared up, until towards twelve, when the thick red-looking fog began to obscure the sun. Towards the sixth hour, according to the manner of counting of the Jews, the sun was suddenly darkened. I was shown the exact cause of this wonderful phenomenon; but I have unfortunately partly forgotten it, and what I have not forgotten I cannot find words to express; but I was lifted up from the earth, and beheld the stars and the planets moving about out of their proper spheres. I saw the moon like an immense ball of fire rolling along as if flying from the earth.

I was then suddenly taken back to Jerusalem, and I beheld the moon reappear behind the Mountain of Olives, looking pale and full, and advancing rapidly towards the sun, which was dim and over-shrouded by a fog. I saw to the east of the sun a large dark body which had the appearance of a mountain, and which soon entirely hid the sun. The center of this body was dark yellow, and a red circle like a ring of fire was round it. The sky grew darker and the stars appeared to cast a red and lurid light. Both men and beasts were struck with terror; the enemies of Jesus ceased reviling him, while the Pharisees endeavoured to give philosophical reasons for what was taking place, but they failed in their attempt, and were reduced to silence. Many were seized with remorse, struck their breasts, and cried out, "May his blood fall upon his murderers!"

Numbers of others, whether near the Cross or at a distance, fell on their knees and entreated forgiveness of Jesus, who turned his eyes compassionately upon them in the midst of his sufferings. However, the darkness continued to increase, and everyone excepting Mary and the most faithful among the friends of Jesus left the Cross. Dismas then raised his head, and in a tone of humility and hope said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into thy kingdom." And Jesus made answer, "Amen, I say to thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

FR. ALBAN GOODIER S.J.
The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ

But perhaps the abuse that cut deepest into the heart of Jesus on the Cross was that which came from the crosses on either side of Him. From Roman soldiers He could expect no better treatment, though even from them, before the tragedy was over, He was to receive His prize of honor. From the elders and the leaders of Israel He was reaping only that which He had reaped from the beginning; though by them, too, by friend and enemy alike, He would be treated worthily at the end. But there was one class to whom He had always been drawn, for whom He had always had a peculiar fascination. He had been known in life as “the friend of publicans and sinners”; He had risked His very reputation for their sakes; only this morning He had been classed with them, a “malefactor”, as if the fact had required no proof. Often in His life by word and deed He had defended them; He had declared that such as they would enter the Kingdom when the more self-righteous would be cast out. He had spoken parables which had all proclaimed His predilection for the downtrodden; for the prayer of the Publican, for the broken Prodigal, for the Lost Sheep that He would seek at whatsoever cost to Himself. And in return, though in His lifetime He received insult from others in plenty, there is no record that He was ever insulted by publicans, or sinners, or the outcast. As, at the beginning, men of this type had gathered round John the Baptist, so had they come to Him. There had always been understanding; whatever their state, they had always known Him as a friend.

And yet at this moment even that consolation seemed to be denied Him; for the first time these His beloved turned against Him. “And the selfsame thing the thieves, that were crucified with him, reproached Him with and reviled him.”

If He was, as men reported, “the friend of sinners”, if He had said: “Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you”, had He not now an unmatched occasion to prove the truth of His words? As they, too, writhed in their agony on each side of Him, though stupefied in part by the drink that had been given to them, they joined in the cursing of the crowd: “If thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us!”

Still, as from others, so from sinners, recognition came at last ; indeed, since in life and in death He had given most to them, so from them He received the one consolation of Calvary. One of the convicts continued his abuse ; the other grew silent. He had heard the prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” They were strange words to come from the mouth of a condemned and convicted criminal; stranger still from one who was said to be a King. But they were words of prayer, and prayer became a dying man: would that he, too, could pray, and could go to the God of his fathers, to the bosom of Abraham, with some sort of contrition in his heart, with some word of hope on his lips. He ceased his own raillery; if he could, he would check the abuse of his comrade. His arguments might not be convincing; they might be confused, but his soul was in his words and they would say what he had in mind.

“And one of these robbers, who were hanging, blasphemed him saying: ‘If thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us!” But the other answering rebuked him saying “Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art under the same condemnation!”

It has often been noticed in the life of Jesus how a grace accepted has been the doorway to another. Jesus led His own to Himself step by step. We have seen it in Simon and Nathanael, in the first days by the Jordan; in the Roman centurion at Capharnaum, after the Sermon on the Mount; in the Woman who was a sinner at Magdala; in the Rich Young Man who came to Him in Perea, even though at the final step he failed. Nay, more; when He was asked for anything, when any confessed Him as He would be confessed, how generously Jesus poured Himself out, beyond the suppliant's dreams! A paralytic came to Him to be healed; Jesus sent him away, healed in both soul and body. A poor creature fell at His feet penitent; He made of her an intimate friend. An apostle confessed Him to be the true Son of God; He made him the head of His universal church.

So, most conspicuously of all, as if He would set this last seal on all He had said and done for sinners, was it here with this dying criminal. The man had seen and had felt compassion for the dying Sufferer beside him; he had felt compassion and had defended Him. At once he received his reward; there came to him the sight of his own guilt, and the grace of contrition came with it. And with contrition his eyes were opened: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”

He saw his own guilt and the justice of his sentence; he saw the injustice that was being done to the Man beside him. Then came another grace, another vision, revealed to him “not by flesh and blood, but by the Father who is in Heaven”, as, long ago, it had been revealed to Simon Peter. Not only was Jesus innocent; being innocent, He must indeed be that which He claimed to be. He was a King, of a kingdom not of this world, of a kingdom which He would enter, even through the gates of death. Others had asked that they might sit, the one on His right hand, the other on His left, in that kingdom; the penitent criminal had no such ambitions. He was hanging on His right hand now, that was honour enough. For the rest, if afterwards in His kingdom this King would but remember His companion in death, he would be more than glad to die. Already he knew in whom he believed, he knew in whom he trusted; even on the cross He who was sent “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel” had not failed the sinner who looked up to Him, had gone after one and had found it. We may watch the growth of grace, step by step, from light and understanding to yet further light, as the crucified penitent continues:

(1) “And we indeed justly, for we have received the reward of our deeds.”
(2) “But this man hath done no evil.”
(3) “And he said to Jesus: ‘Lord, Remember me when Thou shalt come into thy kingdom.’”

It was indeed a tremendous act of faith, of the kind specially dear to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in a special way it must be rewarded. As He had rewarded His Mother's faith long ago at Cana; as He had praised and crowned the Roman soldier's faith at Capharnaum; as the Syro-Phcenician's faith had been honoured by Him in the country about Tyre; as Simon's, for his brave confession; so now, for this unique recognition of Him, this solitary voice among all the execration, Jesus would reward this man in His own lavish way, full measure, flowing over. “Remember him?” That alone would have been much; it is all that a dying man will often ask of a friend. But it was not enough for the heart of Jesus Christ. “Remember him in the kingdom?” The very word “kingdom” no longer satisfies Him. Jesus turned His aching head towards His companion in suffering. He spoke with that emphatic introduction which He had always been wont to use whenever He proclaimed a solemn truth. From His throne on Calvary He spoke and acted and bestowed His largess like a King. Then Jesus said to him: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me In paradise.” (The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by Fr. Alban Goodier)

MEDITATION

It was language worthy of a conqueror, spoken on a field where a battle had been won; it was a reward worthy of Jesus Christ, the King of Israel, the Son of God. From a criminal, in an instant, to a saint, the first of the New Dispensation; with this unique distinction granted to no other, that he was canonized before his death.

Legend of the Good Thief
We read in The Life of Mary As Seen by the Mystics, that “to escape the wrath of Herod, St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin were fleeing into Egypt with the Divine Child, they arrived at the camp of some highway robbers, who were at first inclined to treat them cruelly. But when the leader looked at the Infant Jesus, somehow his hard heart was deeply touched, and he ordered his men not to harm the travelers. Taking them into his hut, he had his wife give them some food and settle them comfortably in a corner.

“At Mary's request the woman brought her a large container filled with water, in which the Blessed Virgin gave her Son a bath and washed His swaddling clothes. Meanwhile the chief robber said to his wife: “That is no ordinary child! He is a holy Baby! Ask His Mother to let you bathe our leprous son in the water she has used. Perhaps it will heal him?”

“But before the woman said a word, Mary urged her to wash her sick son in the water. Then the mother brought in her three-year-old boy, whose leprosy was so advanced that it covered all his face and body. Yet as soon as he was placed in the water that Jesus had used, which was now clearer than it had been before, the sick boy's skin became perfectly smooth and healthy.

“His mother was almost beside herself with joy and gratitude. She tried to kiss Mary and Jesus, but the Mother of God gently held her off and did not let her touch either of them. The father told all his men about the miracle, and they crowded into the hut and stared at the Holy Family with awe.

“Later Mary had a long talk with the mother, who promised that she would stop living from crime as soon as she could.
That night Mary hardly slept at all. She remained sitting on her bed, praying.

“The next morning when the Holy Family left with some new provisions, the robber chief gratefully said good-by to them and exclaimed with deep emotion: “Remember me, wherever you are!” Thirty-three years later his robber son said to the Man crucified beside him on Calvary: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!” And that time—again due to Mary's prayers—Jesus healed his soul.” (The Life of Mary As Seen by the Mystics, Raphael Brown).

Remember
Whether the memory of the story his mother told him now came back to the thief and made him look kindly on Christ, we do not know. It might have been that his first meeting with the Savior was on the day when his heart was filled with compunction on hearing the story of a certain man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers. Perhaps, too, his first intimation that he was suffering with the Redeemer came to him as he turned his tortured head and read an inscription which bore His name, "Jesus"; His city, "Nazareth"; His crime, "King of the Jews." At any rate, enough dry fuel of the right kind gathers on the altar of his soul, and now a spark from the central Cross falls upon it, creating in it a glorious illumination of faith. He sees a Cross and adores a Throne; he sees a condemned man, and invokes a King: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom."

Not Praised by Religious Pharisees, but Praised by a Sinful Thief
Our Blessed Lord was owned at last! Amidst the clamor of the raving crowd and the dismal universal hiss of sin, in all that delirium of man's revolt against God, no voice was lifted in praise and recognition except the voice of a man condemned. It was a cry of faith in Him whom everyone else had forsaken, and it was only the testimony of a thief. If the son of the widow of Nain, who had been raised from the dead, had cried out a word of faith in the Kingdom of One who was seemingly losing His Kingdom; if Peter, who on the Mount of Transfiguration had seen His face shine like the sun and His garments whiten like snow, had acknowledged Him; if the blind man of Jericho whose eyes were opened to the light of God's sunshine had been opened anew to proclaim His Divinity, we should not have been surprised. Why, if any of these had cried out, perhaps the timid disciples and friends would have rallied, perhaps the scribes and Pharisees would have believed! But at that moment when death was upon Him, when defeat stared Him in the face, the only one outside the small group at the foot of the Cross to acknowledge Him as Lord of a Kingdom, as the Captain of Souls, was a thief at the right hand of Christ.

At the very moment when the testimony of a thief was given, Our Blessed Lord was winning a greater victory than any life can win, and was exerting a greater energy than that which harnesses waterfalls; He was losing His life and saving a soul. And on that day when Herod and his whole court could not make Him speak, nor all the power of Jerusalem make Him step down from the Cross, nor the unjust accusations of a courtroom force Him to break silence, nor a mob crying, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save," bring from His burning lips a retort, He turns to a quivering life beside Him, speaks, and saves a thief: "This day you will be with Me in Paradise." No one before was ever the object of such a promise, not even Moses nor John, not even Magdalen nor Mary!

It was the thief's last prayer, perhaps also his first. He knocked once, sought once, asked once, dared everything and found everything. When our spirits stand with John on Patmos, we can see the white-stoled army in Heaven riding after the conquering Christ; when we stand with Luke on Calvary, we see the one who rode first in that procession. Christ, who was poor, died rich. His hands were nailed to a Cross and yet He unlocked the keys of Paradise and won a soul. His escort into Heaven was a thief. May we not say that the thief died a thief, for he stole Paradise?

Oh, what greater assurance is there in all the world of the mercy of God? Lost sheep, prodigal sons, broken Magdalens, penitent Peters, forgiven thieves! Such is the rosary of Divine forgiveness.

The Mercy of God to Sinners
God is more anxious to save us than we are to save ourselves. There is a story told to the effect that one day Our Blessed Lord appeared to Saint Jerome, saying to him, "Jerome, what will you give Me?" Jerome answered, "I will give You my writings," to which Our Lord replied that it was not enough. "Then," said Jerome, "what shall I give You? My life of penance and mortification?" But the answer was, "Even that is not enough!" "What have I left to give You?" cried Jerome. Our Blessed Lord answered, "Jerome, you can give Me your sins."

When a man is in great pain or dying, even his worst enemies will ordinarily leave him in peace. It would be unthinkable to walk into the sickroom of a dying man and make fun of him and taunt him. Such things are done only when savagery and the passion of hate are given full sway. Such things have happened under the banner of Communism, which denies God and which strips man of worth and dignity. This materialistic philosophy makes man an animal, so it may treat him like an animal or worse. Such things also happened while Christ was hanging on the Cross. His enemies derided Him, scoffed at Him and mocked Him while He hung dying in pain.

A Guarantee
To all this, which no doubt went on for some time, Christ replied not a single word. Yet He replied immediately to what was said by the thief crucified at His right. This man rebuked the thief on the left hand for his blasphemy. He told him that he should fear God, since he was soon about to die. "And we indeed justly," he continued, "for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil." (Luke 23:41). Then he said to Jesus: "Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom." The answer was a promise and a reassurance that went far beyond the request: "Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43). The thief had diffidently asked merely to be remembered. He was given a guarantee of saving his soul and of eternal happiness.

He Stole Heaven
The Roman Martyrology, which is the book listing all the saints, lists under March 25: "the Good Thief." Those two words, which you would not expect to find together, are the words that have come down to describe the man at the right of Christ. We do not really know his name, though the name St. Dismas is used most often in referring to him. Of this man, St. Augustine said with both wisdom and wit that he remained a thief to the very end, such that after being a thief all his life, he finally ended by stealing Heaven.

If we examine the words of this man and their meaning, we find that in a simple way he really went to Confession while hanging on his cross. Christ, the great Priest, in the very act of accomplishing His sacrifice, absolved him and, so to sneak, granted him a plenary indulgence.

In the course of time various legends grew up around the Good Thief, but all we actually know about him is contained in the few lines of the Gospel of St. Luke. Still, even in these few lines there is a good bit of information. Dismas did something that even most of the followers and friends of Christ did not do. He supported Him and called Him Lord in the midst of His enemies. We might say: "Well, he didn't have anything to lose; he was already on the cross, soon to die." But it takes courage at all times to go against the crowd, especially when the crowd includes religious leaders of a people, and especially when it is so wrought up with passions as was the crowd on Calvary.

