| Chapter 26. Prayers and Meditations | ||||
1. ON SUNDAY, OR AT MATINS | ||||
O Eternal Wisdom, my heart reminds You of Your sorrow of soul. 1. When after the Last Supper on the Mount, You wast bathed in Your bloody sweat because of the anxiety of Your heart; 2. And when like an enemy You wast made prisoner, cruelly bound, and led miserably away; 3. When, Lord, You wast sacrilegiously maltreated in the night with hard blows, and with blindfolding of Your eyes; 4. Early accused before Caiphas and pronounced worthy of death; 5. Seen by Your affectionate mother with unspeakable sorrow of heart; 6. You wast ignominiously presented before Pilate, falsely accused, and condemned to die; 7. You, O Eternal Wisdom, wast mocked as a fool in a white garment before Herod; 8. Your fair body was torn and rent without mercy by the cruel whips of Your scourgers; 9. Your delicate head was pierced with sharp thorns and Your sweet face, in consequence, drenched with blood; 10. Thus condemned You wast led miserably and shamefully with Your cross to death. | ||||
Alas, my only hope, let me, therefore, remind You to give me Your fatherly aid in all my distresses. Oh, unloose my sinful fetters, guard me against secret vice and open guilt, shelter me from the false councils of the enemy, and from the occasion of all crime, inspire me with a sincere sympathy for Your own sufferings and for those of Your tender mother. Lord, at my last departure, judge me mercifully, teach me to condemn worldly honours, and to serve You wisely. Let all my infirmities be healed in Your wounds. | ||||
Let my reason be fortified and adorned by the injuries inflicted on Your head, and may Your whole Passion be imitated by me according to my ability. | ||||
Amen. | ||||
Sweet Lord! 1. When on the high branches of the cross Your eyes were extinguished and turned in their sockets; 2. Your divine ears filled with mockery and blasphemy; 3. Your delicate nostrils stopped with rank smells; 4. | ||||
Your sweet mouth with bitter drink; 5. Your tender feeling visited with rude blows. Therefore do I beg that You would guard this day my eyes from all dissolute sights, my ears from voluptuous speech. Lord, take away from me all relish of bodily things, make all temporal things unpleasant to me, and rid me of all tenderness for my own body. | ||||
2. ON MONDAY, AT PRIME | ||||
Ah, tender Lord! 1. When Your divine head was bowed down by weakness and utter debility; 2. Your fair throat very grievously distended; 3. Your blessed features polluted with spittle and blood; 4. Your clear complexion made livid; 5. All Your beautiful form smitten with death. Grant me, therefore, O | ||||
Lord, to love bodily pain, and to seek all my rest in You, to endure injuries willingly from others, to desire contempt, to die to my affections and all my lusts. | ||||
Sweet Lord! 1. When Your right hand was nailed down; 2. Your left hand struck through; 3. Your right arm extended; 4. Your left stretched out; 5. Your right foot hammered through; 6. Your left made fast; 7. You didst hang suspended in a swoon; 8. And in great weariness of Your divine limbs; 9. All Your tender joints were immovably strained on the hard bed of the cross; 10. | ||||
Your body was drenched in many places with Your hot blood. Therefore, O Lord, | ||||
I beseech that I may be made immovably fast to You in joy and sorrow, that all the powers of my body and soul may be distended on Your cross, and my reason and affections nailed to it. Grant me inability to indulge in bodily pleasure, promptness in seeking Your praise and honour. I crave that no limb of my body may be without a living token of Your death, a spontaneous proof of the image of Your Passion. | ||||
3. TUESDAY, OR AT TIERCE | ||||
Tender Lord! 1. Your blooming body pined and withered away on the cross; | ||||
2. Your weary and tender back leant uneasily against the hard wood; 3. Your heavy frame painfully gave way; 4. All Your limbs were covered with sores; 5. | ||||
Your heart endured it lovingly. Lord, be Your withering a re-blooming to me for ever. Your uneasy leaning my spiritual rest. Your giving way, my powerful support. All Your wounds must heal mine, and Your loving heart inflame mine with fervour. | ||||
Sweet Lord! 1. First in Your mortal agony You wast mocked with scornful words; 2. And with contemptuous gestures; 3. You wast utterly annihilated in their hearts; 4. You didst continue under it steadfast; 5. And didst pray to Your Father for them lovingly; 6. You, the innocent Lamb, wast numbered with the guilty; 7. You wast condemned and reviled by the thief on Your left; 8. But wast invoked by him on the right; 9. You forgave the latter all his sins; 10. You didst unlock for him the gates of paradise. | ||||
Beloved Lord! teach me, Your servant, to bear with firmness every ignominious word, every scornful gesture, and all sorts of contempt for Your sake, and lovingly to excuse my enemies before You. Ah, You infinite good, behold, this day I offer up, before the eyes of Your heavenly Father, Your innocent death for my guilty life. Lord, with the thief I cry out to You: | ||||
Remember me when You come into Your kingdom! Condemn me not for my evil deeds, forgive all my sins, undo for me the gates of the heavenly paradise! | ||||
4. ON WEDNESDAY, OR AT SEXT | ||||
Tender Lord! 1. At that hour You wast forsaken for my sake of all men; | ||||
