Fifth Week of Lent: Thursday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

Fifth Week of Lent: Thursday

First Word of Jesus on the Cross

1st Prelude. Imagine you see Jesus raised on the cross, and hear Him say, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

2nd Prelude. Ask for a spirit of gentleness and charity.


POINT I. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

CONSIDERATION. The blood of Abel cried to Heaven for vengeance, and the vengeance of Heaven fell without delay upon Cain and his descendants. The crime of the Jews who nailed their Messiah, the Holy of holies, on the cross was infinitely greater. Yet at His last hour, instead of asking His Heavenly Father to manifest His justice by confounding His enemies and establishing His innocence, the first words of Jesus were, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." What an example of gentleness and charity!

APPLICATION. Jesus is your model, whom you have promised so often to follow, especially in His gentleness and charity. But examine how you have done so. Jesus, innocence itself, so horribly treated, prays for His murderers, and even excuses their guilt, whilst you, perhaps, nourish feelings of bitterness and revenge against those who have wronged you but very slightly, over-estimating their offense, or attributing to them intentions which they may never have entertained.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross; and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, in letters in Greek, Latin and Hebrew."

CONSIDERATION. Pilate's motive in placing this apparently honourable inscription above the cross, in the three then best known languages, was to mortify the Jews, who had compelled him to condemn Our Lord unjustly; but at the same time he unconsciously fulfilled the words of Jesus, "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted," as well as the prophecy that the Gospel should be made known to Hebrews, Greeks and Romans, and from them should spread into every country, and be proclaimed in every tongue.

APPLICATION. Remark here the admirable providence of God, and how He obtains His ends in spite, and even by means, of the perversity of man; this we see every day, and therefore why shouldst thou, O devout soul, be so fearful and mistrustful in His service? Let us repose upon His providence, and no-one can harm us; in the words of the Apostle, we know that "to them that love God all things work together unto good."

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written."

CONSIDERATION. The inscription Pilate ordered to be placed above the cross wounded the pride of the chief priests, who came in a body to the governor requesting him to change it; but Pilate, so weak and timid before, was firm now, and only replied to their imperious demand, "What I have written, I have written."

APPLICATION. Here Pilate, although a heathen, gives us a lesson; he teaches us not to change our resolutions lightly, particularly those we have formed in retreats, but to adhere to them at whatever cost. So that under any pretext whatever -- and pretexts are rarely ever wanting to those tempted to abandon their resolutions -- let us stand firm and say, "What I have written under the inspiration of grace, when God spoke to my heart, is to remain unaltered, and I will not depart from it."

COLLOQUY with the Almighty Father beholding His crucified Son.

Fifth Week of Lent: Wednesday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

Fifth Week of Lent: Wednesday

Jesus crucified between two Thieves

1st Prelude. Behold Jesus lying on the cross, and the executioners who nail Him to it by the strokes of their hammers.

2nd Prelude. Ask for lively sentiments of compunction and compassion.


POINT I. "And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him."

CONSIDERATION. Jesus is come to Calvary, to the appointed place and at the hour appointed from all eternity for the consummation of His sacrifice. Let us go there in spirit: what do we see? -- the Roman soldiers dispersing the crowd, Jesus standing by the huge wooden cross, the executioners each holding a nail and hammer. Our Lord is commanded to place Himself upon His cruel couch. He obeys without a reply; He lies down upon the cross; He stretches Himself upon it. An executioner asks for His right hand; He gives it; it is seized, and fastened to the cross by an enormous nail, with redoubled blows which re-echo around. But Jesus utters neither a cry of sorrow nor a murmur of complaint.

APPLICATION. He was crucified for us; for me, for my sins, and for the love of me, Jesus endured these fearful torments, the very thought of which makes nature shudder. The evangelist contents himself with the simple words, "They crucified Him." Can I contemplate Him nailed to this cross without emotion, without being touched to the heart, and affected to tears of love and compassion?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS


POINT II. Jesus is raised up on the cross.

CONSIDERATION. What a terrible punishment to be stretched upon the cross, with hands and feet nailed, and in this manner to wait for death! But this punishment did not suffice the love of Jesus; he suffered tenfold, a hundredfold more. The cross upon which He was nailed was raised, and firmly fixed in the rock. He remained hanging to it by the whole weight of His body, supported only by the nails, dying by inches. We can scarcely bear to think of such suffering, in which a minute must seem a day, but which Jesus bore for three mortal hours; and this for me and for love of me!

APPLICATION. O Christian, O religious, whoever you are, here pause and ask yourself -- 1st, What are and what can my sufferings ever be, compared to the sufferings of my King and my Saviour? 2ndly, What have I done till now for this Saviour, who has loved me to such an excess, and what can I do now for the love of Him?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "And with Him they crucify two thieves, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left; and the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And with the wicked He was reputed."