Admits Sins
The Good Thief confessed his guilt and admitted that he was just paying the penalty that he deserved. He had the humility and the honesty to admit his sins and to accept this terrible punishment of crucifixion. Finally, he had faith. To us today it may not seem much to have called Christ on the Cross, "Lord," and to have asked for remembrance in His kingdom. Yet it took great faith to see God in the broken, suffering Man on the next cross, apparently the victim of the schemes of His enemies.

To call Christ "Lord," after He had just worked a miracle was one thing; to call Him "Lord," now was altogether different. Even the Apostles could hardly accept the frightening fact of their Master's apparent inability to outwit and to foil the plans of those who sought His life, and hence His hanging twisted and bloody in the agony and disgrace of a criminal's death.

The Good Thief had sorrow for his sins; he confessed his guilt; he had faith; and finally he had hope; otherwise, he could not have asked for a place in the world to come. The Good Thief had the right dispositions for forgiveness. Therefore, despite his life of sin against God and man, he was forgiven and promised Heaven.

Readiness of Mercy
The mercy of God is always ready to reach out to and save a soul, even at the last minute, if only that soul co-operates, if there is humble admission of guilt, if there is still faith and hope. It does not take long—just a minute—to get right again with God, even after a lifetime of sin.

Of course, there is the punishment of sin to make up for either in this life or in Purgatory. The Good Thief had his chance to suffer on the cross, and we can only imagine what excruciating pains crucifixion carries. Perhaps, too, God dealt more leniently with him, in this very hour of the Redemption, in canceling all his debt of temporal punishment and promising him immediate entry into paradise.

Ezechiel was told by God: “As I live ... I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live" (Ezechiel 33:11). Through Isaias, God spoke these words: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee" (Isaias 49:15). Psalm 102, which concerns God's mercy, says: “As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him: for he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust" (Psalm 102:13-14). God compares Himself to both a mother and a father in telling of His care for a soul. The book of Ecclesiasticus sums it up: "For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him" (Ecclesiasticus 2:23).

Imagine the greatness of God as you see it in the great world He created, in the magnitude of mountain and ocean, in the vastness of space, in the far-flung distance of stars. As great as all this . . . is God's mercy. Christ on the Cross showed this mercy in action by the words: "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise."

Repentance Must Be Freely Willed
Now the question might occur: How is it that some still go to Hell, despite the great mercy of God? The answer is bound up in the mystery of free will decisions and God's justice. God will await the free will of man. His mercy is there, but man must co-operate by freely repenting. Christ waited on the Cross for the expression of sorrow on the part of the thief before promising him salvation. He must have been waiting also for the same from the thief on His left, and would gladly have given the same reply to him, but the other did not repent. If a man does not repent after mortal sin, God's justice demands that he must be punished in Hell. God does not force man to love Him.

We Can Help! Do We Help?
It is true, however, that God lets the prayers and tears and sacrifices of others have an influence on the conversion of mortal sinners. We recall the words of Our Lady of Fatima in this connection. She said that many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. It is surprising to see the indifference of friends and relatives concerning the soul of one who is living outside of the Church. "Yes, he has been outside for years," they will say and simply shrug their shoulders. Even when the person is dying, often no effort is made to arouse him to faith and repentance. He is labelled as a hopeless case. Friends and relatives put on him the seal of Judas without making an effort to help. They may not even notify a priest, thinking it to be of no use. To act in this way is simply not to understand the mercy of God. Likewise, it is to underestimate the power of prayer and personal sacrifice for bringing about the conversion of another.

We Should Rejoice at a Sinner's Return
Even worse than indifference is the attitude of taking offense when somebody who has been outside of the Church, or some great sinner returns at the end of his life and is given Christian burial. The one who murmurs about this is like the older brother of the Prodigal Son. When he heard the music and found out his father had killed the fattened calf because the younger son had returned, he was angry and would not go into the house. Just before telling the story of the Prodigal Son, which is a story of God's mercy for the sinner, Our Lord had told of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4 ff.). "What man of you that hath an hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? . . . I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance."

PRAYER
Dear Jesus! Your kindness to the penitent thief recalls the prophetic words of the Old Testament: "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be as red as crimson, they shall be white as wool." In Your words of forgiveness to the penitent thief, I understand now the meaning of Your words: "I have not come to call the just, but sinners... Those who are healthy do not need a doctor; but sick people do." "There will be more joy in Heaven at the repentance of one sinner than at ninety-nine of the righteous who had no need of repentance." I see now why Peter was not made Your first vicar on earth until after he had fallen three times, in order that the Church of which he was the head might forever understand forgiveness and pardon. Jesus, I begin to see that if I had never sinned, I never could call You "Savior." The thief is not the only sinner. Here am I! But You are the only Savior.

[Mention Intention]

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.

Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

THIRD DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
Woman, behold thy son!
Son, behold thy Mother!

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Magdalen, Mary of Cleophas, and John stood near the Cross of our Lord and looked at him, while the Blessed Virgin, filled with intense feelings of motherly love, entreated her Son to permit her to die with Him; but he, casting a look of ineffable tenderness upon her, turned to John and said, “Woman, behold thy Son!” then He said to John, “Behold thy mother!” John looked at his dying Redeemer, and saluted this beloved mother (whom he henceforth considered as his own) in the most respestful manner. The Blessed Virgin was so overcome by grief at these words of Jesus that she almost fainted, and was carried to a short distance from the Cross by the holy Women.

I felt interiorly that he gave Mary to John as a mother, and John to Mary as a son. In similar visions a person is often conscious of such things which are not written, and words can only express a portion of them, although to the individual to whom they are shown they are so clear as not to require explanation. For this reason it did not appear to me in the least surprising that Jesus should call the Blessed Virgin “Woman,” instead of “Mother.” I felt that He intended to demonstrate that she was that woman, spoken of in Scripture, who was to crush the head of the serpent, and that then was the moment in which that promise was accomplished in the death of her Son.

I knew that Jesus, by giving her as a mother to John, gave her also as a mother to all who believe in Him, who become children of God, and are not born of flesh and blood, or of the will of man, but of God. Neither did it appear to me surprising that the most pure, the most humble, and the most obedient among women, who, when saluted by the angel as “full of grace.” immediately replied, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word,” and in whose sacred womb the Word was instantly made flesh—that she, when informed by her dying Son that she was to become the spiritual mother of another son, should repeat the same words with humble obedience, and immediately adopt as her children all the children of God, the brothers of Jesus Christ. These things are much easier to feel by the grace of God than to be expressed in words. I remember my celestial Spouse once saying to me, “Everything is imprinted in the hearts of those children of the Church who believe, hope, and love.”

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God
At the third word spoken by the Lord to his Mother: “Woman, behold thy son!” the demons discovered that this heavenly Lady was the true Mother of the Godman, the same Woman whose likeness and prophetic sign had been shown to them in the heavens at their creation, and who was to crush their head as announced by the Lord in the terrestrial paradise. They were informed of the dignity and excellence of this great Lady over all creatures, and of her power which they were even now experiencing. As they had from the beginning of the world and from the creation of the first woman, used all their astuteness to find out who this great woman that was announced in the heavens could be, and as they now discovered her in Mary, whom they had until now overlooked, these dragons were seized with inexpressible fury; their having been thus mistaken, crushed their arrogance beyond all their other torments, and in their fury they raged against their own selves like bloodthirsty lions, while their helpless wrath against the heavenly Lady was increased a thousand fold. Moreover, they discerned that St. John was appointed by Christ our Lord as the angel guardian of his Mother, endowed with the powers of the priesthood. This they understood to be in the nature of a threat against their own wrath, which was well known to St. John. Lucifer saw, not only the power of the Evangelist, but that given to all the priests, in virtue of their participation in the dignity and power of our Redeemer; and that the rest of the just, even though not priests, were placed under the special protection of the Lord and made powerful against Hell. All this paralyzed the strength of Lucifer and his demons.

FR. ALBAN GOODIER
The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ

By this time the crowd, as is the tendency of crowds, was becoming weary of its own ribaldry. We have noticed how throughout the morning its number could never have been overwhelming; during all this turmoil in the upper quarter of the city, business in the streets went on as before. Since the final condemnation by Pilate the mob had dwindled still more; the morning was advancing, there was much to be done that day, the chief interest in this trial was over, many did not care to be involved in what was to follow.

Hence the crowd around Calvary soon became less turbulent; there was a lull, and the hours began to drag as the onlookers waited for the end. The guard became less careful; they had done their work, which could not be undone, and it mattered little now who approached the criminals. Gradually a group drew near. It consisted chiefly of women; among them St. John mentions three, or it may be four.

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and his mother's sister Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.”

We might dwell long on the composition of this group, and the forces that brought them to witness this scene of horror. That His mother should be there does not surprise us, though we may well wonder that such a thing could have been permitted by the most callous of men; a mother, and such a mother, witnessing her Son, and such a Son, bleeding to death before her eyes, dying as a common criminal, with blasphemies hurtling around her, and she could do nothing. It had come at last. During all the three-and-thirty years before she had known that the end would be something terrible. She had never forgotten what the holy man had said, that day when, in accordance with the Law, she had offered Him to the Father in the Temple: “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His mother: ‘Behold this Child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

She had fled with that Child away into a foreign land, with bloodshed in her wake; almost from the first the joy of motherhood had been marred by this agony. Her own Child's life had brought death to many children, desolation to many mothers. She had brought Him back from exile in fear and trembling, longing to live in Bethlehem, the home of David, but they dared not; hiding at last in Nazareth, the village of no repute, lest evil men might again discover Him and seek His life. Once she had lost Him for part of three days; the memory of that could never be forgotten, it remained as a warning to her, a foreshadowing, of the greater separation that one day must be. Always she had kept it in mind, pondering it in her heart ; always she had feared when and how the end would come. This woman of few words but deep understanding had often prayed: “Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me”; but not before she had also said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy word…Not my will, but Thine be done.”

When at length after thirty years He had left her, and had gone out to preach the kingdom, her agony had only increased. Indeed she had long since seen what the inevitable end would be; she had no delusions, like those of the Apostles, concerning the founding of a Kingdom. If one such as Judas foresaw the coming doom, Mary, the lover of humanity, foresaw it even more. She who had read the Scriptures so well, could not fail to have discovered the repeated warnings concerning her Son. Still she had followed wherever He had led; silently waiting, silently watching, pierced to the heart by every rejection till the last rejection should come. She had followed Him in this last journey to Jerusalem, and now even to Calvary, knowing that so it must be. And it had come at last, here, in this terrible way; and she, the mother who had nursed Him and clothed Him as a Child, could only stand there and do nothing.

He saw His mother standing before Him, the valiant woman, erect, motionless, almost expressionless, with scarce a tear in her eye. There are griefs that lie too deep for tears, and a mother's broken heart is one. If Jesus could say: “The Father and I are one”, He could say something akin of His relation with His mother. If He could pray, for His own whom He had chosen, that “They all may be one in Me”, and could ask that where He was they also might be with Him, among them all of none was this more true than of His chosen mother. If He could say: “Greater love than this no man hath that he lay down his life for his friend”, He knew that in no one could this be more proved than in His mother. She had given Him life; she had lived wholly for Him, the handmaid of the Lord; gladly now would she die for Him. Not only would she gladly die; during these three-and-thirty years they had so lived together, their lives had been so intertwined, the union of mother and son, of son and mother, had been so complete, that, if we speak of nature only, even in death they would not be separated. We have known of those, who in life have so grown together, that the death of one has been the death of the other. We have known of those whose death has been so terrible that it has caused the death of another. Both of these were being illustrated here. With His death the mother's life was surely ended; seeing Him die this awful death, when the moment came how could she but die with Him?

But Jesus would not have that to be; Mary's hour was not yet come. Though He died for many, yet would He have her live for many, “that out of many hearts thoughts might be revealed.” There was work yet to be done by her in this valley of tears, and for the sake of that work He would have her live in it yet a little longer. Then must He devise some means to save her. Without Him her life would be a lonely life, lonely unto death unless some object worthy of her love were given to her. He must fill up the void in that mother's heart which His own death would inevitably make; He must transfer that mighty mother's love to another, give her a foster-child, whom she might cherish, and who in his turn might cherish her, when He was gone. There was John at her side; John, whom He had loved with a special love, whom also He had held to His heart. He would give them to each other.

“When Jesus, therefore, saw His Mother and the disciple standing, whom He loved, He said to His Mother: ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ After that He saith to the disciple: ‘Behold thy Mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own.” The gift of John to Mary, and of Mary to John, was the last will and testament of Jesus Christ Our Lord. His life He had already given; His blood He was now pouring out, to its last drop, for all men. In this last gift He gave the only possession that remained; He bestowed on Mary the motherhood of all mankind, He bestowed on men His own Mother, to be theirs, like His Father, through all the coming ages. The type had been fulfilled; Mary, the new mother of men, was made the second Eve. This was the first-fruit of His blood-shedding.

From the Cross He completed His last will and testament. He had already committed His blood to the Church, His garments to His enemies, a thief to Paradise, and would soon commend His body to the grave and His soul to His Heavenly Father. To whom, then, could He give the two treasures which He loved above all others, Mary and John? He would bequeath them to one another, giving at once a son to His Mother and a Mother to His friend. "Woman!" It was the second Annunciation! The midnight hour, the silent room, the ecstatic prayer had given way to the mount of Calvary, the darkened sky, and a Son hanging on a Cross. Yet, what consolation! It was only an angel who made the first Annunciation, but it is God's own sweet voice which makes the second. (The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Fr. Alban Goodier)

MEDITATION

From Nazareth to Bethlehem to Calvary
"Behold your son!" It was the second Nativity! Mary had brought forth her Firstborn without labor, in the cave of Bethlehem; she now brings forth her second-born, John, in the labors of the Cross. At this moment Mary is undergoing the pains of childbirth, not only for her second-born, who is John, but also for the millions who will be born to her in Christian ages as "Children of Mary."

Now we can understand why Christ was called "her First-born." It was not because she was to have other children by the blood of flesh, but because she was to have other children by the blood of her heart. Truly, indeed, the Divine condemnation against Eve is now renewed against the new Eve, Mary, for she is bringing forth her children in sorrow.

Mary, then, is not only the Mother of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but she is also our Mother, and this not by a title of courtesy, not by legal fiction, not by a mere figure of speech, but by the right of bringing us forth in sorrow at the foot of the Cross. It was by weakness and disobedience at the foot of the tree of Good and Evil that Eve lost the title, Mother of the Living; it is at the foot of the tree of the Cross that Mary, by sacrifice and obedience, regained for us the title, Mother of the Living. What a destiny to have the Mother of God as my Mother and Jesus as my Brother!

A Mother at a Deathbed
Any mother worthy of the name suffers greatly at the deathbed of her child, especially if the dying child is in great pain. The mother, in her understanding and tender feeling, knows just what the child is going through, and she endures each pain with him. Quite often a good mother may say that she would rather suffer the pain herself than have her child suffer. Actually, both suffer, mother and child. The child suffers the physical pain in the body; the mother endures the same pain in her heart. The more love there is present, the more pain.

This is what happened on Calvary. Mary endured in her heart all that Christ suffered on the Cross. The measure of her love was the measure of her pain. We are not making any mistake in saying that no mother ever loved a child as Mary loved her Son. This is no mistake, because we know that no womanly heart was ever better made for loving than Mary's, and we know that no Son could ever inspire or deserve more love than Our Lord.

The purest, most unselfish souls can love best and suffer most. So we cannot really understand the depth of sorrow that was Mary's, because we do not have her selfless love. We can understand her interior martyrdom only in accord with the selfless love and sympathy of which our own souls are capable. Our general idea of what Mary went through will depend on our own depth of spirit.

In her heart, Our Lady felt the cutting words of mockery and derision. The hammer blows of the nails in the hands and feet rung in her head. As Our Lord moved in agony on the Cross, Mary endured the pain in her heart. Of both Christ and Mary we can use the words of Jeremias: "O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow." (Lamentations 1:12).

Christ Willed It
St. Robert Bellarmine says that Our Lord willed that His Mother be present in His hour of infamy, shame and suffering in order to add to His own sufferings. He could have arranged things in such a way as to spare her this sorrow. But He did not spare her, nor did He spare Himself. To have her witness His last hours added to His own sufferings. We can understand this readily by asking ourselves what we would do to prevent someone dear from seeing us suffer. Many times people, especially if living at a distance, will go through operations and much sickness, and only when it is all over do they write to inform their relatives. Their idea is to spare those near and dear the pain of going through it with them and the worry about recovery. Our Lord could have spared Himself and His Mother the mutual grief of Good Friday, but He did not.

The Dying Son Provides
No, Mary was present at the Cross, and she was present in the mind of her Son. In the midst of accomplishing mankind's redemption, the Son did not forget to provide for His mother's future years on earth. He did not have insurance to leave, nor any material wealth. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the son of man hath not where to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20). So He put His mother into the hands of a good friend. "Woman, behold thy son." And to St. John: "Behold thy mother."

St. John in his Gospel says that from that hour he took her "to his own." According to the Franciscan tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary lived until the age of 72 (others say around 64). Some of the time after Good Friday was spent at Jerusalem, some perhaps in Galilee to the north, some years at Ephesus. Finally, the Blessed Mother is said to have returned to Jerusalem, where she died. Historically speaking, however, it is difficult to be positive about these places, and likewise about her final age. We do know for certain that St. John took care of her, gladly fulfilling this sacred commission given to Him by the dying Saviour.

The fact that Our Lord asked John to care for His Mother is a sure sign that St. Joseph had already died. It also is a strong proof that Mary had no other sons to look after her. If she had, St. John would not have been asked to stand in the place of a son to her.

St. John's Unique Role
St. John the Apostle was undoubtedly given a most wonderful treasure, a most enviable trust, when Mary was placed in his care. He might be called a second St. Joseph, since the duties of St. Joseph in caring for the Blessed Mother fell upon him.

The fact that he, and not some other, received this charge was not by accident. He had the necessary qualities and virtues to receive such a sacred commission. St. Jerome says that it was especially in view of his virginity that he was chosen. The virgin Son gave the virgin Mother to a man who was a virgin. John is the one Apostle of whom we are sure that he was not married. He had chosen the state of virginity, most likely at the urging of the Master Himself. He was the beloved disciple, who at the Last Supper rested on the breast of Christ.

St. John had been the favorite on other occasions. Along with Peter and James he had seen Jesus transfigured on Mt. Thabor. (Mark, chapter 9). He had, with the same two Apostles, been present in Gethsemani during Our Lord's agony. He and his brother James had been called by Our Lord the "Sons of Thunder," perhaps because of their zeal in wanting to call down vengeance on a town that would not receive Him. (Luke 9:54). Later, John was anything but a Son of Thunder, for he wrote lyrically of the love of God and neighbor, and in his old age he is said to have preached always the same sermon: "My little children, love one another."

This, then, was the man favored so signally, the man to whom the Virgin Mother was committed on Calvary. He had already received many special favors, but nothing to match the mark of affection and confidence that went to him on the afternoon of the Redemption.

Our Mother Too
We might perhaps be inclined to a kind of holy "envy" of St. John the Apostle in receiving Mary to care for as his mother. But in reality we have all received her as our Mother. This beautiful, further interpretation of Christ's words has gained favor from at least the twelfth century; many popes have written of it as being the common belief of the Church. Christ's words without doubt were meant, in the first place, to provide for His Mother. But He was also leaving her to us as our Mother and asking her to look on all men as her children. John stood in our place; he represented mankind. All men were thus asked to look up to Mary as their spiritual Mother, and she in turn was asked to see in everybody her spiritual child.

She Cares for Each One
Undoubtedly Mary is fulfilling her part as the Mother of all grace. She is fulfilling her part in giving loving attention to the children of men. She is well able to do this, since she has a heart big enough for all, just as the mother of a large family has a heart big enough to love each child. She is able to act as a mother to all, since she has a mother's feelings for all. It makes no difference to her whether you are rich or poor, beautiful or plain, old or young. Neither does it make any difference what color your skin is.

In each person she can see someone for whom Christ her Son suffered and died. In each soul she can see the possibility of a more perfect formation in the image of God. Her maternal solicitude and care go further, down to the same details that we ourselves are interested in as a matter of daily life. She knows of and cares about our smaller hopes and fears, our domestic problems, the state of our health. She can measure every pain because she has felt them all. She can understand each heartache because they were all contained in the great agony of Calvary.

Modern Evidence
We have living proof of her motherly care in the great shrines at Loreto, Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and other places. Each of these tells its own story of her interest in the children of men. At Lourdes, for example, her care for those with afflictions is well attested. Many there have obtained help in sickness and disease.

At Lourdes there has been for many years a commission of medical men who study the reports of cures. Any qualified doctor—Catholic, non-Catholic, even atheist—is allowed to serve on this board, to go over the reports and to give his findings. Between 1,500 and 2,000 doctors every year examine the sick and check on reported cures at the Lourdes Medical Bureau. Since the first cure on February 28, 1858, of four-year-old Justin Bouhohorts from tuberculosis, down through 1955, the Medical Bureau had approved 1,862 cases as instances of remarkable healing. When a cure is completely beyond any explanation known to medical science, the doctors simply say that the event is from a cause beyond their knowledge. They do not necessarily call it a miracle, and neither does the Church, for the Church is extremely cautious and uses the word miracle only rarely.

But whatever we call these extraordinary cases of regained health, the important point is that Mary shows herself interested in her children, even as regards the health of the body. Her intercessory power at such a place as Lourdes cannot be denied. She is the watchful, loving Mother who has the interests of her children at heart. Principally, of course, she has at heart their spiritual interests; but she also does not pass over with an unseeing glance their material needs.

She Does Not Let Us Down
Many Catholics readily testify to their devotion to Mary as their Mother. They will tell you that they have often experienced her help when in need, sometimes in ways that even surprised them. In the words of the Memorare: "Never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided." Mary is truly and always our Mother.

Take the Cue from St. John
It is up to us to become more and more Mary's sons and daughters. We might take the cue from St. John on how to do this. John was chosen because he was chaste and because he was present at the foot of the Cross. The more chaste we are and the more willing we are to participate in the Cross of Christ, the more are we worthy children of our Blessed Mother.

Practice Chastity
If God sends us the call to a life of chastity in religion or in the priesthood, that is a privilege that should be gladly accepted. If we remain in the world, single or married, the practice of chastity according to our state of life will endear us the more to our Blessed Mother. Every step toward impurity is a step away from her; every step toward purity, every effort made to preserve purity means to come closer to knowing and loving Mary, the lily of purity.

Stand at the Cross
We must also be willing to stand at the foot of the Cross. Every life brings its burden and cares. It is easy to rebel against these, to develop self-pity, to murmur at our lot. Most lives have their share of sickness, either personal or in those for whom one is responsible. Again, this can be the source of dissatisfaction and bitterness. To take these things in the proper spirit, to unite our sufferings with those of Our Lord is to stand at the foot of the Cross as St. John did. When we stand there, we are in a better position to hear the words: "Behold thy mother." And there Mary is in a better position to see us as her children.

No doubt most of us want to be closer to Mary, to have a greater love for her, more devotion to her, but we feel deficient. It may not be a bad idea to take this cause to St. John. Pray to him for a greater devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ask him for help to learn how to love chastity, to be willing to stand at the foot of the Cross. Such a prayer cannot fail to be answered immediately. Into our lives will come the richness of being true children of the greatest of all mothers.

PRAYER

O Mary! As Jesus was born of you in the flesh at your first Nativity, so we have been born of you in the spirit at your second Nativity. Thus you gave birth to us and brought us into a new world of spiritual relationship with God as our Father, Jesus as our Brother, and you as our very own Mother! If a mother can never forget the child of her womb, then, Mary, you shall never forget us who are your own. As you were Co-Redemptrix in the acquisition of the graces of eternal life, be also our Co-Mediatrix in their dispensation. Nothing is impossible for you, because you are the Mother of Him who can do all things. If your Son did not refuse your request at the banquet of Cana, He will not refuse it at the celestial banquet where you are crowned as Queen of the Angels and Saints. Intercede therefore to your Divine Son, that He may change the waters of my weakness into the wine of your strength. Mary, you are the Refuge of Sinners! Pray for us, now prostrate at the foot of the Cross. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

FOURTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate: My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Stillness reigned around the Cross. Jesus hung upon it alone; forsaken by all—disciples, followers, friends, his Mother even was removed from his side; not one person of the thousands upon whom he had lavished benefits was near to offer him the slightest alleviation in his bitter agony—his soul was overspread with an indescribable feeling of bitterness and grief—all within him was dark, gloomy, and wretched. The darkness which reigned around was but symbolical of that which overspread his interior; he turned, nevertheless, to his Heavenly Father, he prayed for his enemies, he offered the chalice of his sufferings for their redemption, he continued to pray as he had done during the whole of his Passion, and repeated portions of those Psalms the prophecies of which were then receiving their accomplishment in him. I saw angels standing around. Again I looked at Jesus—my beloved Spouse—on his Cross, agonizing and dying, yet still in dreary solitude. He at that moment endured anguish which no mortal pen can describe,—he felt that suffering which would overwhelm a poor weak mortal if deprived at once of all consolation, both divine and human, and then compelled, without refreshment, assistance, or light, to traverse the stormy desert of tribulation upheld by faith, hope, and charity alone.

His sufferings were inexpressible; but it was by them that he merited for us the grace necessary to resist those temptations to despair which will assail us at the hour of death,—that tremendous hour when we shall feel that we are about to leave all that is dear to us here below. When our minds, weakened by disease, have lost the power of reasoning, and even our hopes of mercy and forgiveness are become, as it were, enveloped in mist and uncertainty,—then it is that we must fly to Jesus, unite our feelings of desolation with that indescribable dereliction, which he endured upon the Cross, and be certain of obtaining a glorious victory over our infernal enemies.

Jesus then offered to his Eternal Father his poverty, his dereliction, his labours, and, above all, the bitter sufferings which our ingratitude had caused him to endure in expiation for our sins and weaknesses; no one, therefore, who is united to Jesus in the bosom of his Church must despair at the awful moment preceding his exit from this life, even if he be deprived of all sensible light and comfort; for he must then remember that the Christian is no longer obliged to enter this dark desert alone and unprotected, as Jesus has cast his own interior and exterior dereliction on the Cross into this gulf of desolation; consequently he will not be left to cope alone with death, or be suffered to leave this world in desolation of spirit, deprived of heavenly consolation.

All fear of loneliness and despair in death must therefore be cast away; for Jesus, who is our true light, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, has preceded us on that dreary road, has overspread it with blessings, and raised his Cross upon it, one glance at which will calm our every fear.

Jesus then (if we may so express ourselves) made his last testament in the presence of his Father, and bequeathed the merits of his Death and Passion to the Church and to sinners. Not one erring soul was forgotten; he thought of each and every one; praying, likewise, even for those heretics who have endeavoured to prove that, being God, he did not suffer as a man would have suffered in his place. The cry which he allowed to pass his lips in the height of his agony was intended not only to show the excess of the sufferings he was then enduring, but likewise to encourage all afflicted souls who acknowledge God as their Father to lay their sorrows with filial confidence at his feet.

It was towards three o'clock when he cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani?"My God, my God, why host thou forsaken me?' These words of our Lord interrupted the dead silence which had continued for so long; the Pharisees turned towards him, and one of them said, 'Behold, he calleth Elias;' and another, 'Let us see whether Elias will come to deliver him.' When Mary heard the voice of her divine Son, she Was unable to restrain herself any longer, but rushed forwards, and returned to the foot of the Cross, followed by John, Mary he daughter of Cleophas, Mary Magdalen, and Salome.

A troop of about thirty horsemen from Judaea and the environs of Joppa, who were on their way to Jerusalem for the festival, passed by just at the time when all was silent round the Cross, both assistants and spectators being transfixed with terror and apprehension. When they beheld Jesus hanging on the Cross, saw the cruelty with which he had been treated, and remarked the extraordinary signs of God's wrath which overspread the face of nature, they were filled with horror, and exclaimed, `If the Temple of God were not in Jerusalem, the city should be burned to the ground for having taken upon itself so fearful a crime.' These words from the lips of strangers—strangers too who bore the appearance of persons of rank—made a great impression on the bystanders, and loud murmurs and exclamations of grief were heard on all sides; some individuals gathered together in groups, more freely to indulge their sorrow, although a certain portion of the crowd continued to blaspheme and revile all around them.

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God
The fourth word of Christ was addressed to the eternal Father: “God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The evil spirits discovered in these words that the charity of God toward men was boundless and everlasting; that, in order to satisfy it, He had mysteriously suspended the influence of the Divinity over his most sacred humanity, thus permitting his sufferings to reach the highest degree and drawing from them the most abundant fruits; that He was aware and lovingly complained of his being deprived of the salvation of a part of the human race; how ready He was to suffer more, if such would be ordained by the eternal Father. Man’s good fortune in being so beloved by God increased the envy of Lucifer and his demons, and they foresaw the divine Omnipotence following out this immense love without limitation. This knowledge crushed the haughty malice of the enemies and they were made well aware of their own weakness and helplessness in opposing this love, if men themselves should not choose to neglect its influence.

