CHAPTER XXXII Of the cruel piercing of the most sacred Side of the Lord Jesus after His death
CHAPTER XXXII
Of the cruel piercing of the most sacred Side of the Lord Jesus after His death
I BLESS Thee, and give thanks to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, exhaustless Fount of Love and Grace, for the cruel piercing after death of Thy most holy Side. So fiercely, O Thou of holy ones most Holy, was Thy right Side then struck and pierced by the lance of one of the soldiers, that the weapon, passing through Thy inward parts, entered Thy tender Heart, and from the gaping wound thus made there came forth a fountain of Blood and water, so wholesome for us, that, sprinkled therewith, all mankind may be healed.
O wondrous fountain of the Holy Blood welling from out the right Side of Christ as He hung in death upon the Cross, flowing ever onward for the Redemption of the human race! O bright and most refreshing stream of blessed water gushing forth from the Saviour’s Heart for the washing away of all our sins! Under the Old Dispensation, Moses, the Servant of the Lord, smote the rock in the wilderness, and thereout came there forth so plenteous a supply of water that the people and their cattle drank thereof with joy, and no longer murmured. But the brawny soldier Longinus, when he opened Christ’s right Side, struck the Rock with his lance so fierce a blow, that thereout Blood and water have never ceased to pour; and our holy Mother the Church has drawn therefrom the Sacraments, by means of which her life is preserved: for as Eve is called the mother of all living, and was formed from her husband Adam’s rib, so is the Holy Church Militant named the Mother of all the faithful, and She is the new creation from the Side of Christ, Her Spouse. O mighty and precious Wound of my Lord, worthy of love art Thou above all wounds; so deep and so wide art Thou that all the faithful may enter by Thee into the Side of Christ; miraculous art Thou in what flows from Thee; most copious in blessings; in time last formed, in glory preeminent. Of the Divine and holy fountain of this Wound whosoever shall drink, or of its love taste but one drop, he shall forget all his evil deeds, shall be cured of the fever of carnal and worldly desires, shall burn with love for the things which are eternal, shall be filled with the joy unspeakable of the Holy Spirit; and this Holy Fountain shall become in him a fountain of living water springing up unto everlasting life.
Go in, go in, my soul, into the right Side of thy crucified Lord! Enter through that glorious Wound into the most loving Heart of Jesus, pierced with the lance for love of thee, that so in the cleft of that Rock thou mayest take refuge from the tempest of the world! Draw near, O man, to that Heart so exalted, but made so low for thee; to the Heart of God, Who is so far above thee, but Who opens to thee His door! Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; why dost thou stand without? The river of life, the way of salvation, the heavenly storehouse, shedding perfumes all around; all these lie open to thee. Here is a place of refuge from the face of the enemy who would tempt thee, here is a place in which thou mayest find mercy against the wrath of the judgement to come. Here is a fountain, whence the oil of gladness and of grace shall never cease to flow, wherein sinners may ever find mercy, if only they will come to it with hearts truly penitent and contrite. Here is the well-spring of the river of God, going forth from the midst of Paradise to water the face of the earth, to give the thirsty soul to drink, to wash away sins, to quench the flames of lust, to still the strivings of anger. Do thou too, then, take from this Fountain of the Saviour a cup of love. Take from the Side of Jesus sweet helps for thy life, that henceforth thou mayest live not in thyself, but in Him Who was wounded for thee. Give thy heart to Him, Who has opened His to thee. Enter through the hallowed Wound into the inmost Heart of thy Redeemer. He bids thee enter; He asks thee to dwell with Him; His wish is that thou shouldst have but one heart with Him. “My son,” He says to thee, “give Me thy heart.” This is all that God asks of thee: give but this, and thou hast offered the gift than which nothing can be more acceptable to Him. Give it, then, to Jesus, and to none else besides: give it to Christ, and not to the world: give thy heart to that Wisdom which will never fail thee, not to that philosophy which is so but in name. He caused His Side to be thrown so widely open, and to be so deeply pierced, in order that the way by which thou mightest draw near to the Heart of thy Beloved should be made plain to thee; in order that thou mightest penetrate into the very Soul of the Son of God, and be made one with Him in true union of heart; that thou mightest centre all thy affections upon Him, and mightest, in singleness of heart, do all thy works to His honour and glory; that thou mightest study to please Him alone, and mightest strive with all thy mind and with all thy strength to serve Him, and Him only. Where canst thou rest more securely, where dwell more safely, where sleep thy last sleep more sweetly, than in the Wounds of Jesus Christ, Who was crucified for thee? Where canst thou find wisdom more abundant, knowledge more profitable, than in the Heart of Christ, Who suffered for thee, from out of Whose Breast there is ever flowing for thy use a stream of living water? Where, when thy love is beginning to wax cold, can it be more powerfully rekindled? Where canst thou so readily avoid distraction? Where canst thou be kept so fully recollected, as in the Heart of Jesus, Which for love of thee was pierced with the lance? Nothing inflames, nothing draws, nothing gets to the bottom of, the heart of man so thoroughly as love for the crucified Redeemer. This thought it was which led one of the Saints to exclaim: “My love was crucified.” To which with all my heart I echo: “My love was wounded and pierced, that so I might find a ready entrance into His loving Heart.”
Thither then make all the eager loving haste which thou canst make bold to show; kiss the holy Side of Jesus, that so Therefrom thou mayest be sprinkled with water and with Blood. Pull out thy own heart, if thou canst, and place it close to the Heart of Jesus, in order that He may keep it, and rule it, and possess it, so that other things may not get hold of it, and defile it. Open thy heart to Him; commit thyself in full trust to Him; leave to Him thy “I will” and “I won’t”; let there be one heart and one mind between thee and God: that so thou mayest think and feel with Him in all things, and mayest know His Holy Will both now and evermore. When without reserve thou shalt have made over thy heart to Jesus, for Him to keep and to dwell therein for ever, then shall great peace be thine, nor shalt thou be easily put out, or distressed by the troubles of thy daily life.
O most pure Jesus, Who dwellest in the hearts of those who love Thee, and from Whom all good desires do come; O Thou Who hangest upon the Cross before the eyes of all who meditate upon Thy Passion; O Divine treasure-house of all gifts and graces; O Christ my King, Redeemer of the faithful, Who causedst Thy most holy Side to be pierced by the point of a cruel lance; set open for me, I beseech Thee, the door of Thy mercy; suffer me to enter through the gaping Wound of Thy Side into the very recesses of Thy most loving Heart; that so my heart may be set on fire by the touch of Thine, and may be united to Thee by a bond of love so indissoluble, that Thou mayest dwell in me, and I in Thee, and that nothing may ever separate me from Thee. Pierce my heart with the arrow of Thy love, may the soldier’s spear pass through my vitals, and penetrate the inmost recesses of my heart, that so, by means of this wholesome wound, my soul may attain perfect health, I may refuse all love but Thine, and out of Thee may nowhere seek for comfort. May my heart be free of access and lie open to Thee alone; may it be estranged from the world, shut to the devil, and fenced on all sides by the sign of the Cross to resist temptation of every kind.