CONSIDERATION. Jesus, as the King of Martyrs, not only willed His sufferings to be incomparably great, but also His humiliations; so it was that He to whom is due all glory in Heaven and Earth made Himself like the worst of criminals, and even by the good was accounted an impostor: thus was the height of infamy joined to the height of suffering.

APPLICATION. Let us kneel in spirit before Jesus suspended in ignominy on the cross, reconciling Heaven and Earth, between which He hangs; blotting out by His blood, as the Apostle expresses it, the handwriting of the decree that was against us. Let us repeat, in the words that the Church employs at each Station in the Way of the Cross, "We adore Thee and we bless Thee, O Christ, because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world."

COLLOQUY with Jesus on the cross, or with His Mother standing beneath it.

Fifth Week of Lent: Tuesday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

Fifth Week of Lent: Tuesday

Jesus on Calvary -- The Soldiers give Jesus Gall to drink, and strip Him of His garments.

1st Prelude. Imagine you see Jesus surrounded by His executioners, who strip Him of his garments.

2nd Prelude. Ask for grace to grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus.


POINT I. "And they came to the place that is called Golgotha, which is the place of Calvary."

CONSIDERATION. There are numerous mysteries connected with the place which our Lord chose for consummating His sacrifice: it was the spot where God commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac; where the Jews were accustomed to execute great criminals; and where, according to tradition, Noah buried Adam's head, which he had taken in the Ark with him, the Hebrew word Golgotha signifying "chief" or "head." The special mention of the place by the four Evangelists, of the Hebrew name Golgotha, instead of the Latinized Greek "cranium," the place of Calvary, appears to give authority to the tradition always maintained by the Jews, according to the testimony of Tertullian, Origen, and St. Athanasius and the greater number of the Fathers.

APPLICATION. Let us meditate on these mysteries, for they are full of instruction. The sacrifice of Jesus, recalling to mind that of Abraham, should inspire us with love and gratitude to Him and His eternal Father, Who thus fulfilled the typical sacrifice of the great patriarch; next, Our Lord's choice of the place used for the execution of criminals should remind us that He suffered for us criminals, for each one of us; and lastly, His dying on the spot where lie the ashes of our father Adam should show us how His death destroys the empire of death, and gives us a right to life eternal.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "And they gave Him wine to drink, mingled with gall, and when He had tasted He would not drink."

CONSIDERATION. It was the custom to give those condemned to death wine mixed with myrrh, either to strengthen them or to partly destroy their sense of feeling; but by a refinement of cruelty, gall was mixed with the wine given to our Lord. He took it; He tasted it; but, as the Gospel says, He would not drink.

APPLICATION. Why did Our Lord thus taste this bitter drought, and then refuse to drink it? He tasted it -- 1st, to suffer in the sense of the taste, which His executioners had not been able to touch; 2ndly, to expiate our intemperance and sensuality in the use of food; 3rdly, to encourage us, after His example, to mortify our taste, or at least to resist our appetites, and never to exceed the bounds of religious temperance. On the other hand, He would not drink, because He would not in any degree assuage the sufferings which it was His will to endure to their utmost extent.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. Jesus stripped of His garments.

CONSIDERATION. The Roman law ordered that those condemned to be crucified should be stripped of their garments, thus adding shame to their other torments. Therefore Jesus, having tasted the bitter draught his executioners gave Him, was despoiled of His garments, which, by the weight of the cross, and His frequent falls, adhered so closely to His bleeding form that they could not be removed without opening His wounds, and causing Him fresh agony.

APPLICATION. Why did Our Lord will to suffer this fresh martyrdom of confusion and pain? To teach us, and to encourage us by His example, never to withdraw from any sort of shame, suffering, or privation, in His service should we even become a laughing-stock to the world, and be deprived of everything, like the dead man carried out to burial. This renunciation must be absolute in fact, or at least in affection. Jesus Christ requires it. He says, "If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." What should we think of the religious who dreads the ridicule with which the world treats his habit or his poverty, or the religious who tries to please the world by studying his appearance, as far as the little he possesses allows him?

COLLOQUY with our Blessed Lady.

Fifth Week of Lent: Monday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

Fifth Week of Lent: Monday

Motives for Penance drawn from the Thought of Judgement

1st Prelude. I will imagine myself before the judgement-seat of Jesus Christ, with two unshaken witnesses beside me, my guardian angel and Satan.

2nd Prelude. I will ask for grace to know myself, that I may be able to judge myself here.

THREE things are to be feared in the particular judgement: 1. The judge; 2. The account to be rendered; 3. The sentence.


POINT I. The Judge.

CONSIDERATION. By penance we may make the judge favourable to us. The judge is Our Lord Himself, whom we have neglected, offended and injured, with all the malice of sin, and so often, so deliberately, even when He loaded us with benefits. Now He is a God of mercy, ready to pardon at the first sign of repentance; but then He will be only a God of justice; as His mercy was infinite, so will be His justice; not the smallest fault, not an idle word, He has said, will pass unperceived, but will be severely punished in purgatory. These thoughts filled holy Job with fear. Who shall reprove His way to His face? And who shall repay Him what He hath done?

APPLICATION. What have you not to expect, or rather to fear, from your judge, you who have perhaps long lived in a state of tepidity, which blinds man as to the number and gravity of his faults, or maintains him in false security? What, then, should you do? Our Lord tells you: "Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him"; that is, according to St. Augustine, with God Who is your judge, and Whose enemy sin has made you; and you can do so, if "ye be humbled, therefore, under the mighty hand of God," to use St. Peter's words, "and be penitent therefore, and be converted, that your sin may be blotted out."

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. The account to be rendered.

CONSIDERATION. By penance we may lighten the account we shall have to give. What an account! All will be passed in review by One from Whom nothing can be hidden: the time lost in useless things; the good left undone; the good ill-done; all our thoughts, intentions, words, and actions; and, what is worse for the religious, all the means of salvation and sanctification lavishly bestowed upon him daily and hourly. The judgement will be severe in proportion to the grace received, says St. Cyprian, following the words of our Lord, "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required."

APPLICATION. These truths filled even the penitents of the desert with fear; they never thought they had sufficiently atoned for their past lives. The only means of consolation under this dread were tears and constant mortification, a life of continued penance until death. Imitate them; try to lighten by such a life of penance and mortification your heavy account of sin, imperfection, and negligence; and do it with special generosity during this holy season, two-thirds of which are already gone.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. The sentence.

CONSIDERATION. By penance we may insure a favourable sentence. The sentence of the judge will be irrevocable -- life eternal or death eternal; the first securing the soul of the just endless glory and the delights of Heaven, although it may for a while be detained in a place of expiation; the second condemning the soul of the sinner to Satan and the eternal pains of Hell.

APPLICATION. You earnestly desire to be amongst the number of the elect, to enter into the immediate possession of Heaven. It is possible: with the grace of God, endeavour to live as a holy religious, expiating by constant penance and mortifications all that yet tarnishes the purity of your soul. This is the infallible but indispensable means of ensuring what you so much desire. Oh, how joyfully, after such a life, will you meet death! And why should you not do so?

COLLOQUY with Jesus doing penance for us.

Fifth Week of Lent: Sunday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

Fifth Week of Lent: Sunday

Holy Women weep over Jesus: Jesus meets his Mother on His sorrowful Journey

1st Prelude. Behold those women amongst the multitude who bewailed and lamented Jesus, and specially His Holy Mother.

2nd Prelude. Ask for the grace of tender compassion.


POINT I. "And there followed Him a great multitude of people, and of women who bewailed and lamented Him."

CONSIDERATION. We do not learn that all the multitude were filled with the same compassionate tenderness as these holy women; many, perhaps the greatest number, apart from the enemies of Jesus, were attracted by mere curiosity, and were quite indifferent to the fate of their Lord about to die for them.

APPLICATION. Thus in our own times a great multitude follow in spirit the various phases of our Lord's Passion during this holy season of Lent, and you amongst the number can do so with more leisure than ordinary Christians, and at least give an hour a day to this exercise. But what are your impressions during this hour? Are you, like the holy women, touched with love, compassion, and contrition at the thought that it is for your sins, and for your sake, that Jesus suffers and is about to die?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "And there followed Him..... women who bewailed and lamented Him."

CONSIDERATION. Although St. Luke, speaking of these holy women, makes no special mention of Our Blessed Lady, we may piously believe, in accordance with universal tradition, that the Son and the Mother met upon the road, particularly as St. John says explicitly that Mary stood by the cross when Jesus reached the end of His journey. Who can express the feelings of the heart of this the most loving of mothers, when, making her way through the crowd, she stood face to face with her Divine Son, disfigured, bruised, crowned with thorns, covered with wounds and blood, surrounded by soldiers and executioners, who loaded Him with imprecations, and dragged Him to death?