MEDITATION

On the Cross
Of the seven words of Christ on the Cross, the first three were said in the early part of the afternoon. The last four words were uttered shortly before His death about 3 o'clock. For the greater part of His time on the Cross, no words of Christ are recorded by the Gospel writers. Was there silence during these hours? Did Our Lord, perhaps, pray inaudibly or in a low voice that could not be distinguished as He hung there suspended between heaven and earth?

It is thought that He prayed in the words of the Psalms that referred to His sufferings and death. The fourth word, in fact, is taken verbatim from Psalm 21 (22), being its opening verse. This Psalm was written by David and is a remarkable prophecy of the Redeemer.

A Mysterious Darkness
From the sixth to the ninth hour, that is, from noon until 3 o'clock, there was darkness over the whole land. When the Son of God was dying, the very elements went into mourning. This strange midday darkness was noticed also by at least two writers other than the Evangelists. St. Denis experienced this phenomenon in Heliopolis, a city of Egypt. And a Greek writer and historian, Phlegon, says that in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad there took place a greater and more extraordinary eclipse than had ever happened before, "for at the sixth hour the light of day was changed into the darkness of night, so that the stars appeared in the heavens."

The darkness evidently extended not only over Palestine but at least for some hundreds of miles farther. It was a strange darkness, not caused by an ordinary eclipse. The moon at the time was full, and a full eclipse can occur only at the new moon. But, even if this were an eclipse of the sun by the moon, it would have caused darkness only for a few minutes, not for three hours. We do not know the exact physical causes of the obscuring of the sun on Good Friday. God, who made nature, could certainly have created various conditions to keep back the sun's light during the agony of His Son on Calvary.

Enemies Did Not Repent
One might think that this mystifying darkness would make the enemies of Christ quake in fear and repent. Perhaps they were fearful, but they did not repent. They stifled their fear and hardened their hearts still further. They had not been convinced by the good life, the strong words, the miracles of Christ; so neither would this new sign convince them.

There is a terrible lesson here for all who would trample down the pangs of conscience. Start out on this course, and as time goes on there is no limit to the evil one can do and forget about. The human heart, when it is determined and directed deliberately into the way of evil, grows harder and harder. Blindness of mind keeps growing and growing, until only a miracle of God's grace can penetrate it.

Darkness Within
The darkness of night covered the land, a mysterious, unexplained darkness. In the soul of Him who suffered on the Cross there was an even more mysterious darkness. He was both God and man, yet the desolation of His spirit made Him cry out: "My God, my God, why bast thou forsaken me?" These words were spoken in Aramaic, the dialect of the people in that region. They were not spoken in an ordinary voice or whispered. Christ cried out in a loud voice.

Some of those who were standing by thought that He was calling on Elias, the prophet who had been taken up alive into Heaven. They said: "This man calleth Elias." Somebody in the crowd, perhaps moved to pity at this great cry of anguish, offered Him a sponge soaked in vinegar, extending it on a reed. But the others kept their old attitude of mockery and said: "Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to deliver him." (Matt. 27:49). Here again we can see the extent of the cruelty and the degree of hardness of which the human heart is capable as shown by those around the Cross. After witnessing His suffering for all this time, the majority of those present could only offer a sneering remark—even to a dying man's heart-rending cry.

The Inner Darkness More Mysterious
The words of desolation of Christ on the Cross are the most difficult of all to understand. They are hard to understand because of the union of the humanity of Christ with His Divinity. How was it possible for Him who is God to feel Himself abandoned by God? According to some of the Saints who commented on this, the desolation of Christ, His feeling of abandonment, was the severest of all His sufferings. Although His words are certainly not words of despair, they are words that indicate the intensity of the entire ordeal through which the Saviour was going. He was just as Divine as ever, but His poor humanity was permitted to sink to the lowest depths of interior suffering.

In years to come, the martyrs would at times be so filled with joy during their tortures that their happiness shone through their faces. But it was not so with the Son of God. All feeling of support from His Father was withdrawn. His human feeling was so terrible that it brought forth the question: "Why hast thou forsaken me?"

Here on the Cross was Christ, rejected by the people of His own nation, forsaken by many of His closest friends. His body was one burning pain, one large agony. In His soul was overwhelming sorrow for the sins of the whole world. All these things crushed Him, weighed Him down. Yet added to this was the final, heavy, unbearable feeling of complete aloneness and abandonment.

All Doubt Removed
Perhaps we might have some doubt about the sufferings of Our Lord if He had not been reduced to the misery that brought forth His words of desolation. We might have imagined that the severity of His pains was nullified by the strength and joy that came from the union of His human nature with the Divine Nature. We might be tempted to think, "Maybe these sufferings were not nearly so hard for Him to bear as they would be for an ordinary person. After all, He was God." But once we have heard and pondered over the fourth word from the Cross, we know that what Christ endured was not any easier because He was also God. He went the whole way; He stopped at nothing in drinking to its dregs the bitter cup of complete suffering of body and soul.

His Desolation Is Our Consolation
In undergoing this desolation and in letting us know about it, Our Lord has provided great consolation for all who must suffer, and especially for all who feel discouraged and forsaken. Any person who has much to endure and perhaps feels enveloped by the darkness of despondency, who feels completely alone in his pain, can always think of Jesus on the Cross and His cry of abandonment. As long as faith endures, those words of Our Lord will bring consolation.

Discouragement
There is an old story about a boy who started out carrying a young calf a certain distance each day. He kept at this, and as the calf grew, he was able to keep carrying it because he himself was growing stronger. But finally the day came when he could no longer lift the animal. It was just too heavy.

Sickness or any trouble that lasts a long time is like a calf that keeps growing. We can put up with it for a day, for a week, or for a few weeks, but finally the time often comes when it appears to be too heavy to bear. In reality, the sickness or trou
ble may not be any worse, but the heaviness of discouragement is upon it, and that is what makes it seem so impossible to bear. This discouragement is actually worse than the malady itself.

A Great Enemy
Discouragement is the great enemy of the human spirit. Despondency is the great enemy of souls. If we can speak of the devil being happy, he is "happy" when people give in to the complete unhappiness of discouragement and despondency. Our Lord on the Cross knew this, so He let us know that He too had to fight to the last ounce of His human endurance to preserve courage and strength of spirit. He let us know this, that we might turn to Him and find the courage we need in our severest difficulties.

United with Christ for Courage
Many people who are chronically ill have found strength and even joy in suffering because they suffer in union with Christ. There are in the United States at least two societies with nationwide membership of sick people united with one another and with Christ in offering up their sufferings. The members of these organizations are not all flat on their backs. Some are invalids, some semi-invalids whose activities are limited by disease or weakness. All have one thing in common: their illnesses are chronic. They have the long, hard pull against discouragement. By offering up their sufferings for the conversion of sinners, for peace, for the needs of others and for personal sanctification, a great amount of good is done. At the same time, by union with Our Lord in mind and heart, the enemies of despair and despondency are kept at a distance.

The Despondency of Sameness
Discouragement, however, is not reserved for those with chronic sickness or extraordinary troubles of some other kind. The wear and tear of everyday life can weaken a person's inner spirit. In a popular song, the poor fellow who digs sixteen tons of coal a day must evidently be healthy to do so much strenuous work. But he sings a dirge of forlornness; he feels that he has "sold his soul to the company store," for all he can do is work and then spend his money to pay for the necessities of life. There are many who feel that they keep working and working and do not get anywhere. Then when some small additional trouble comes up, it can become the proverbial "straw that breaks the camel's back" and may result in complete despondency.

Spiritual Aridity
There is a special kind of discouragement that plagues the person who is trying hard to lead a good spiritual life. His prayers may seem never to have anything in them. They are like an old record. There is no sweetness, no sensible consolation. They seem like just so many words, almost without meaning. God hardly seems real any more. He is at a distance, not close. A person who feels this way must remember that he is no more abandoned by God than was Christ on the Cross.
The feeling of God's nearness and the enjoyment of our prayers to Him have nothing to do with reality, nor with the value of the prayers. Some food that is tasteless or even bitter may be far better for us than that which delights the sense of taste. In the same way, prayer may be tasteless or even burdensome and yet may be of more value than that which is sweet and consoling. God never actually abandons us, but He may allow us to feel that way, even as God the Son Himself felt abandoned on Calvary.

In the lives of many Saints, we find that they were at times completely without consolation in their prayers. St. John of the Cross even uses the expression "The Dark Night of the Soul" to describe the condition of very holy and chosen souls whom God allows to feel absolutely cut off from Himself. St. Therese, the Little Flower, tells us in her autobiography that during most of her life she felt very dry in her prayers. St. Margaret of Cortona at one time felt so much fear and despair that she would not receive Holy Communion until commanded by her confessor. Some Saints have felt so completely cut off from God that they imagined they would surely lose their souls. This they felt despite leading lives of heroic self-denial and prayer.

But the Saints and all holy people understand the lesson of Our Lord's cry of abandonment from the Cross. If Christ in the very act of accomplishing mankind's redemption felt forsaken, why should not they sometimes feel cut off from God, despite their good works and prayers?

Dryness Teaches Us: Seek God for His Sake
In the early years of our life, or if we have been converts, perhaps in the early years of conversion, God gives us the grace of much joy in prayer and in the reception of the Sacraments. We feel so much better after going to Confession and receiving Communion. But as time goes on, this sweetness and consolation disappear. At such a time we should not give up or succumb to the thought that our good practices and works are useless. They are every bit as good as before. They may be and most likely are of even more value, for we can be sure that now we seek God for His own sake and not for the sake of the pleasure in it that there may be for ourselves.

An Uphill Battle
Our age is an age that wants quick results. Whatever is done—building a home or church, getting an education, learning a trade—must be done as swiftly as possible. We may carry this spirit over into our relations with God. We would like to establish satisfying relations rapidly with Him, save our souls with a few efforts, and then coast on. But things do not work that way. Saving one's soul is an uphill battle. Our perseverance may be tried and tested in many ways, even to feeling cut off from God Himself

If this happens, or whatever happens to discourage us, we must never give up.

Our age is also an age of sentimentality. Religion is made a matter of feeling good about God and all that pertains to Him. It is taken for granted that God will fill with consolation those who try to do His Will. But this is not always the case. In practicing our religion, we must remember Calvary and the desolation of Christ on the Cross. God may try our souls to their depths. We must remember the great truth that though we may feel forsaken by God, we are never actually forsaken. The Saviour Himself felt forsaken by God, leading Him to cry out those mysterious words: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" But God is close to us, even as He was to Christ.

PRAYER

Jesus! You are now atoning for those moments when we are neither hot nor cold, members neither of heaven nor of earth, for now You are suffering between the two: rejected by the one, abandoned by the other. Because You would not give up sinful humanity, Your Heavenly Father hid His Face from You. Because You would not give up Your Heavenly Father, sinful humanity turned its back on You, and thus in holy fellowship You found a way to unite us both. No longer can anyone say that God does not know what a heart suffers in abandonment, for now You are abandoned. No longer can anyone complain that God does not know the wounds of an inquiring heart which feels not the Divine Presence, for now that sweet Presence is seemingly hid from You as well. Jesus, now I understand pain, abandonment, and suffering, for I see that even the sun has its eclipse.

But Jesus, why do I not learn? Teach me that just as You did not make Your own Cross, neither shall I make my own. Teach me to accept the one that You have made for me. Teach me that everything in the world is Yours, except one thing, and that is my own will; and since that is mine, it is the only real and true gift that I can ever bestow. Teach me to say, "Not my will, but Yours be done, 0 Lord." Even when I see You not, grant me the grace to believe and "although You slay me, yet will I trust You." Tell me, how long, how long, O Lord, will I keep You writhing on the Cross?

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

FIFTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
The Thirst of Our Lord Jesus Christ

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
His body was become much more white from the quantity of blood He had lost; and I heard him exclaim, “I am pressed as the grape, which is trodden in the wine-press. My blood shall be poured out until water cometh, but wine shall here be made no more.” I cannot be sure whether He really pronounced these words, so as to be heard by others, or whether they were only an answer given to my interior prayer. I afterwards had a vision relating to these words, and in it I saw Japhet making wine in this place.

Jesus was almost fainting; His tongue was parched, and He said: “I thirst!” The disciples who were standing round the Cross looked at Him with the deepest expression of sorrow, and he added, “Could you not have given Me a little water?” By these words He gave them to understand that no one would have prevented them from doing so during the darkness. John was filled with remorse, and replied: “We did not think of doing so, O Lord!” Jesus pronounced a few more words, the import of which was: “My friends and my neighbours were also to forget Me, and not give me to drink, that so what was written concerning Me might be fulfilled.” This omission had afflicted Him very much. The disciples then offered money to the soldiers to obtain permission to give Him a little water: they refused to give it, but dipped a sponge in vinegar and gall, and were about to offer it to Jesus, when the centurion Abenadar, whose heart was touched with compassion, took it from them, squeezed out the gall, poured some fresh vinegar upon it, and fastening it to a reed, put the reed at the end of a lance, and presented it for Jesus to drink. I heard Our Lord say several other things, but I only remember these words: “When My voice shall be silent, the mouths of the dead shall be opened.” Some of the bystanders cried out: “He blasphemeth again!” But Abenadar compelled them to be silent.

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God
In confirmation of this sorrow the Lord added: “I thirst!” The sufferings of the Lord and His anguish could easily cause a natural thirst. But for Him this was not a time to complain of this thirst or to quench it; and therefore Jesus would not have spoken of it so near to its expiration, unless in order to give expression to a most exalted mystery. He was thirsting to see the captive children of Adam make use of the liberty, which He merited for them and offered to them, and which so many were abusing. He was athirst with the anxious desire that all should correspond with Him in the faith and love due to Him, that they profit by His merits and sufferings, accept His friendship and grace now acquired for them, and that they should not lose the eternal happiness which He was to leave as an inheritance to those that wished to merit and accept it.

This was the thirst of our Savior and Master; and the most Blessed Mary alone understood it perfectly and began, with ardent affection and charity, to invite and interiorly to call upon all the poor, the afflicted, the humble, the despised and downtrodden to approach their Savior and thus quench, at least in part, His thirst which they could not quench entirely. But the perfidious Jews and the executioners, evidencing their unhappy hardheartedness, fastened a sponge soaked in gall and vinegar to a reed and mockingly raised it to his mouth, in order that He might drink of it. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of David: “In My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” (John 16:28; Psalm 68:22). Our most patient Savior tasted of it, partaking of this drink in mysterious submission to the condemnation of the reprobate. But at the intervention of His Blessed Mother, He immediately desisted; because the Mother of grace was to be the portal and Mediatrix of those who were to profit of the Passion and the Redemption of mankind.

