Fifth Day.
The feeling of love towards Our Lord must be specially aroused. We are supposed to have the faith: but we need more love, so that we may understand why Our Lord underwent such terrible sufferings for poor humanity. Let us look upon the Lord: He is an innocent, holy person, an untiring [pg 141] benefactor, a true friend, a wonderful consoler, a man of peace and of blessings, the noble Son of the great King, the Son of God Himself. This good Jesus has saved you from eternal damnation. He descended from heaven and did the work of a miserable slave. And the worst and bitterest consideration is that you really, individually and personally, are the cause of the sufferings of Christ. You have struck Him in the face and spit upon Him, you have crucified Him, you have mocked and derided Him, and cried out, “Vah; if Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” The Lord, reflecting upon all His sufferings, declared that all this happened in the house of His beloved ones. What did the Lord do to you, that you should treat Him in this manner? Now then return Jesus love for all this, and He will be satisfied.
Prayer.
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc.
Sixth Day.
The Jews now began to consult among themselves how to catch Jesus by some intrigue or other. Our Lord could have avoided the Passion; He might have prolonged His life, but He wanted to die just then. The machinations of the Jews could only furnish an occasion for the death of Our Lord, but it was His own divine will that regulated time, place, and circumstance. Judas the disciple makes a contract with the high priests that on a certain night, when the Lord would go out to Gethsemani [pg 142] to pray according to His custom, the high priests would be ready with their guards to bind Him. For the miserable price of thirty pieces of silver was the Lord sold, by a man whom He had befriended so much in His career of public ministration.
Prayer.
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc.