Let us then offer all our thoughts, words, and actions, to his honour and glory, and let us employ our whole lives in loving and serving him faithfully; saying, for this end, the prayers which himself and his church have taught us: "Our Father," &c. "Hail Mary," &c.
Third Article.
"Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary."—We are now to meditate on the wonderful mystery of the incarnation and temporal nativity of the Son of God. When the fulness of time appointed for the redemption of mankind was come, the second Person of the blessed Trinity assumed our flesh in the womb of his blessed Mother; that the divine and human nature being thus united in his person, he might be capable of satisfying divine justice for the injury which God had received by sin. He became man for our salvation, not in the ordinary way, but after a supernatural and incomprehensible manner, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. But although the incarnation, considered particularly as a work of divine mercy, goodness and love, be particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost, and although the three Persons of the blessed Trinity, essentially possessing the same undivided powers, have equally concurred therein, yet this wonderful work was effected only by the second Person: his sacred body was formed of the most pure blood of his Virgin Mother, without the least violation of her virginal integrity, and a most perfect soul was created to animate his body. Being thus miraculously conceived, he was also, after the space of nine months, miraculously born in a stable at Bethlehem, under the reign of Augustus Cæsar. As man, being at the same time true God, he subjected himself to all our infirmities and miseries, sin only excepted, of which he was incapable. At so early a period as at his very first entrance into the world, he was pleased to suffer for us, and to give us, in his tender infancy, the most perfect example of poverty, humility, and mortification; that he might thereby manifest to us the infinite riches of his mercy and goodness, and teach us to despise the sinful vanities of the world. He discovered himself to the shepherds by a choir of angels from heaven, to shew that he came to be the Saviour of the Jews. He manifested himself also to the Eastern Magi by a star from heaven, to shew that he was likewise come to be the Saviour of the Gentiles. He continued to live in a poor, private, and retired manner, till he was thirty years of age, when he began to preach the gospel, to cast out devils, to cure the dumb, the deaf, the lame, and blind, and to work the most stupendous miracles, in favour of a people the most ungrateful on the face of the earth. Let us not imitate them; let us rather embrace our divine Redeemer with all the affections of our souls, and ever retain a most grateful sense of the innumerable benefits he has conferred on us; devoutly saying: "Our Father," &c. "Hail Mary," &c.
Fourth Article.
"Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried."—Let us here meditate on the dolorous mysteries of our dear Redeemer's passion, crucifixion, death and burial. To show the greatness of his love for us, and the plenteous redemption which he brought us, he was pleased to suffer every kind of torment with which human nature could be afflicted. "What was sufficient for our salvation," says St. Bernard, "was not sufficient for his charity." When he could have saved us with a single drop of his blood, he redeemed us with a deluge thereof, after a painful life of thirty-three years. His passion began in the garden of Gethsemani, at the foot of Mount Olivet, near Jerusalem, and ended only on Mount Calvary; Tiberius being then emperor of Rome, and Pontius Pilate governor, or president, of Judea. He suffered in his soul, and in his body, in his senses, and in all his members, from the sole of his foot, to the crown of his head. He was buffet ted and spit upon; he was mocked and insulted; he was scourged; he was crowned with thorns; and at length his hands and feet were pierced and fastened with gross nails to an ignominious cross; and after hanging alive thereon, between two thieves, in the most excruciating pain, for the space of three long hours, he expired, and gave up his blessed soul into the hands of his eternal Father. After his death, his sacred body being taken off the cross on Good-Friday, in the afternoon, and being embalmed, according to the custom of the Jews, by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, it was wrapped up in linen cloth, and laid in a new monument, hewn out of a rock, near Mount Calvary. O let us not then repay the boundless love of our crucified Redeemer with sin and ingratitude, but let us rather make the best return we are able, of love and gratitude to him, who suffered so much for our sake; devoutly saying, "Our Father," &c. "Hail, Mary," &c.
Fifth Article.
"He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead."—Here let us meditate how our blessed Saviour's soul, when separated from his body, descended into hell, or the dreary prison, where the souls of the holy patriarchs and saints of the Old Testament were detained, until he had paid the price of their redemption, and opened for them the gates of heaven, which had remained shut against mankind from the fall [of] Adam until that time. We may judge how the presence and sight of their so long wished-for Redeemer turned their gloomy prison into a paradise of delights, and occasioned unspeakable joy to the holy souls to whom he came to preach the gospel of redemption, release from their tedious captivity, and carry up with him to heaven at his ascension, as the first fruits of his victorious triumph over sin and death. Having comforted them by these happy tidings, his blessed soul, after remaining part of three days subject to the laws of death, returned from this prison to the sepulchre, and being re-united to his body, he arose early on the morning of the third day from the bowels of the earth, by his own divine power, and was the first who from death rose to a glorious and immortal life. His resurrection is a perfect model for us to copy after. Let us endeavour to imitate it by a spiritual resurrection from the death of sin, to a new life of grace, so as to continue for ever to live with him, and to return no more to the death of mortal sin. For this end, let us implore his divine assistance; saying with devotion, "Our Father," &c. "Hail Mary," &c.
Sixth Article.
"He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty."—Let us here meditate how our divine Redeemer, after accomplishing the great work of our redemption, ascended triumphantly from the top of Mount Olivet into the kingdom of heaven, on the fortieth day after his glorious resurrection, in the presence of his apostles and disciples, till a cloud at length interposed and took him out of their sight. He then withdrew his visible presence from the world; raised human nature above the choirs of saints and angels, to the highest seat in the kingdom of heaven, where, in full possession of the glory of his eternal Father, he pleads for us with the powerful eloquence of his sacred wounds, which he incessantly represent to him, in quality of our High Priest, Mediator, and Advocate. O what a comfortable reflection, to think that we have such an affectionate friend in the court of heaven! O what encouragement to raise our hopes! what inducement to follow him with our hearts, and ascend after him in spirit and affection! For this end let us beseech him to break the chains of our sins, and the fetters of our passions, which so unhappily tie down our affections to the earth; devoutly saying, "Our Father," &c. "Hail Mary," &c.