MEDITATION

I Thirst
This is the shortest of the seven cries. Al¬though it stands in our language as two words, in the original it is one. At the moment when Our Savior resumes His sermon, it is not a curse upon those who crucify Him, not a word of reproach to the timid disciples at the border of the crowd, not a cry of scorn to the Roman soldiers, not a word of hope to Magdalen, not a word of love to John, not a word of farewell to His beloved Mother. It is not even to God at this moment! Out from the depths of the Sacred Heart there wells through parched lips one awful word: “I thirst!”

He, the God-Man, who threw the stars in their orbits and spheres into space, who “swung the earth a trinket at his wrist,” from Whose fingertips tumbled planets and worlds, who might have said, “The sea is Mine and with it the streams in a thousand valleys and the cataracts in a thousand hills,” now asks man—man, a piece of His own handiwork—to help Him. He asks man for a drink! Not a drink of earthly water, that is not what He meant, but a drink of love. “I thirst”—for love!

Thirsting for Love
The last word was a revelation of the sufferings of a man without God; this word was a revelation of the sufferings of God without man. The Creator cannot live without the creature, the Shepherd without the sheep, the thirst of Christ’s love without the soul-water of Christians. But what has He done to be entitled to my love? How much has God loved me? Oh, if I would know how much God has loved me, then let me sound the depths of meaning of that word “love,” a word so often used and so little understood.

Love, first of all, means to give and God has given His power to nothingness, His light to darkness, His order to chaos, and this is Creation. Love means to tell secrets to the one loved, and God has told in the Scriptures the secrets of His Nature and His high hopes for fallen humanity, and this is Revelation.

Love means also to suffer for the one loved, that is why we speak of arrows and darts of love as something that wounds — and God is now suffering for us on the Tree of the Cross, for “greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friend.”

Love means also to become one with the one loved, not only in the unity of flesh but in the unity of spirit, and God has so loved us as to institute the Eucharist, that we may abide in Him and He in us in the ineffable unity of the Bread of Life. Love wishes also to be eternally united with the one loved, and God has so loved us that He has promised us His Father’s mansions, where a peace and a joy reign which the world cannot give and time cannot take away, and this is Heaven.
Certainly, love has exhausted itself.

What More Could He Do?
There is nothing more that Christ could do for His vineyard than He has done. Having poured forth all the waters of His everlasting Love on our poor parched hearts, it is no wonder that He thirsts for love. If love is reciprocal then certainly He has a right to our love. Why do we not respond? Why do we let the Divine Heart die of thirst for human hearts? “Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said: ‘I thirst!’” (John 19:28)

Christ’s Thirst for Souls
It was customary to prepare a drink for criminals about to be crucified. This was usually done by women who were friends of the one about to be executed or by women of compassion¬ate heart who lived in the vicinity. The drink consisted of wine mixed with bitter ingredients such as myrrh and aloes, and its purpose was to act as an anesthetic to deaden the pain.

When Our Lord first arrived on Calvary, before being nailed to the Cross, He was offered such a drink. Most likely it had been prepared by some of the women who had been His followers. He tasted it, but would not drink. He thus afforded those who had made it the consolation of knowing that He had sipped the drink. But He did not take enough to lessen His pain. He wanted to suffer with full consciousness.

Later, just shortly before He died, Our Lord uttered the words, “I thirst.” It was then that someone—probably a soldier—dipped a sponge into the mixture of vinegar and water that was there and extended it on a stalk of hyssop to the lips of the dying Savior. This vinegar and water was available at the scene of execution because it served to slake the thirst of the soldiers.

It seems that the act of giving this liquid on a sponge to Christ was a slight act of mercy. Some of those standing by spoke up against even this, saying: “Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to deliver him.” (Matt. 27:49). But the man extending the sponge went ahead, and Our Lord accepted the proffered refreshment. (John 19:30).

Thirst Is Torture
Thirst was one of the great agonies of crucifix¬ion. It was caused by the loss of blood, by fever and by general exhaustion. Thirst accompanies any severe, drawn-out pain. It can become worse than the original pain that causes it. According to St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Emmeram, when tied to a stake and tortured, complained only of thirst. Men at sea who go for a long time without water have become raving maniacs because of their thirst. Anybody who has suffered a fever knows something of the agony of thirst. In fact, even a healthy person on a hot day can become almost desperate for something to drink. Thirst, then, was one of the sufferings of Our Lord upon the Cross.

Not a Plea for Comfort
Our Lord’s words came at the very end, just before His death. Therefore they were not a plea to alleviate the thirst itself. He had endured the long time on the Cross without drink, refusing that which was offered to Him at first. After enduring this suffering to the end, He finally said: “I thirst,” in order to acquaint us with the fact of this additional suffering and to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy—as St. John says: “that the scripture might be fulfilled.” The Scripture referred to was from Psalm 68:22: “And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

A Deeper Meaning
In his explanation of this Psalm, St. Augustine says that there was another reason why Christ said the words: “I thirst.” St. Augustine says that these words showed not only the Savior’s desire for drink, but also—and still more—the desire with which He was inflamed, that His enemies might believe in Him and be saved. Our Lord thus desired so greatly the good and the salvation of the Jewish people that His longing can be well described as a thirst. One who wants something intensely is said to thirst for it. For example, a person may thirst for knowledge or for fame.

Just a few days previously, Our Lord had entered Jerusalem in triumphal procession. As He drew near and saw the city, He had wept over it, saying: “If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes . . because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.” (Luke 19:42-44). Our Lord had wept over the city of Jerusalem because it would be destroyed (by the Romans in 70 AD.) and its people would suffer much in the next generation, and ever after, as a punishment for not accepting Him.

He wept over the souls that would be lost due to their stubbornness and hardheartedness. His longing for the souls of His people was also expressed when He had lamented: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldst not?” (Luke 13:34).

Jesus Thirsts for All Souls
Our Lord thirsted for the souls of His own people, the members of the Jewish race. He thirsted also for the souls of all mankind. In the seventeenth century, when He appeared to St. Margaret Mary, He said: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing to testify its love for them, even to exhausting and consuming itself for their sake. But in return for this I receive nothing from the generality of mankind but ingratitude....”

The Heart of Jesus is a great Heart, full of love, looking for love in return, so that souls may be saved and come to Heaven. Our Lord also said to St. Margaret Mary: “My Heart is so full of love for men that it can no longer contain within itself the fire of charity.” Thus we may expand the interpretation of St. Augustine and apply the words “I thirst” to express Our Lord’s longing for the love of all mankind and for the salvation of all souls.

Why He So Thirsted
A soul—each soul—is precious. Its value cannot be measured in material terms. The world itself is not worth one soul. There is simply no comparison between an immortal soul, capable of loving God for all eternity, and the treasures of earth. This is as things appear to the eye of God in their true value. Likewise, from the viewpoint of man himself, there can be no comparison between gaining untold wealth or pleasure or power, and the saving of his own soul. No one has put this truth more clearly than Our Lord Himself when He asked the question: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

Christ hanging on the Cross knew the immeasurable value of each soul in itself. He knew how much it meant for each person to save his soul and be happy in praising and loving God for eternity. So His great love reached out to each person, and His great Heart longed for the eternal happiness of each person. He thirsted for souls.

Our Own Incredible Blindness
It is one of the mysteries of life why so many people in practice put such a slight value upon their souls. It is a mystery of blindness, perversity and shortsightedness. Whatever is regarded as precious is guarded. Money is put into safes with complicated locks. Jewels are placed in vaults. Health is a matter of daily concern. When something goes wrong or seems wrong with bodily health, the doctor is straightway consulted. Vitamin charts are stud¬ied; people who have to lose weight check on their calories. They do a very good job of fasting, much better than most do during Lent.

Insurance is kept up on items of property that could be suddenly destroyed or damaged, such as homes and cars. Yet the man who would not think of taking out a car in traffic without insurance may think nothing of living in mortal sin, when an accident or a sudden sickness could immediately block out consciousness and result in death without a chance of obtaining forgiveness, and thus bring eternal damnation.

People who would be frightened to death at taking a chance on using a weak ladder, or crossing a condemned bridge, take all kinds of chances with their souls. They balance on the constantly unraveling rope of life, while below lie the flames of Hell. They are the real daredevils in the strict sense of the word, for a sudden slip from or break in the rope of life—and they will belong to the devil for eternity. It is indeed a mystery how people can be so shortsighted in regard to the value of their immortal souls.

Your Soul First
We can overcome this shortsightedness by keeping our eyes fixed on the Cross of Christ, by reflecting on all He did to save the souls of men, by considering His yearning love for each person. First of all, each of us has his own soul to take care of The needs of our own soul must be placed in the position of priority over all bodily needs. If there is a conflict, the soul must never come out in second place.

It may happen that there is a deadly disease wasting our souls—a habit of frequent mortal sin against which our efforts have been only half-hearted. This deadly disease must by all means be conquered, no matter what the cost. Our Lord advised: “If thy hand, or thy foot scandalize [provide an occasion of sin to] thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into [eternal] life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into Hell fire.” (Matthew 18:8-9).

Here is the answer to those who think they must sinfully limit a family; to those who are invalidly married and therefore living in constant mortal sin; to those who habitually commit grievous sin of any kind. No matter what it costs, no matter what must be torn asunder, though it be as close as a hand or foot or eye—all must go when in conflict with the interests of one’s immortal soul. There can be no value so precious—whether economic, or pertaining to human affection, or any¬thing whatsoever—as the value of one’s soul.

A man who was sick and pretty well up in years once remarked that it was only when he was about fifty years old that he first realized force¬fully that one day he must die and meet his judgment. The sooner we too realize this, perhaps the sooner will we realize that ultimately the only lasting values are those that are spiritual and that pertain to God and our souls.

We Are Keepers of Our Brothers’ Souls
In our care for our own souls, however, we must not forget the souls of others. We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:39). In part, this refers to bodily needs, but it refers in particular to the spiritual needs of the soul.

Since our first obligations are toward those who are closest to us, we have to take into consideration the souls of members of our own families. We may not repeat the question of Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). In a quite definite way we are responsible for the salvation of husband or wife, son and daughter, brother and sister, friend and neighbor.

Parents usually recognize that they have an obligation to provide for the spiritual welfare of their children. But not all, of course, do as well as they might in this regard, making the mistake of overemphasizing physical and educational care.
For instance, some parents are quite exacting about school grades, requiring that their children work hard at their studies. But they think little of allowing the children to miss their religious instructions, or they do little to encourage regular attendance at Mass and reception of the Sacraments. The home is well heated and drafts are abhorred. Yet question¬able books and magazines are permitted to chill innocent fervor, and worse. The Holy Name of God may be heard more often in expressions of anger than in words of prayer. The walls of the house are clean and tastefully decorated, yet the strong spirit of faith and of confidence in God does not pervade the home because the parents’ values are much more consciously material than spiritual. Thus, parents technically recognize their obligation of providing for the spiritual welfare of their children, but actually do little about it.

Still less do husband and wife recognize their obligation toward each other’s spiritual welfare. The husband recognizes his duty to provide for the family; the wife her duty of home-making. But they may fail to see that their main duty to each other is to help the other party obtain eternal salvation. Two people who live as closely together and share life as much as husband and wife can¬not but have a definite effect on the supernatural destiny of each other.

So it is with all who share life together as relatives and friends. They do have an effect one upon the other. If we have the proper outlook on the value of souls, our influence cannot be anything but good.

Interest in Souls Must Be Universal
One whose heart beats in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus can never forget the spiri¬tual good of all other people. He will pray for those who have fallen away from the Church; he will pray for the conversion of men to the true Faith. He will make sacrifices in order that all men may come to the knowledge of the truth and to the grace of the seven Sacraments.

In a way, one who thirsts for souls is always working for them. He is like a businessman who is always trying to improve his business, who uses every opportunity to establish friendly relations or to pick up useful information. The real busi¬nessman does not miss any opportunities. Neither will one who is truly interested in the salvation of souls miss any opportunities. To think differently, to act from any weaker principle, is to refuse to slake the thirst of Christ.

We Can Help
Each of us will have opportunities of various kinds to help save souls and to win souls to the saving truths of the Faith. If we are really interested, we will learn how to explain and answer questions, or we will make available to those interested some little pamphlet on the subject. What a great amount of good might be done if we kept on hand a supply of pamphlets on key topics and handed them out as opportunity arose! We will always give a good example and live in such a way as to lead others to Christ.

If we really love Christ, we will want the things that He wants. With our whole soul, we will seek to help in what¬ever way we can so that souls may be saved. In these ways all of us can answer the plea of Christ. Thus we may help to satisfy His great desire and thirst for the souls of all mankind.

PRAYER

Dear Jesus! You have given all for me, and yet I give nothing in return. How often You have come to gather vintage in the vineyard of my soul, and have found only a few clusters! How often You sought, and found nothing; knocked, and the door of my soul was closed to You! How often You asked me for a drink, and I gave You only vinegar and gall!

How often, dear Jesus, I feared lest, having You, I must have nothing else besides. I forget that if I had the flame, I would forget the spark; if I had the sun of Your love, I could forget the candle of a human heart; if I had the perfect round of Your happiness, I could forget the broken arc of earth. O Jesus, my story is the sad story of a refusal to return heart for heart, love for love. Give me, above all human gifts, the sweet gift of sympathy for You.

[Mention Intention]

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

SIXTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
The Task in Finished

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The hour of our Lord was at last come; his death-struggle had commenced; a cold sweat overspread every limb. John stood at the foot of the Cross, and wiped the feet of Jesus with his scapular. Magdalen was crouched to the ground in a perfect frenzy of grief behind the Cross. The Blessed Virgin stood between Jesus and the good thief, supported by Salome and Mary of Cleophas, with her eyes riveted on the countenance of her dying Son. Jesus then said: "It is consummated!"

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God
In the sixth word of the Lord: “It is consummated!” Lucifer and his hordes were informed that the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption was now accomplished and entirely perfected according to the decree of Divine Wisdom. For they were made to feel that Christ, our Redeemer, had obediently fulfilled the will of the eternal Father; that He had accomplished all the promises and prophecies made to the world by the ancient Fathers; that His humility and obedience had compensated for their own pride and disobedience, in not having subjected themselves and acknowledged Him as their Superior in human flesh; and that they were now, through the wisdom of God, justly humbled and vanquished by the very Lord Whom they despised. The great dignity and the infinite merits of Christ demanded that, in this very hour, He should exercise his office and power of Judge over angels and men, such as had been conceded to Him by the eternal Father. He now applied this power by hurling this sentence at Lucifer and all his followers, that, being condemned to eternal fire, they instantly depart into the deepest dungeons of Hell.

MEDITATION

It Is Finished
From all eternity God willed to make man to the image of His eternal Son. After having painted the heavens with blue and the earth with green, God then made a garden, beautiful as only God knows how to make a garden beautiful, and in it placed man made to conform to the image of God's Son. In some mysterious way the revolt of Lucifer echoed to earth, and the image of God in man was blurred and ruined.

It Comes in Threes
The Heavenly Father, in His divine mercy, willed to restore man to his pristine glory. In order that the portrait might once more be true to the Original, God willed to send to earth His Divine Son according to whose image man was made, that the earth might see once more the manner of man God wanted us to be. In the accomplishment of this task, only Divine Omnipotence could use the elements of defeat as the elements of victory. In the Divine economy of Redemption, the same three things which cooperated in our fall, also shared in our redemption. For the disobedient man Adam, there was the obedient man Christ; for the proud woman Eve, there was the humble virgin Mary; for the tree of the garden, there was the tree of the Cross.

A Different Kind of Battle
The Redemption was now completed. The work which His Father had given Him to do was accomplished. We were bought and paid for. We were won in a battle; fought not with five stones like those with which David slew Goliath, but with five wounds, hideous scars on hands and feet and side; in a battle fought not with armor glistening under a noonday sun, but with flesh hanging like purple rags under a darkened sky; in a battle where the cry was not "Crush and kill," but "Father, forgive"; in a battle fought not with spitting steel, but with dripping blood; in a battle in which he who slew the foe lost the day. Now the battle was over. For the last three hours He had been about His Father's business. The artist had put the last touch on His masterpiece and with the joy of the strong He uttered the song of triumph: "It is finished."

Is My Work Finished?
His work is finished, but is ours? It belongs to God to use that word, but not to us. The work of acquiring Divine life for humankind is finished, but not the distribution. He has finished the task of filling the reservoir of Calvary's sacramental life, but the work of letting it flood our souls is not yet finished. He has finished the foundation; we must build upon it. He has finished the ark, opening His side with a spear and clothing Himself in the garment of His precious blood, but we must enter the ark. He stands at the door and knocks, but the latch is on the inside, and only we can open it. He has enacted the consecration, but the communion depends on us; and whether our work will ever be finished depends entirely on how we relive His life and become other Christs, for His Good Friday and His passion avail us nothing unless we take up His Cross and follow Him. Sin is the great obstacle to the accomplishment of that task, for as long as there is sin in the world, Christ is crucified anew in our hearts.

The Task Is Finished
The death of a child or young person is always an especially sad event. In them the bloom of life was still fresh and unfolding. Death in a young person seems to be the denial of a promise; it seems to be the crushing of an unfulfilled pledge of growth, development and accomplishment. The sentiment of many is expressed in the words: "It is a shame that he had to die so young."

Sometimes death comes to a young father or mother who have others dependent upon them. They were anxious and willing to fulfill their duties to their families, but the grim invitation to quit this mortal life came, and they had to accept. It happens at times that a priest is cut down in the prime of life, perhaps shortly after ordination, or after gaining a few years' experience. Ready and glad though he was to go on with the work of helping to save souls, he is forced to leave his task unfinished.

So it is even with many in middle age whose lives are cut short. After long years of work and experience they were on the threshold of their most mature and productive years. With most people it takes time to acquire wisdom. Yet it seems that there is often but little time given to put the hard-won wisdom to practical use. Not many people in their forties or fifties care to say of their life and work: "It is finished."

Christ Declares His Work Done
Yet Christ on the Cross said those very words: "It is consummated." It is finished. He was in the prime of life, about 33 years of age. When He said, "It is finished," He did not mean merely that death was upon Him. He meant in the fuller sense that the task that had been given Him to do was done. He had accomplished His purpose in coming to earth. These words were the final expression of what He had said at the Last Supper: "I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." (John 17:4).

When the laborer comes into his house after a hard day's work, he sits down and his mind runs back over the long hours of toil. He sighs contentedly, because he has finished the tasks of the day and can now rest. So Christ on the Cross looks back over the years of His life and especially over this past day. He has finished the work that was given Him. With the sense of having faithfully done all things, He can declare: "It is finished."

Fulfills Prophecy
Just before uttering the words: "It is finished," Jesus had tasted of a drink that was held up to His lips on a stalk of hyssop. A soldier had dipped a sponge into the mixture of vinegar (derived from wine) and water, fastened the sponge to the stalk and held it up. At the beginning of the three hours on the Cross, Jesus had refused the drink, which might have alleviated His pain. Now when about to die, He tastes of the vinegar and thereby fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 68:22: "And in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink."

All That Was Written Was Accomplished
This was the last prophecy to be fulfilled before the last breath of Our Lord before He died. When He had set out for Jerusalem this last time, Christ had told the Apostles: "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man." (Luke 18:31).

One after another, the things that had been foretold were done. When Our Lord was nailed to the Cross and every last bone ached, the words of David were fulfilled:

"They have dug my hands and feet. They have numbered all my bones." (Psalm 21:17-18). All the prophecies had been fulfilled—from His conception by a virgin and His birth in Bethlehem (Is. 7:14 and Mich. 5:2) to the dividing of His garments by lot (Psalm 21:19) and His crucifixion with criminals (Is. 53:12). So Jesus could taste the vinegar and say in all truth: "It is finished."

Christ Was Not the Picture of Success
Let us take a look at the Man who says He has finished all that was assigned Him to do. He is anything but the picture of success as He makes the statement that His task is successfully concluded. The sky is dark, which may seem to indicate that this was indeed the dark hour for the work of Christ. Most of His supporters and friends were not to be seen. They had left in fear and in amazement at the turn of events in Our Lord's life.

Christ's enemies were triumphant; their plans to bring about His disgrace and death had been successful. They were the ones who mocked Him. He who had given so many devastating answers to them said nothing when they challenged Him to come down from the Cross if He were really the Son of God. (Mark 15:30). They even pointed to His miracles with contempt: "He saved others; let Him save himself." (Luke 23:35). It certainly appeared to be their hour of triumph. It certainly looked as if He were a final failure.

Yet, as the earth began to quake, in the darkness and loneliness and shame and pain of the Cross, and not a minute away from death, Our Lord declared that His work was a success. "It is consummated." He had done all the things He had been sent to accomplish.

What He Could Have Done
Judging by worldly and material standards, we might well say: "What a shame for Him to die!" He was young. He could speak as no man ever had or ever would speak, to stir the minds and hearts of men and turn them to God. He could have continued to work miracles, thereby bringing comfort to many sick and crippled. He could have continued to instruct the Apostles. He could have gone on for thirty years as well as for three. Perhaps He could have written a book that might dissolve all religious doubt forever.

He could have gone to Rome, the center of the civilized world, as Peter and Paul did later, and preached there the kingdom of God. Even if He eventually had to die for the salvation of mankind, why not at the age of sixty or sixty-five, after a full lifetime of His wonderful activities.

No matter what we may think, His work at the age of thirty-three was completed. Otherwise He would not have said: "It is consummated."

What Had He Accomplished?
Humanly speaking, everything looked bad. Yet Christ had completed His work of preaching and working miracles among His own people, the Hebrew nation. By His obedience He had atoned for the disobedience of Adam; by His humility He had counteracted the pride of all sinners. The gates of Heaven were re-opened. The Church had been founded to preserve truth and to administer the Sacraments, thereby bringing light and grace to save the souls of men. Perfect adoration and praise had been rendered to the majesty of God. So, as a worthy laborer with his task completed, Christ could say: "It is finished."

What about Our Own Sense of Values?
Thinking this over, we may well stop to realign our sense of values. It may be that we have a false set of values in our own lives. Maybe the things we think are so important are not very important at all. Maybe we are losing sight of why we are here on earth in the first place. There is no better place to think things over than in the shadow of the Cross, with the words of Christ ringing in our ears: "It is consummated."

Our Lame Excuses
Many times the excuse is given for missing Mass or devotions, or for not receiving Communion frequently: "I don't have time." This shows a false sense of values. There is time for everything else, but not for giving honor and glory to God, not for properly taking care of one's own soul. To say you don't have time means, in the last analysis, that you put a higher value on the other things that are taking up your time.

It is possible that even the daily morning and evening prayers are omitted quite regularly. Once in a while there may be a reasonable excuse. But to say: "I forget" is just another way of saying: "I don't think it is very important."

What Worries Me?
A way of checking on our sense of values is to ask ourselves what we worry about or are the most concerned about. What bothers us the most? Is it the state of our health? Is it the thought of establishing ourselves in an economically secure position? We should take care of our health; we should provide for our needs of food and shelter. But our main concern must always be our eternal salvation.

If a person consults a doctor about a persistent symptom and, at the same time, lives unconcernedly and blithely in the state of mortal sin, there is something wrong with his sense of values. He is worrying about preserving his life on earth, but in the meantime his soul is hanging over the pit of Hell, and it makes no impression on him. If a person makes a social blunder and frets over it because of what other people may think, yet at the same time commits mortal sin and does not care much what God thinks about it, his sense of values is wrong.

So the questions: "What bothers me? What do I worry about?" can give a good indication of where our highest values lie. For we are concerned over that which we value. We are concerned about losing a diamond, but not over a piece of glass. If the things of God and our own soul do not much concern us, then they are valued as a piece of glass. And if so valued, they are likewise trampled upon and cast aside as something of little worth.

Seek First God's Will
Our Lord told us not to be anxious about our food, or our clothing. "Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? …. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:31-33).

If God takes care of the lilies of the field and the grass and the birds of the air, then He is certainly not forgetting us. Christ did not mean to encourage improvidence, but He wanted to tell us that we should rely on God more, to leave things up to Him, after we have done our reasonable part.

How foolish it is to break God's laws in an attempt to provide for material wants. To work needlessly on Sundays, to seek extra work on Sunday, to earn a few more dollars, shows lack of trust in God. Sinfully to limit one's family is the utmost foolishness; it means taking the burden on oneself and leaving nothing to God.

Each of Us Has a Task Assigned
Just as Our Lord came into the world with a task to do, so each one of us has a particular job to do in this world. We have our main purpose of life to fulfill, which is to know, love and serve God. That is the general purpose of all of us. No matter what our station in life, or what our age, we are each supposed to grow in the knowledge and love of God and come to serve Him better. But God also has given us a particular job to do, one that concerns us as individual persons. He has in mind some special way for us to serve Him, some special degree of love for us to arrive at while on this earth. There may be quite a number of small individual jobs for us to do, and when they are finished, then God calls us out of this life.

The biggest tragedy of life is to miss doing what God has sent us here to accomplish. The biggest mistake we can make in this life is to lay our plans with the question in mind: “What can I get out of it? How can I get the most out of life for myself?” Our question ought to be: “How can I best do whatever it is God sent me here to do? What shall I do, so that, when it is time to breathe my last breath, I can say as Christ said: "It is consummated"?

No Accident
It was no accident that Christ died on the Cross. "He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:8). He had said: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work." (John 4:34). That must be our question: How can I be obedient to the designs of God? Our food must be to do the holy Will of God.

How to Find Our Appointed Task
To discover what it is that God has in mind for us, we should start early in life, begging the Holy Spirit to direct us into the proper major vocation. Maybe God wants us to live in the married state, the single state, or the religious or priestly life. Usually He does not "force" us in any one direction. Few are knocked to the ground as was St. Paul and told by a heavenly voice to follow Christ as a priest and apostle.

To discover what God has in mind for us, we should also ask advice and guidance from a spiritual director, usually our regular confessor. If we are not interested enough to pray and to seek advice, then we may well enter the wrong vocation. At judgment, God will point out the work we did not accomplish upon the earth.

Do Not Come Down from the Cross
After we have chosen a vocation, we should live according to all the laws of God concerning our particular state: married, single, priestly or religious. The selfish single person will be asked on the Day of Judgment why he has not aided the needy, or devoted time to the care of parents, or helped in religious or charitable work. The careless priest will be told to look down and see the many souls left in ignorance and sin, whom he should have instructed and brought to repentance. The married who neglected their duties will have pointed out to them how their children were not taught the fear and love of God. They may have pointed out to them the work that some child of theirs should now be doing on earth—but that child was sinfully denied even existence. Where is this son of yours who should now be the assistant priest at this church? Look at these souls wandering without a shepherd.

To all alike will be pointed out this truth. The world taunted you: "Come down from the cross and save yourself." Unlike Christ, you tore yourself free from the cross of duty and tried to save yourself the pain and hardship of accomplishing your task on the earth. Therefore your work has not been finished. Before you breathed your last, you could not in truth say: "It is consummated."

It is not as difficult as might be imagined to find out what God wants us to do. If we are eager, and pray earnestly to do His will, to do our job in life; if we are faithful to the duties of each hour, God will enlighten us.

Each day we ought to pray with Christ: "Not my will, but thine be done." (Luke 22:42). We must be convinced that we are here to do God's Will, to accomplish some special job. Our job may be easy or hard, but whatever it is, God will see us through. At the end, like the weary laborer at the close of day, we will be able to look back over our day on earth and say: "Thank God the work is done." Like Christ on the Cross we will be able to say: "It is consummated. I have done the work You gave me to do."

PRAYER

Dear Jesus! Redemption is Your work; atonement is mine, for atonement means at-one-ment with Your life, Your truth, and Your love. Your work on the Cross is finished, but my work is to take you down, for You are on the Cross, but we must take You down. You have been hanging there long enough! Through Your Apostle, Paul, You told us that those who are Yours crucify their flesh and its concupiscences.

My work, then, is not finished until I take Your place upon the Cross, for unless there is a Good Friday in my life, there will never be an Easter Sunday; unless there is a garment of a fool, there will never be the white robes of wisdom; unless there is the crown of thorns, there will never be the glorified body; unless there is the battle, there will never be the victory; unless there is the thirst, there will never be the Heavenly Refreshment; unless there is the Cross, there will never be the empty tomb. Teach me, Jesus, to finish this task, for it is fitting that the sons of men should suffer and thus enter into their glory.

[Mention Intention]

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

SEVENTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit

BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The hour of our Lord was at last come; His death-struggle had commenced; a cold sweat overspread every limb. Jesus then, raising His head, cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit!” These words, which He uttered in a clear and thrilling tone, resounded through Heaven and earth; and a moment after, He bowed down His head and gave up the ghost. I saw His soul, under the appearance of a bright meteor, penetrate the earth at the foot of the Cross.

John and the holy women fell prostrate on the ground. The centurion Abenadar had kept his eyes steadfastly fixed on the disfigured countenance of Our Lord, and was perfectly overwhelmed by all that had taken place. When our Lord pronounced His last words, before expiring, in a loud tone, the earth trembled, and the rock of Calvary burst asunder, forming a deep chasm between the Cross of our Lord and that of Gesmas. The voice of God—that solemn and terrible voice—had re-echoed through the whole universe; it had broken the solemn silence which then pervaded all nature. All was accomplished.