APPLICATION. God willed that Our Blessed Lady should be thus afflicted; that she above all the saints might have the largest share in the Passion of her Son and in the work of our redemption, and thus accumulate more merit and richer treasures of sanctity than all who have yet lived or shall live. Do not be astonished, therefore, do not murmur, above all, do not be discouraged, if God sends you much suffering and tribulation, but believe that He does so to increase your love and your merit.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "But Jesus, turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me, but weep for yourselves and your children."

CONSIDERATION. Here let us admire the greatness of Our Lord's tenderness to others. He forgets His own sufferings in His care for them. He warns them of evil days to come, and warns them to prepare for them by tears and penance.

APPLICATION. How different is Our Lord's conduct from ours! When we are suffering in body or mind, do we not often forget what we owe to others, fancying that every one ought to be interested in us and pity our condition; and if they do not do so, do we not indulge in ill-humour and discontent? If we look at Our Lord we shall be more generous, less occupied with ourselves, more attentive to the wants of those around us, making it a rule never to let others suffer through us.

COLLOQUY with our Blessed Lady meeting her Divine Son.

Fourth Week of Lent: Saturday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: SATURDAY
Jesus falls beneath the Cross; Simon carries the Cross after Him.

1st Prelude. Behold Jesus falling three times under the weight of His cross.

2nd Prelude. Ask for grace to follow Him in the way of suffering and humiliation.


POINT I. "And the soldiers led Him into the court of the palace;....
and after they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own garments on Him; and they led Him out to crucify Him,... into the place called Golgotha, which, being interpreted, is the place of Calvary; and with Him they crucify two thieves."

CONSIDERATION. Let us observe how our Lord, amidst every circumstance of His Passion, is insatiable not merely of sufferings, but of shame and humiliation. He submits to the ignominy of crucifixion in the place where the vilest criminals suffer, in company with two of them, not in borrowed garments, in which He might not have been recognised, but in those which He wore on the day of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

APPLICATION. What does our Lord teach us here, we who call ourselves specially His disciples? Not to be ashamed of, but rather to glory in, His livery -- that is to say, in contempt, raillery, rebuffs, injuries, and persecutions endured in His service; to rejoice in thus closely resembling our model and Master. How does this agree with your feelings, desires or fears?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "And, as they led Him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus."

CONSIDERATION. Jesus fatigued and exhausted by fasting, by being hurried from place to place, and by the loss of blood, falls beneath the weight of the cross. Tradition tells us that He fell thrice; twice, gathering up His little remaining strength, He rose and continued His journey, but the third time, the Jews, fearing that He would die upon the way, and that they would thus be deprived of their expected pleasure, forced Simon to bear the cross to the summit of Calvary.

APPLICATION. Does it not seem astonishing that no one out of all that crowd, many of whom had been miraculously healed by Him, came forward to offer to carry our Lord's cross? Must this not have wounded so tender a heart as that of Jesus; and do not we also wound Him when we refuse to follow Him in the path of suffering and humiliation, out of unfounded fear or human respect?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "They forced one Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up His cross."

CONSIDERATION. It seems from these words that Simon at first showed great reluctance to carry our Lord's cross; but from the fact of the evangelist's making special mention of his name and that of his two sons, we may believe that, enlightened by divine grace, he bore it as became a true disciple, and was, as well as his children, richly rewarded; and, according to a generally admitted tradition, all three became celebrated in the Church as either bishops or martyrs.

APPLICATION. Let us renew our love and esteem for the cross, the source of our glory and happiness. In the cross is salvation; in the cross is life; in the cross is protection from enemies, says the Imitation. In the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness; in the cross is strength of mind; in the cross is joy of spirit; in the cross is height of virtue; in the cross is perfection of sanctity. There is no health of soul, nor hope of eternal life, but in the cross. Take up, therefore, thy cross and follow Jesus, and thou shalt go into life everlasting.

COLLOQUY with Jesus suffering.

Fourth Week of Lent: Friday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: FRIDAY
Jesus unjustly condemned -- His Resignation

1st Prelude. Consider Jesus, who "delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly."

2nd Prelude. Ask for victory over your passions.


POINT I. "And he [Pilate] saith to the Jews, Behold your King!.....
Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then, therefore, he delivered Him to them to be crucified."


CONSIDERATION. Never did a judge pronounce a more unjust sentence, for He that was condemned as the worst of malefactors had been four times publicly proclaimed innocent. How did it happen that Pilate, naturally right-minded and well-intentioned, descended to such cowardly wickedness. We know the reason; from the beginning he wanted energy and resolution to oppose the popular fury, for he was aware that "for envy they had delivered Him."