2. Your friends had renounced You; 3. You stoodst naked and robbed of all honour and raiment; 4. Your power then seemed overcome; 5. They treated You without mercy, and You didst bear it all in meekness and silence; 6. Alas, for Your gentle heart, You who alone didst know at that time the depth of Your Mother's sorrow of heart; 7. And didst see her deplorable state; 8. And didst hear her lamentable words; 9. And at Your mortal separation didst commend her to the filial piety of Your disciple; 10. And the disciple to her maternal love. | ||||
Oh therefore, You pattern of all virtues, take away from me all pernicious love of men, and all inordinate affection of friends; strip me of all impatience; give me steadfastness against all evil spirits, and meekness against all violent men. Give me, gentle Lord, Your bitter death in the bottom of my heart, in my prayers, and in the practice of good works. O tender Lord, I commend myself this day to the true fidelity and care of Your pure Mother and Your beloved disciple. | ||||
[Here say a Salve Regina or an Ave Maria.] | ||||
O pure and tender Mother, I shall remind you today of the infinite sorrow of heart which you didst endure. 1. At the first aspect of your dear Child when you didst see Him suspended in agony; 2. You could not then come to Hiss assistance; 3. You didst gaze in anguish of heart at your beloved Son expiring before your eyes; 4. You didst lament over Him with great lamentation; 5. And He comforted you very kindly; 6. His divine words pierced your heart; 7. Your lamentable gestures softened the hard hearts of the Jews; 8. Your maternal arms and hands were most reverentially lifted up; | ||||
9. But your sick body sank exhausted on the ground; 10. Where your tender mouth did affectionately kiss His fallen blood. | ||||
Oh, then Mother of all graces, watch over me like a mother for my whole life, and graciously shield me in the hour of my death. O gentle Lady! behold, that is the hour for the sake of which I desire to be your servant all my days. That is the dreadful hour which frightens my heart and soul, for then there will be an end to prayer and supplication. Then shall I, poor wretch, not know to whom to turn. Therefore, you unfathomable abyss of divine compassion, I fall at your feet this day with the fervent sighs of my heart, that I may then be found worthy of your joyous presence. How should he ever despond, or what can injure him whom here, O purest Mother, you do protect? Ah, you only consolation, defend me against the terrible looks of the wicked spirits, lend me aid and protection against the hands of the enemy! Listen consolingly to my wretched sighs, look kindly with the eyes of your compassion on my ghastly and enfeebled frame. Reach me your beneficent hands. Receive my poor soul. With your radiant countenance present it before the severe Judge, and install it in everlasting bliss! | ||||
5. ON THURSDAY, OR AT NONE | ||||
O You most intimate delight of the Heavenly Father! 1. How wast You abandoned at that hour on the cross to every pang of bitter death exteriorly, and robbed of all sweetness and solace interiorly! 2. You didst utter a cry of misery to Your Father; 3. Your will You didst unite wholly to His; 4. You didst thirst bodily by reason of great dryness! 5. You didst thirst spiritually by reason of great love; 6. Your thirst was bitterly quenched; 7. And when all things were fulfilled You didst exclaim: | ||||
Consummatum est? 8. You wast obedient to Your Father, even to death; 9. | ||||
And You didst commend Your Spirit into His Fatherly hands; 10. And then Your noble soul separated from Your body. | ||||
Ah, You loving Lord, in this Your love I desire that You would open Your Fatherly ears at all times to my call, and give me in all things a will united to Your. Lord, quench in me all thirst after bodily things; make me thirst after spiritual goods. Sweet Lord, let Your bitter drink change all my afflictions into sweetness. Grant me to persevere in perfect thoughts and in good works until death, and that I may never swerve from Your obedience. | ||||
Eternal Wisdom, let my spirit be transferred from this day forth into Your hands, so that at its final departure it may be joyfully received by You. | ||||
Lord, grant me a life pleasing in Your sight; a death well prepared for; an end made sure by You. Lord, let Your bitter death make amends for, and complete my insufficient works, so that at my last hours, guilt and punishment may be wholly effeced. | ||||
6. ON FRIDAY, OR AT VESPERS | ||||
Ah, my Lord, remember, 1. How the sharp spear was thrust into Your divine side; 2. How the purple blood ran out; 3. How the living water gushed forth; 4. And with what bitter toil You didst garner me up; 5. And how generously You didst ransom me; Loving Lord! may Your deep wounds shelter me from all my enemies; Your living water cleanse me from all my sins; Your rose-coloured blood adorn me with all graces and virtues. Tender Lord! May the praise You didst so bitterly win bind me to You! The ransom You didst so freely pay unite me eternally with You. Oh, you chosen consolation of all sinners, Ho, you sweet Queen, remember today. 1. How you didst stand under the cross, and how, as your Son hung dead above you, you didst cast on Him many a look of misery; 2. How affectionately His arms were received by you; 3. With what fidelity pressed to your blood-stained face; 4. His bleeding wounds, His dead and ghastly features, were by you kissed again and again; 5. How many a death-wound your heart then received; 6. How many a fervent unfathomable sigh burst from you; 7. How many scalding tears you didst shed; 8. Your miserable words were so full of sorrow; 9. Your most gracious figure was so steeped in affliction; 10. Your woeful heart was without consolation from all mankind. Oh, pure Lady, on this account forget not to be a constant protectress of my whole life, and my faithful guide. | ||||
Turn your eyes, your mild eyes, at all times, with compassion on me. Watch over me like a mother in every temptation. Protect me faithfully against my enemies, protect me beneath your tender arms. Let your faithful kissing of His wounds be to me as a tender reconciliation with Him; Let the wounds of your heart obtain for me a cordial repentance of my sins; Your fervent sighing procure for me a constant yearning; And let your bitter tears soften my hard heart; Be your lamentable words even as a renunciation to me of all voluptuous speeches; Your weeping form as a casting away of all dissolute conduct; Your disconsolate heart as a despising of all perishable affections. | ||||
7. ON SATURDAY, OR AT COMPLINE | ||||
1. O, You ravishing brightness of eternal light, how are You at this moment, when my soul embraces You under the cross as dead in Your sorrowful mother's lap, with lamentations and thanksgiving, how are You utterly extinguished! Extinguish in me the burning desire of all vice. 2. O, You pure clear mirror of the Divine Majesty, how are You defiled for very love of me! Wash out the great stains of my evil deeds. 3. O, fair and shining Image of the Fatherly goodness, how grievously disfigured You are! Restore the disfigured image of my soul. 4. O, innocent Lamb, how piteously are You abased! Atone and reform for me my guilty sinful life. 5. O, King of all kings, O, Lord of all lords, vouchsafe me, since my soul embraces You with sorrow and lamentation in Your abasement, that it may be embraced by You with joy in Your eternal glory. O, pure Mother, worthy of all love, remember today, 1. The forlorn condition in which you foundest yourself when they tore your murdered Son from your breast; 2. Remember your separation from Him; | ||||
3. Your faltering steps; 4. Your heart sighing again for His body; 5. The constant fidelity which you alone didst evince for Him in all His woe till He was laid in the grave. Obtain for me, from your tender Son, that in your sorrow and His sufferings I may subdue my own. Moreover, that I may shut myself up with Him in His sepulchre from all temporal anxieties; That I may be inspired with disgust for all this world; That I may only cherish a perpetual desire of Him, and may persevere in His praise and service to the grave. Amen. | ||||
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When all this was ready and written out, there still remained a little to make up at the end of a chapter, appertaining to our Blessed Lady, and in that very part he had left a blank space until he should be inspired with it by God, for he had been many months in a state of spiritual dereliction, so that he could not finish the chapter. Then he besought our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God, that she would do it. And, on the eve of St. Dominic, at night, after he had sung matins, it seemed to him in his sleep, as if he were in a chamber; and as if, while he was sitting there, a very fair youth entered with a ravishing harp, and with him four other youths with flutes. | ||||
Then the youth with the harp sat down by the brother, and began to touch his harp, and play upon it very sweetly. This was pleasant for the brother to hear, and he said to him, O, when will you come to the place where I dwell, and lift up my heart a little with your music? Then the youth asked the brother if he was still busy with what he had for a long time been occupied with? To which he said, Yes. Then the youth answered and said: It is hard to play. So he turned to the four with flutes, and bid them blow. Then one of them answered and said that if two of them blew it would be enough. But the other said, that two would not be enough, and that they must all blow their flutes together, and he gave them a certain tune, which was well known to him, but of which the brother knew nothing, and it was done accordingly. | ||||
Meanwhile he presently neither saw nor heard any harp or flute, but saw that the youths had in their hands a picture, above all measure lovely, of our Blessed Lady, and that it was worked in cloth, and the mantle of the picture was red and purple, with damask embroidery, which it was delightful to behold, and the ground was as white as snow. Then the brother marvelled greatly, and took pleasure in the sight; and he perceived that they would needs complete it, and, first of all, fill up the empty space. Then they said, See how it grows! Presently he saw it completed. And then one of them took a needle and thread, and made on the fore part of the mantle very skillful cross stitches, and they were very finely done, and wonderfully adorned our Blessed Lady. And now his eyes were opened, and he understood that he should no longer doubt that it was given him to complete the ground, the blank space, and the spiritual picture, which had so long been denied to him; for he was accustomed to have all that he had hitherto performed clearly manifested to him by God in the way of some similitude like the above, and so, on the morrow, he finished his work to the end. | ||||
End | ||||