The soul of our Lord had left His body: His last cry had filled every breast with terror. The convulsed earth had paid homage to its Creator: the sword of grief had pierced the hearts of those who loved Him. This moment was the moment of grace for Abenadar; his horse trembled under him; his heart was touched; it was rent like the hard rock; he threw his lance to a distance, struck his breast, and cried out: “Blessed be the Most High God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; indeed this Man was the Son of God!” His words convinced many among the soldiers, who followed his example, and were likewise converted.

Abenadar became from this moment a new man; he adored the true God, and would no longer serve his enemies. He gave both his horse and his lance to a subaltern of the name of Longinus, who, having addressed a few words to the soldiers, mounted his horse, and took the command upon himself. Abenadar then left Calvary, and went through the Valley of Gihon to the caves in the Valley of Hinnom, where the disciples were hidden, announced the death of our Lord to them, and then went to the town, in order to see Pilate. No sooner had Abenadar rendered public testimony of his belief in the divinity of Jesus, than a large number of soldiers followed his example, as did also some of the bystanders, and even a few Pharisees. Many struck their breasts, wept, and returned home, while others rent their garments, and cast dust on their heads, and all were filled with horror and fear. John arose; and some of the holy women who were at a short distance came up to the Blessed Virgin, and led her away from the foot of the Cross.

When Jesus, the Lord of life and death, gave up His soul into the hands of His Father, and allowed death to take possession of His body, this sacred body trembled and turned lividly white; the countless wounds which were covered with congealed blood appeared like dark marks; His cheeks became more sunken, His nose more pointed, and His eyes, which were obscured with blood, remained but half open. He raised His weary head, which was still crowned with thorns, for a moment, and then dropped it again in agony of pain; while His parched and torn lips, only partially closed, showed His bloody and swollen tongue. At the moment of death His hands, which were at one time contracted round the nails, opened and returned to their natural size, as did also His arms; His body became stiff, and the whole weight was thrown upon the feet, His knees bent, and His feet twisted a little on one side.

What words can, alas, express the deep grief of the Blessed Virgin? Her eyes closed, a death-like tint overspread her countenance; unable to stand, she fell to the ground, but was soon lifted up, and supported by John, Magdalen, and the others. She looked once more upon her beloved Son—that Son whom she had conceived by the Holy Ghost, the flesh of her flesh, the bone of her bone, the heart of her heart—hanging on a cross between two thieves; crucified, dishonoured, condemned by those whom He came on earth to save; and well might she at this moment be termed “the Queen of Martyrs.”

The sun still looked dim and suffused with mist; and during the time of the earthquake the air was close and oppressive, but by degrees it became more clear and fresh. It was about three o'clock when Jesus expired.

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God

At the pronouncing of the seventh word: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit!” (Luke 23:46), the mighty Queen and Mother concurred with the will of her Son Jesus and united with His command that Lucifer and all demons depart to the infernal depths. In virtue of these decrees of the supreme King and of the Queen, the evil spirits were routed from Calvary and precipitated to deepest Hell more violently and suddenly than a flash of light through the riven clouds.

Christ our Savior, as the triumphant Conqueror having vanquished the great enemy, now yielded up His spirit to the Father and permitted death to approach by inclining His head (John 19:30). By this permission He also vanquished death, which had been equally deceived in Him with the demons. For death could not attack men, or had any jurisdiction of them, except through the first sin, of which it was a punishment. On this account the Apostle says that the weapon or the sting of death is sin, which opens up the wounds by which death enters into the world of humanity (Romans 5,:12); and, as our Savior paid the debt of sin, which He could not commit, therefore, when death took away His life without the shadow of justice, it lost the power which it had over the other sons of Adam (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Thenceforward, neither death nor the devil could attack men, unless they, failing to avail themselves of the victory of Christ, should again subject themselves of their own free will. If our first Father, Adam, had not sinned and we ourselves in him, we would not suffer the punishment of death, but merely pass over to the happiness of the eternal fatherland. But sin has made us its subjects and slaves of the devil. He avails himself of death to deprive us first of the grace, the blessings and the friendship of God. Thereby he also prevents us from reaching eternal life and we remain in the slavery of sin and the devil, subject to his tyrannous power (1 John 3:8).

Our Savior Christ despoiled the demon of all these advantages and, in dying without sin and satisfying for our own, merited that our death should be a death of the body only, and not of the soul; that it should have power to take away our temporal life, but not our eternal; the natural, not the spiritual; and that it should thenceforward be merely the portal to the eternal happiness, if we ourselves did not renounce that blessing. Thus the Lord satisfied for the chastisements due to the first sin, at the same time furnishing us a means of offering a compensation in our own name by accepting our natural and bodily death for the love of God. Christ absorbed death (1 Corinthians 15:51) and offered His own as a bait for deceiving death (Osee 13:14). By His Death He put an end of its power, overcame it, and was the Death of death itself.

MEDITATION

Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit
When Adam had been driven from the Garden of Paradise, and the penalty of labor imposed upon him, he went out in quest of the bread he was to earn by the sweat of his brow. In the course of that search, he stumbled upon the limp form of his son Abel, picked him up, carried him upon his shoulders, and laid him on the lap of Eve. They spoke to him, but Abel did not answer. He had never been so silent before. They lifted his hand, but it fell back limp; it had never acted that way before. They looked into his eyes—cold, glassy, mysteriously elusive; they had never been so unresponsive before.

They wondered, and as they wondered, their wonder grew. Then they remembered: "From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die." It was the first death in the world. Centuries whirled around into space, and the new Abel, Christ, is now put to death by His jealous brethren of the race of Cain. The life that came out from the boundless deep now prepares to return home.

His sixth word was a cry of retrospect: "All is now fulfilled. I have finished the work My Father gave Me." His seventh and last word is one of prospect: "Into Your hands I commend My Spirit." The sixth word was meant for the world; the seventh word was meant for God His Father. The sixth word was a farewell to earth; the seventh His entrance into Heaven. Just as those great planets, only after a long time, complete their orbit and return again to their starting-point, as if to salute Him who sent them on their way, so He who had come from Heaven had finished His work and completed His orbit, now goes back to the Father to salute Him who sent Him out on the great work of the world's redemption: "Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit."

Prodigal Return
The Prodigal Son is returning to His Father's house, for is not Christ the Prodigal? Thirty-three years before He had left His Father's eternal mansion and went off into the foreign country of this world. Then He began spending Himself and being spent; dispensing with an infinite prodigality the divine riches of power and wisdom and bestowing with a heavenly generosity the divine gifts of pardon and mercy. In this last hour His whole substance is wasted among sinners, for He is giving the last drop of His Precious Blood for the redemption of the world. There is nothing to feed upon except the husks of human sneers and the vinegar and gall of bitter human ingratitude. He now prepares to take the road back to His Father's house, and when yet some distance away He sees the face of His Heavenly Father. He breaks out into the last and perfect prayer from the pulpit of the Cross: "Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit."

Birth and Death
All the while Mary is standing at the foot of the Cross. In a short time the new Abel, slain by His brethren, will be taken down from the gibbet of salvation and laid in the lap of the new Eve. It will be the death of Death! But when the tragic moment comes it may seem to the tear-dimmed eyes of Mary that Bethlehem has come back.

The thorn-crowned head which had nowhere to lay itself in death, except on the pillow of the Cross, may, through Mary's clouded vision, seem the head which she drew to her breast at Bethlehem. Those eyes at whose fading even the sun and moon were darkened were to her the eyes that glanced up from a crib of straw. The helpless feet riveted with nails once more seem to her the baby feet at which were cast gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The lips now parched and crimsoned with blood seem the ruddy lips that once at Bethlehem nourished themselves on the Eucharist of her body. The hands that can hold nothing but a wound, seem once more the baby hands that were not quite long enough to touch the huge heads of the cattle. The embrace at the foot of the Cross seems the embrace at the side of the crib. In that sad hour of death which always makes one think of birth, Mary may feel that Bethlehem has come back again. In Bethlehem, He was born to die; on Calvary He dies to be born in Heaven. The same is true for us! We are born to die, and we die to be born in Heaven. Our death is our birthday!

Leaving Things to God
It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when Jesus said His last word and died. It had been a long time since the night before, when He had left the Upper Room to go to the Garden of Gethsemani. There had been about eighteen hours of uninterrupted stress and strain, agony of mind and pain of body. He had had no sleep the night before. The time after being apprehended in the Garden had been spent in going from court to court and being put on trial. He had gone from Annas to Caiphas, to Pilate, to Herod, and back to Pilate.

In between these trips, the soldiers had amused themselves by mocking Him, putting Him on a stump and placing a reed in His hand, as though He were king, then striking Him with the reed, spitting on Him, bending the knee before Him. Later in the morning, after He had been scourged, they had actually interwoven a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, again in derision of His claimed kingship. Then there had been the frenzied shouting, the overflowing of passion and hatred. It would have required nerves of steel not to be affected by all this clamor, especially when directed at oneself.

Beyond all this, moreover, was the heavy sorrow of knowing that these people, His own countrymen, had had every chance of knowing better. They had seen miracles and had heard the most convincing preaching. They had blinded themselves deliberately, even after the pagan judge, Pilate, had said that the man being tried was innocent.

Finally, Jesus had taken on His shoulder theheavy cross and had walked up the hill to Calvary, just outside the city wall. There He had been stripped of His garments and nailed with three large nails to the Cross. It does not take great imagination to realize the terrible pain of this nailing and the increased pain when He was raised on the Cross, attached by nails. There was no anesthetic, no pain-dulling "shot." He bore the raw pain without benefit even of the usual drink of wine and myrrh.

Crucifixion was considered even by the ancients, who were much rougher people than most of us are, as the most cruel form of death. The loss of blood and the suffering would cause a fever, and this in turn would make the whole body ache and induce a great thirst. Worst of all was the constant grinding of the nails against the median nerves of His hands. The pain in Jesus' feet would also have been severe with the iron nail pressing against the plantar nerves like 'red hot pokers,' similar to that suffered by the median nerve injuries during nailing of the hands.

This, then, was the suffering which Our Lord endured for three hours. And all this came at the end of a long night without sleep, a night of being dragged back and forth, falsely accused, mocked, browbeaten. It came after the scourging and crowning with thorns.

Interior Suffering
Besides this pain of the body, there was the deep anguish of Our Lord in thinking about the loss of many souls who would not profit from His sacrifice. He saw those gathered beneath the Cross who continued to ridicule Him to the end. He saw the people of all centuries who, in pride and disobedience and sensuality, would deliberately reject Him, His Church, His Law. Then there had been that most mysterious desolation of spirit leading Him to cry out, asking why God had forsaken Him. Truly He took upon Himself the full weight of sin, even to feeling cut off from God. As St. Paul says: "Wherefore it behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, that He might be a propitiation for the sins of the people." (Hebrews 2:17).

He Died Freely
The last words of Jesus were cried out with a loud voice. He had endured enough to cause death, but He was still the Master of life and death. Had He chosen, He could have gone on living. His loud cry and final words show that He died by His own choice. His voice was not the weak, hardly audible voice of one who has not an ounce of strength left. His words accepting death and His immediate bowing of His head thereafter show that He died because He willed to die.

At the moment of Christ's death there was a great earthquake. The rocks on Calvary were cleft, a rent appearing down the side of the hill. In Jerusalem, the great veil of the Temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the main part of

the Temple was torn in two down the middle, signifying the end of the Old Law. The Roman centurion in charge of the soldiers, "seeing that crying out in this manner He had given up the ghost, said: Indeed this man was the son of God." (Mark 15:39). Many of the Jews left in fear and went back into the city, striking their breasts as a sign of submission to God.

Last Words Show Union with the Father
The last words of Jesus were words of trust in Clod, of resignation, love and confidence. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." A little earlier He had cried out: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Those words show us the degree of bitterness and the depth of abandonment He experienced. But it would have been unthinkable that these words would be His last. No, His final words must show union and harmony between the Son and the Father. Therefore, Jesus does not use the more distant form of address, "My God," but speaks familiarly, "Father."

Death is the final, lowest humiliation that the Saviour can undergo. Even at the end He could still have descended from the Cross, healed, and confounded all His enemies. He could have approached the point of death—yet without dying. But that was not the divine plan for Redemption.

Life is the sweetest and best of all the gifts of God. No one ever realized this more than Our Lord. But He now gladly gave up this life, accepting the final humiliation of death in love and submission to the will of His Father. That is the meaning of the words: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit." They are words of complete resignation to the will of God. Life comes from God; life must be used for Him; life must go back to Him.

When We Should Use Christ's Words
There are three times especially when we should ourselves use the words: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit."

1. Upon Going to Sleep
First, we should use them each evening as part of our night prayers. When night comes and another day is over, so is another part of our life on earth. Each day is a miniature life in itself. Each time a person lies down to sleep, he gives up conscious control of life. Sleep is an imitation of death, so that we sometimes even speak of death as a long sleep. Here, then, is a good time to remember that all life has come from God, that life must be lived and used according to His Will, that sooner or later our life must go back to God. If we use the words: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit" in the right way, we are saying all these things to Almighty God. And if it should happen that we never wake from our sleep, then our last words, or among our very last words, will have been the same as the words that Christ used on the Cross. We could hardly find more fitting words to be our last.

2. After Holy Communion
The second time we should use the words: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit" is after receiving Holy Communion. At this time we address these words to Our Lord present within us. They will then have the meaning of perfect resignation to the will of God in directing our life on earth. They will at this time also have a further special meaning, the giving of self to be remade in the image of Christ.

We are giving over the direction and the formation of our soul, "our spirit," to Christ Himself. The ultimate reason for receiving Holy Communion is to become more and more like Christ, to have Him formed in us. (Galatians 4:19).

This formation goes on essentially because of the growth in Sanctifying Grace, that Godlike quality that makes us adopted sons of God. Likewise, our mind, our way of thinking, of looking at things, ought to become more and more like that of Christ. As St. Paul wrote to the Philippians: "For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5). Our heart, too, ought to become more and more like that of our Savior.

We ought to love the same things He loved, will what He willed, be sorrowful over those things that made Him sorrowful. Therefore, when we say after Holy Communion: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit," we mean to give over our soul to Christ, asking Him to mold it more and more in His own image. We give our soul to Him, knowing that He knows best what to do for it.

Sometimes people are too much interested in trying to acquire this or that good quality, begging Our Lord to help them not to be so inclined to anger or to impatience. It would be much better to stop worrying about oneself and simply to give one's soul over to Our Lord, leaving its direction to Him.

3. At the Hour of Death
The third time we should use the words: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit" is at the final hour of life. Then we have the opportunity to offer our life to God, to accept death according to His will. It would be hard to find better words than the final words of Our Lord to express the willing acceptance of death, the willing offering of life to God. Sacred writers consider this offering of one's own life so pleasing to God that it may be compared in merit with martyrdom.

Perhaps it may seem like a small thing to offer one's life to God, to accept death willingly, but it is not. Cynics may say it is small, since a person cannot do anything about it anyway. But to offer one's life, even though death is inevitable, is no small thing, for it is to offer back to God the most precious natural gift He has given us. To offer a million dollars for building a church or school would be a sizable gift. A dying person's life is worth more than a million dollars. He would gladly spend this if his life were spared. The value placed upon life cannot be measured in terms of money. Thus, in offering his life to God, the dying person offers his most precious natural gift.

It Is Unjust to Deceive a Dying Person
Needless to say, people who are dying should have the opportunity of freely offering the priceless gift of their life. They should not be allowed to go blindly into eternity by not being told they are dying. To try to deceive a dying person, even a child who has the use of reason, is cruelty. It is injustice.

There are a number of reasons for saying this.
It may be that only the knowledge of approaching death will lead a person to true contrition. Even one who seems to be close to God may have been keeping something on his conscience that only the thought of death will lead him to confess. But aside from this, a person should be given the opportunity to die as Christ did, with full acceptance of the will of God. In all things we are to be imitators of Christ; therefore, we should be imitators of Him in this too. A person should not be denied the opportunity of making this final offering of life, which is so pleasing to God.

Yet, sad to say, there exists in many people a false sort of charity and a foolish soft-heartedness that tries to "kid" a sick person along, even through the portals of eternity. We should, of course, be optimistic and stir up the hope of living as long as there is hope. But when the danger is grave and the balance swings to the side of approaching death, then we should let the sick person know. He should not be permitted to back into eternity, but should go forward, and with his eyes open.

Well-meaning relatives sometimes try to keep all knowledge of a grave sickness from the dying person. They may even be unwilling to ask the priest to administer the "Last Rites" (Confession, Last Anointing, Communion), fearing that these may upset the sick person. But is this not misdirected affection? Is it not sentimentality instead of mercy? Certainly death is a hard fact; to be in the proximate danger of death is not a pleasant fact. But not to hear about it is not going to prevent it. To know about it in advance may be the means of a great grace, giving the dying person the opportunity to repent or the opportunity to offer his life to God.

When a person is in an accident or overcome suddenly by some sickness, the tendency among medical people is to be too hasty with the sedative needle. The doctor or hospital attendant gives a massive sedative to quiet the patient. There is a place for sedatives, but they should not be given so soon that the patient does not at least have the chance to make an act of contrition. He may not think of this himself. If you are present, you can offer to recite the Act of Contrition, asking him to pray along silently. You do not have to shock the person. Just tell him you are going to say the Act of Contrition with him "for safety’s sake," or something similar.

Sooner or later each person comes to his own Good Friday. It may be that for us the major pains of life will be distributed over the years, and that our last hours will not be full of suffering. Or, it may be that our last hours will be very painful. We may ask God to make it one way or the other, if we wish; it is not wrong to express our preference to Him. Yet the best attitude is to leave the choice to God: "Thy Will be done."

Study the Cross
We will be better prepared for death the more we contemplate and appreciate the Cross of Christ and all that it means. No schooling in college or university can explain life better; no amount of reading can make us better, more real persons than can the study of the Cross. The ultimate explanation of all the mysteries of this life is bound up in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. During our life here on earth, we should study the Cross. Then, when we come to our final hour, we may have the grace to die as did Our Savior on His Cross, with full resignation, confidence and love, saying to our Heavenly Father: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit."

PRAYER

No, Mary! Bethlehem has not come back. This is not the crib, but the Cross; not birth, but death; not the day of companionship with Shepherds and Kings, but the hour of a common death with thieves; not Bethlehem, but Calvary. Bethlehem is Jesus, as you, His sinless mother, gave Him to the world; Calvary is Jesus, as the sinful world gave Him back to you. Something intervened between your giving at the manger and your receiving at the Cross, and that which intervened is my sins. Mary, this is not your hour; it is my hour—my hour of wickedness and sin. If I had not sinned, death would not now hover on its black wings about His crimsoned body; if I had not been proud, the atoning crown of thorns would never have been woven; if I had been less rebellious in treading the broad way which leads to destruction, His feet would never have been pierced with nails; if I had been more responsive to His shepherding calls from the thorns and thistles, His lips would have never been on fire; if I had been more faithful, His cheeks would never have been blistered with the kiss of Judas.

Mary, it is I who stand between His birth and His approaching redemptive death. I warn you, Mary, think not when your arms come to clasp Him, that He is white as He came from the Father; He is red as He came from me. In a few short seconds your Son shall have surrendered His soul to His Heavenly Father, and His body to your caressing hands. The last few drops of blood are falling from that great chalice of Redemption, staining the wood of the Cross and crimsoning the rocks soon to be rent in horror; and a single drop of it would be sufficient to redeem ten thousand worlds. Mary, my Mother, intercede with your Divine Son for forgiveness of the sin of changing your Bethlehem into Calvary. Beg Him, Mary, in these last remaining seconds, to grant us the grace of never crucifying Him again, nor piercing your own heart with seven swords. Mary, plead with your dying Son that as long as I live!

[Mention Intention]
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

EIGHTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
The Mother of God Speaks

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God

Words of Our Lady
I desire that thou become a true disciple of my most holy Son and of myself. The main purpose of the exalted and venerable mysteries, which are made known to thee, and of the teachings, which I so often repeat to thee, is that thou deny and strip thyself, estranging thy heart from all affection to creatures, neither wishing to possess them nor accept them for other uses. By this precaution thou wilt overcome the impediments, which the devils seek to place in the way of the dangerous softness of thy nature.

I who know thee, thus advise and lead thee by the way of instruction and correction as thy Mother and Instructress. By the divine teaching thou knowest the mysteries of the Passion and Death of Christ and the one true way of life, which is the Cross; and thou knowest that not all who are called, are chosen.

Many there are who wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate Him; for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross they cast it aside. Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide themselves by the light. On this account there are so many among mortals, who, forgetful of the eternal truths, seek the flesh and the continual indulgence of its pleasures. They ardently seek honors and fly from injuries: they strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and dread mortification. All these are enemies of the Cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18), and with dreadful aversion they fly from it, deeming it sheer ignominy, just like those who crucified Christ, the Lord.

Another deceit has spread through the world: many imagine that they are following Christ their Master, though they neither suffer affliction nor engage in any exertion or labor. They are content with avoiding boldness in committing sins, and place all their perfection in a certain prudence or hollow self-love, which prevents them from denying anything to their will and from practicing any virtues at the cost of their flesh. They would easily escape this deception, if they would consider that my Son was not only the Redeemer, but their Teacher; and that He left in this world the treasures of His Redemption, not only as a remedy against its eternal ruin, but as a necessary medicine for the sickness of sin in human nature. No one knew so much as my Son and Lord; no one could better understand the quality of love than the divine Lord, Who was and is wisdom and charity itself; and no one was more able to fulfill all His wishes (1 John 4:16).

Nevertheless. although He well could do it, He chose not a life of softness and ease for the flesh, but one full of labors and pains; for He judged his instructions to be incomplete and insufficient to redeem man, if He failed to teach them how to overcome the demon, the flesh and their own self. He wished to inculcate, that this magnificent victory is gained by the Cross, by labors, penances, mortifications and the acceptance of contempt: all of which are the trade-marks and evidences of true love and the special watchwords of the predestined.

Thou knowest the value of the Holy Cross and the honor which it confers upon ignominies and tribulations; do thou embrace the Cross and bear it with joy in imitation of my Son and thy Master (Matthew 14:24). In this mortal life, let thy glory be in tribulations, persecutions (Romans 5:3), contempt, infirmities, poverty, humiliation and in whatever is painful and averse to mortal flesh. And in order that in all thy exercises thou mayest imitate me and give me pleasure, I wish that thou seek no rest or consolation in any earthly thing.

Thou must not dwell in thy thoughts upon what thou bearest, nor seek to relieve thyself by enlisting the compassion of others. Much less must thou make much of, or try to impress others with the recital of the persecutions or molestations of creatures, nor should it ever be heard from thy lips, how much thou endurest, nor shouldst thou compare thy sufferings with those of others.

I do not wish to say, that it is a sin to accept of some reasonable and moderate alleviation, or to mention thy afflictions. But in thee, my dearest, much alleviation, if not a sin, would be an infidelity to thy Spouse and Lord; for He has put thee personally under more obligation than many generations of men and thy response in suffering and love will be defective and wanting, if it is not complete and loyal in all respects. So faithful does the Lord wish thy correspondence to be, that thou must allow thy weak nature not even one sigh for mere natural relief and consolation.

If love alone impels thee, thou wilt allow thyself to be carried along by its sweet force and rest in it alone; and the love of the Cross would immediately dispense with such natural relief, in the same way as thou knowest I have done in my total self-sacrifice. Let this be to thee a general rule: that all human consolation is an imperfection and a danger, and that thou shouldst welcome only that, which the Most High sends to thee Himself, or through His holy angels. And even these favors of the divine right hand, thou must accept only in so far as they strengthen thee to suffer more constantly and to withdraw thee from all that ministers to the senses.

PRAYER

O Lord Almighty You have suffered death at the cross for our sins.
O Holy Cross of Jesus be my true light.
O Holy Cross of Jesus fill my soul with good thoughts.
O Holy Cross safely guard me against unholy thoughts and wordly dangers, so that I may worship thee.

O Holy Cross of Jesus of Nazareth crucified have pity on me.
O Holy Cross of Jesus be my hope.
O Holy Cross have mercy on me forever and ever. Amen.

In honor of the precious Blood of Jesus and His fearful death and resurrection and His glorification, which leads to everlasting life.
As true as Jesus was born at Christmas and crucified on Good Friday,
As true as Saint Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross,
As true as Jesus ascended into Heaven, may He preserve me from my enemies, both visible and invisible, forever and ever. Amen.

Lord Almighty, unto your hand I give my soul and my body.
Oh! Lord Jesus grant me strength to bear my cross as Yourself.
Teach me to bear it with great humility that the Virgin may fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Preserve my soul and lead it to life everlasting. AMEN

[Mention Intention]

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

SCROLL DOWN FURTHER FOR THE NINTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

SCROLL DOWN FURTHER FOR THE NINTH DAY OF THE NOVENANINTH DAY OF THE NOVENA

Topic to Contemplate:
Final Words From Our Lady

VENERABLE MARY OF AGREDA
The Mystical City of God

Words of Our Lady

My daughter, the lance-thrust which my blessed Son received in His side, was cruel and very painful only to me; but its effects and mysteries are most sweet to those souls who know how to taste its sweetness. It was a great affliction to me; but whoever meets with this mysterious favor will find it a great relief and consolation in his sorrows.

In order that thou mayest understand this and participate in it, thou must know, that my Son and Lord, on account of His most ardent love for men, in addition to the wounds of the feet and hands, wished to open the wound of His Heart, the seat of love, in order that through this port the souls might enter and there receive refuge and relief.

This is the only retreat which I wish thee to seek during the time of thy banishment, and which thou must consider as thy habitation upon earth. There thou wilt find the conditions and laws of love for imitating me and learn how for injuries thou must return blessings to all who commit them against thee and thine, just as thou hast seen me do, when I was grieved by the wounding of the side of my dead Son.

I assure thee, my dearest, that thou canst not do anything more adapted to the obtaining of the efficacious graces from the Almighty. The prayer, which thou offerest in a forgiving spirit, is powerful not only for thy own good, but for the good of the one that offends thee; for the kind heart of my Son is easily moved, when He sees that creatures imitate Him
in pardoning offenders and in praying for them; for they thereby participate in his most ardent charity manifested on the Cross.

Write this doctrine in thy heart and in imitation of me practice this virtue, of which I thought so highly. Through this wound look upon the Heart of Christ thy Spouse and upon me, sweetly and ardently loving in it thy enemies and all creatures.

Consider also the anxious and ever ready providence of the Most High in coming to the aid of the creatures, that call to Him in true confidence. This thou hast seen in my behalf, when I found myself afflicted and at a loss concerning the proper burial of my divine Son.

In order to come to my assistance in this plight, the Lord showed His sweet love by moving the hearts of Joseph and Nicodemus and of the other faithful to assist me in burying Him. By their opportune help I was so much consoled in this tribulation, that on account of their behavior and my prayer the Most High filled them with wonderful influences of the Divinity, by which they were regaled during the time of taking Jesus from the Cross and His burial; and from that time on these faithful were enlightened and filled with the mysteries of the Redemption.

This is the admirable disposition of the sweet and powerful providence of God, that in order to bind Himself to do good to some of his creatures, He sends affliction upon others, so that he moves the benevolence of others to benefit those in necessity.

Thus the benefactor, on account of the good work he does and on account of the prayer of the poor, is rewarded by receiving graces of which he otherwise would not be worthy. The Father of mercies, Who inspires and assists the good work done, afterwards pays for it as if it were due in justice. For we can correspond to His inspirations merely according to our insignificant abilities, while all that is really good, comes entirely from His hands (James 1:7).

Consider also the equity maintained by this Providence in compensating the injuries received in patient suffering. For after my divine Son had suffered death amid the contempt, dishonor and blasphemies of men, the Most High at once provided for an honorable burial and moved many to confess Him as the true God and Redeemer, to proclaim Him as holy, innocent and just, and, at the very time when they had finished their frightful crucifixion, to adore Him as the Son of God.

Even his enemies were made to feel within themselves the horror and confusion of their sin in persecuting Him. Although these benefits availed not all men, yet all of them were effects of the innocent Death of the Lord. I also concurred in my prayers, in order that the Lord might be acknowledged and honored by those known to me.

PRAYER

O Lord Almighty You have suffered death at the cross for our sins.
O Holy Cross of Jesus be my true light.
O Holy Cross of Jesus fill my soul with good thoughts.
O Holy Cross safely guard me against unholy thoughts and wordly dangers, so that I may worship thee.

O Holy Cross of Jesus of Nazareth crucified have pity on me.
O Holy Cross of Jesus be my hope.
O Holy Cross have mercy on me forever and ever. Amen.

In honor of the precious Blood of Jesus and His fearful death and resurrection and His glorification, which leads to everlasting life.
As true as Jesus was born at Christmas and crucified on Good Friday,
As true as Saint Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross,
As true as Jesus ascended into Heaven, may He preserve me from my enemies, both visible and invisible, forever and ever. Amen.

Lord Almighty, unto your hand I give my soul and my body.
Oh! Lord Jesus grant me strength to bear my cross as Yourself.
Teach me to bear it with great humility that the Virgin may fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Preserve my soul and lead it to life everlasting. AMEN

[Mention Intention]

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Pray:
Change my heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and enkindle in me the fire of Thy merciful love.. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Most Merciful Heart of Jesus, pray for us.