APPLICATION. Nothing is more to be dreaded than the first giving way to passion; generally, the first false step paves the way for others, and brings us only too often to a point from which we should formerly have shrunk with horror. Thus we learn how men once distinguished for their qualities of heart and mind, even religious who were long the edification of their brethren, have fallen into heresy, apostasy, and even infidelity. They merely yielded in the beginning to some slight temptation of wounded self-love or sensuality, but in the end they were blinded by passion and became its victims.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "And Pilate, taking water, washed his hands before the people, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Man. Look you to it."

CONSIDERATION. When those charged with the maintenance of law and order fail in their duty, the consequences are usually as fatal to their subordinates as to themselves. We have a proof of this here; if Pilate, when convinced of our Lord's innocence, had censured his enemies as they deserved, and given Him back justified to the affection of the people, he would have had no part in the guilt of the chief priests, nor in that terrible imprecation which was unconsciously pronounced against himself, and which has hung over him these nineteen hundred years: "His blood be on us and on our children."

APPLICATION. Far be from us any feeling of bitterness against our superiors when they wisely and firmly maintain religious discipline, reprove our failings and, when required, vigorously oppose the first symptoms of our disorderly inclinations. If we do otherwise, do we not follow the example of the Jews, or of the sick who are angry with the doctors who prescribe them bitter but necessary medicine?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS


POINT III. "And they took Jesus and led Him forth, and, bearing His own cross, He went forth to that place which is called Calvary."

CONSIDERATION. St. Peter speaks of the perfect submission with which Jesus accepted His unjust sentence, "He delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly"; that is, He looked on it as coming from God the Father, who makes use of the malice or the mistakes of men to accomplish His designs, and in expiation of the sins of the world. The design of God here was to make reparation to Him and to redeem mankind by the death of His divine Son. And it was this that our Lord had ardently desired from the first moment of His Incarnation; judge, therefore, of the joy and eagerness with which He laid the heavy cross upon His shoulders.

APPLICATION. Our Lord here teaches us how to meet the persecution and ill-treatment of wicked men, and how we should receive the humiliations, or even the punishments, that our superiors may inflict upon us by mistake. How has it been with you in such instances? If you have Jesus always before your eyes, nothing will seem difficult; all your glory and happiness will be in bearing the cross after Him.

COLLOQUY with Jesus, the model and King of martyrs.

Fourth Week of Lent: Thursday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: THURSDAY
The Last Interrogation of Jesus, and the Weakness and Timidity of Pilate.

1st Prelude. Look at the meek but resolute countenance of Jesus, as He stands before the faint-hearted and cowardly judge and the infuriated people.

2nd Prelude. Beg for grace never to give way to any fear but the fear of God.


POINT I. "He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore had heard this saying, he feared the more."

CONSIDERATION. This last accusation of the Jews, "He made Himself the Son of God," far from creating a belief in His guilt in the mind of the judge, only made him believe the mysterious truth, and filled him with fear. The words and demeanour of Our Lord had already made him suspect His divinity, not with that certainty which faith gives to us, but with such a conviction as a pagan could feel. But it was sufficient to have made him fear the vengeance of God.

APPLICATION. Pilate was astonished and terrified at the thought that he might perhaps be standing in the presence of God, and about to commit a grievous crime against Him. He dared not take a single step further in the matter without enquiring into the truth of the assertion. And what have we done, who know and firmly believe that we are always in the presence of God, Who searches the inmost recesses of our hearts? We have not been afraid to insult Him, to commit iniquity in His sight, to defy His terrors, even with the awful examples before us of His punishments.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "And he entered into the hall again, and he said to Jesus, Whence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore saith to Him, Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and I have power to release Thee? Jesus answered, Thou shouldst not have any power against Me, unless it were given thee from above; therefore he that have delivered Me to thee hath the greater sin."


CONSIDERATION. Pilate's question was not about the birthplace of our Lord, for that he already knew, but concerning His descent and genealogy. But he was not worthy to be taught the wonderful mystery of Our Lord's eternal being and His Incarnation; such truths are revealed only to the pure and humble. Our Lord therefore only rebuked the arrogance of the infidel judge, by reminding him that he had no power save from God, and warned him with wonderful gentleness against the crime he was about to commit.

APPLICATION. Why does not God speak to you? Why does He give you so little of His divine light? Is it because you are not prepared to listen to Him -- because, by constant infidelity to grace, you lose the power God has given you of discerning between good and evil.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "And from henceforth Pilate sought to release Him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend; for whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar."

CONSIDERATION. This last threat of the Jews put an end to the struggle that had been going on in the breast of the cowardly governor. The fear of offending a mortal prince prevailed over his reason, over justice, the warnings of conscience, and even the fear of drawing down divine vengeance. His head was confused, his heart fainted within him, and he hastened to deliver up Jesus to death.

APPLICATION. There is no one who does not detest the criminal cowardice of Pilate; and yet in these days there are a great many Christians who give up their sacred obligations from human respect. Let us give thanks to God for having drawn us out of the world, where human respect and self-interest reign supreme, and many fall victims before them.

COLLOQUY with the Mother of Jesus.

Fourth Week of Lent: Wednesday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: WEDNESDAY
Pilate shows Jesus to the People, saying, "Behold the Man"

1st Prelude. Behold our Lord Jesus covered with blood and wounds, crowned with thorns, wearing a purple mantle, and with a reed in His hand, exposed to the gaze of the multitude.

2nd Prelude. Ask for grace to give more love and glory to Jesus, because He was thus mocked and reviled.


POINT I. "Jesus, therefore, came forth bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment; and he said to them, Behold the Man."

CONSIDERATION. Even the heart of the Roman governor was touched when he beheld our Lord covered with blood and wounds, and insulted as a mock king. He thought that the Jews would equally be moved at the sight, and would demand the liberation of Him whose death they had been clamouring for. With this intention he brought Him forth to the front of the judgement hall and, presenting Him to the people, said, "Behold the Man."

APPLICATION. Holy Church addresses these words to every faithful soul, that they may have a tender compassion for the sufferings and humiliations of our Divine Lord. And God the Father also addresses them to us, that our hearts may be inflamed by love for His Divine Son, so shamefully treated for love of us; and ought we not to be moved even to tears when we know it was our sins which brought all this upon Him?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "When the chief priests and the servants had seen Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

CONSIDERATION. When Pilate exposed Jesus to the gaze of the multitude, he thought it would be unnecessary to plead for Him in many words. He only said, "Behold the Man"; and he imagined there would be a universal cry for pardon and mercy. And doubtless this would have been the case, if he had not been dealing with a people excited by the implacable hatred of the priests and doctors. The pride and self-love of these men had been wounded, and they had sworn to have the life of Jesus, not afraid, by shedding innocent blood and the blood of God, to draw down on themselves and their people fearful punishment. Pilate, to his astonishment, had no other answer than an outcry of rage, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

APPLICATION. Here is an example to what lengths our passions, and especially wounded pride, will go. It blinded these clear-headed men to their own interests; it stifled all sense of justice and the fear of God in their breasts. And in the same way the religious who is determined not to submit to his superiors is indifferent to the loss of his vocation, the violation of his vows, and the detriment to his reputation. If he is told that those who have respected him as a religious will despise him when he is a worldling, he is unmoved. Remind him of the most touching or the most terrifying truths of religion, show him Jesus Christ humble and obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, it is all in vain. Passion never stops to reason; its victims are obstinately blind, and fall over the precipice. God grant that there may not be any examples in our own days to verify the truth of what we have been considering!

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS


POINT III. "Pilate saith to them, Take Him you, and crucify Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."

CONSIDERATION. The real crime of Jesus in the eyes of the priests and doctors was that He had seen through their hypocrisy, and thrown them into the shade by the superiority of His teaching, the sanctity of His life, and the renown of His miracles. But they took good care not to bring this motive forward, for they were not willing to expose the base passion of envy which possessed them.

APPLICATION. Such are the workings of our passions. We do not see the true motives of our actions, and we fasten upon the imaginary faults of others. A religious or a priest rebelling against obedience will tell you that the fault is all on the side of his superiors -- that they are prejudiced, ignorant and unjust: and that for his own honour's sake, and even in his zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, he is obliged to act as he does. In reality, wounded self-love is the foundation of it all. May God preserve us from becoming the victims of this passion!

COLLOQUY with our Blessed Lord.

Fourth Week of Lent: Tuesday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: TUESDAY
The Insults which preceded the Crowning with Thorns

1st Prelude. Behold our Blessed Lord sitting on a block of wood, holding a reed in His hand, His head crowned with thorns and insulted by the guards of the Roman governor.

2nd Prelude. Beg for feelings of deep grief and compunction.


POINT I. The insults offered to Jesus.

CONSIDERATION. After the outrage of scourging, fearful insults were heaped upon our Divine Lord. Pilate's soldiers, who had led Him to the court of Herod, were anxious that these insults should excel those offered to Him there. He had there been treated as a fool; they would now crown Him as a fool, as the king of fools; as says holy writ, "taking Jesus into the hall, gathered together unto Him the whole band, and stripping Him, they put a scarlet cloak about Him, and platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand. And bowing the knee before Him, they mocked Him, saying, Hail King of the Jews! And spitting on Him, they took the reed and struck His head, and they gave Him blows."

APPLICATION. If we carefully think over all the details, and even every word of this narrative, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we shall see how truly the prophet Jeremias had foretold of the Messiah, "He shall be filled with reproaches." If we then ask ourselves, Who is it that is thus treated? For what reason? Our hearts will surely burn with love.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. The terrible pain of the crowning with thorns.

CONSIDERATION. "And platting a crown of thorns, they put it on His head." They not only placed it on His head, but pressed it in, by striking it on the top with a reed, as the Evangelist tells us. Conceive, if possible, the sufferings our Lord then endured. Why did He not sink beneath this additional torment, following so rapidly upon His scourging? Did He work a miracle to blunt the edge of His sufferings? No; but He exerted His miraculous power that He might not sink under sufferings which would have caused His death; so that no one else might ever suffer as He had done. And all this was for love of me!

APPLICATION. It was the will of our Divine Lord that His head, which had escaped the scourging, should also bear its distinct punishment, that He might expiate our sins of thought -- the many thoughts and desires of pride, ambition, rebellion, hatred, vengeance, impurity, and injustice with which the heads of men are filled, so that they lose all thought of the presence and justice of God.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. The wonderful patience of Jesus.

CONSIDERATION. With what wonderful patience did our Blessed Lord bear these extraordinary insults and sufferings! His eyes were not bandaged now, as they were when in Herod's court. They mocked Him as a prophet. He looked upon the insulting homage which one soldier after another offered Him in ridicule. He saw the spittle which they dared to throw in His face. he saw the arms of the insolent soldiers raised to strike Him; and yet He never moved His head to escape their blows. When they snatched the reed from His hand, He let them have it; when they gave it Him back again, he took it, fulfilling to the very letter the prophecy of Isaias, "I have not turned away My face from them that spit upon Me."

APPLICATION. While we gaze upon this wonderful patience, we should remember our own impatience at the least contradiction. What ought we to think of our secret but eager desires for the praise and adulation of the world; of the resentment which enters and dwells in our hearts against those who have offended or looked down upon us? "If", says the author of the Imitation, "Jesus covered with ignominy, was always before your minds, you would desire rather to be beneath the feet of all men, than to exercise superiority over any one." We should, then, ardently long to be despised and to suffer for the love of Jesus. How far have we advanced in thus following the true disciples of our Lord?

COLLOQUY with our patient Lord.

Fourth Week of Lent: Monday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: MONDAY
Motives for Penance inspired by the Thought of Death

1st Prelude. Imagine you see a religious on his deathbed.

2nd Prelude. Ask for grace to live the life of a penitent, that so you may die the death of a saint.


POINT I. Penance will strengthen the dying religious.

CONSIDERATION. Our truest consolation at the hour of death will be our having passed a life of penance. If we were to say to a dying religious, "Your last moment, my brother, is drawing near; all is ending for you in this world; but take comfort -- you have borne an important part; you have held, one after another, the highest posts in your order; you have won a great name among learned men and among orators; your works and your writings will keep your name alive": -- do you think it would give him much comfort? No, indeed; he would answer you, "What will all this avail me in eternity?" "I have been," said a celebrated religious when dying -- "I have been superior in the largest houses of my order; I have been a popular and applauded preacher; and all of it is nothing to me now. I have faithfully kept my rule, and that is something; it is the only thing that consoles me in this awful moment".

APPLICATION. The greatest comfort, then, we shall have on our deathbeds is the knowledge that we have been true religious; that we have been crucified with Jesus to the world and to ourselves by continual mortification. "Yes", says the author of the Imitation, "he shall be full of comfort and hope in his death, who in his life lived under the yoke of religious discipline and self-abnegation." If I were to die now, should I find comfort in looking back on the past?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. Penance will encourage the dying religious.

CONSIDERATION. When a good man is dying, he is not in fear and sorrow at the thought of leaving the fair things of this world, but only on account of his past sins, and of those words of the Holy Ghost: "Be not without fear about sin forgiven"; and again, "Man knoweth not whether he is worthy of love or hatred." But what reassurance and what peace we can find in those other words of the Holy Spirit: "Thou overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance"! The memory of having expiated by mortification the insult which sin is to God, of having paid off many debts owing to Divine Justice by means of penance, will also comfort us. St. Hilarion was thus preserved from the fear of death. "What, my soul," said he, "thou hast carried the cross for seventy years, and now dost thou fear to leave the world to appear before God?"

APPLICATION. If we desire, when death is drawing near, to share the calm trust felt by the saints, even those whose lives had not always been spotless, we should imitate their penance, and especially during this precious time of Lent, of which more than half has already passed. Let us be in earnest about it, and defer it not to the hour of sickness or the time of old age. "While you are in health," says Thomas a Kempis, "you can perform many works of satisfaction; but you know not what you will be able to do when sickness overtakes you."


AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. Penance will be the joy of the dying religious.

CONSIDERATION. When the labourer joyfully gathers in a rich harvest, all his past labour seems as nothing; the joy and satisfaction of the result far outweighs his former trouble and privation.

APPLICATION. This is an emblem of the joy and happiness which the penitent and mortified religious will feel when he is about to reap the fruits of all the austerities of the religious life, when he is on the point of receiving the reward promised by our Lord to those who renounce all worldly pleasures to bear the cross after Him. And what will be his bliss when he shall have entered into the joy of his reward? What memory of the past will then be a joy to him? St. Peter of Alcantara gave us some idea of it when he appeared in glory to St. Theresa, and said, "O blissful penance, which has purchased for me so great a reward!" In thoughts like these we shall find courage and strength to live and persevere unto the end in the practice of holy penance.

COLLOQUY with our Blessed Lord.

Fourth Week of Lent: Sunday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT: SUNDAY
The Scourging of Jesus Christ

1st Prelude. Behold our Lord Jesus Christ bound to the pillar.

2nd Prelude. Let us beg for the grace of making our meditations on our Lord's sufferings as fruitful as those of so many holy souls.


POINT I. The preparation for the scourging.

CONSIDERATION. "Pilate took Jesus, and scourged Him." Our innocent Lord heard Himself sentenced to the humiliation and suffering of scourging. He was dragged to the place of punishment. He saw the preparations for it; and He felt all its horror by anticipation. How terrible must this fear and horror have been to His sensitive nature! But He never wavered in His purpose of bearing all for us, and He went resolutely forward.

APPLICATION. How differently do we act! How often do we not only waver, but actually shrink back from carrying out our resolutions! And only because we are terrified by the anticipation (which generally exaggerates matters) of the trouble or suffering they would cost us; for instance, rising at the proper time in all seasons, doing such or such an act of penance or mortification, keeping to a certain position in prayer, or faithfully fulfilling a particular duty. Is not this true?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. The suffering of the scourging.

CONSIDERATION. The horror of this punishment is beyond the power of words to describe; but in order to realise it as far as possible, imagine yourself undergoing it; imagine your clothes torn off, yourself covered with blood and bound to the pillar, while strong men, armed some with whips, some with straps, some with cords and iron spikes, scourge you till their arms drop with fatigue, until your body is but one sore, your flesh torn, and the ground covered with your blood. Then, perhaps, you may form some idea of the suffering of that scourging which your Divine Saviour endured for you.

APPLICATION. In all your troubles, whether of mind or body, fix your eyes on Jesus your King bound to the pillar; the sight of Him will make all your sufferings seem light, and you will bear them with courage and with love.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. The motives for the scourging.

CONSIDERATION. It was a cruel and cowardly expedient on Pilate's part to appease the people and to save Jesus from death. Our Lord bore it from His heroic love for us. He gave up His body into the hands of the executioners, that He might expiate, in His innocent flesh, the shameful and countless sins with which men of all ages and conditions have degraded, and do daily degrade, their bodies; sins by which they dishonour and trample under their feet the image of God, in whose likeness they were created.

APPLICATION. Had I but once grievously offended against holy purity, I ought to say to myself, Here is my work! It is I who, by the hands of the executioners, have torn the Body of Jesus, who have covered it with blood and wounds; and besides this, the memory of my frequent acts of self-indulgence ought to be sufficient to produce in me a deep compunction, a contempt of myself, and an ardent desire to labour and suffer much for the love of Him to whom I caused such bitter sufferings.

COLLOQUY with Jesus bound to the pillar.

Third Week of Lent: Saturday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

THIRD WEEK OF LENT: SATURDAY
Pilate tries to save Jesus from the Fury of the Jews

1st Prelude. Imagine you see Pilate pleading with the crowd on behalf of Jesus.

2nd Prelude. Beg the grace to persevere till the end in our holy vocation.

POINT I. "Pilate saith to them, What shall I do, then, with Jesus, that is called Christ? They say all, Let Him be crucified."

CONSIDERATION. The efforts that Pilate made to rescue Jesus from His enemies only incensed them the more against Him, because they thought He would escape from them. Of the three classes who were concerned in bringing about His death, Pilate, the people, and the priests, the priests had the greater guilt. Yielding to a base jealousy, they invented and sustained the accusations, they excited and seduced the people, they overpowered the judge by the cries of rage and fury which they put into the mouth of the crowd: their sin was very terrible; for the sanctity of their office, and the greater light and grace they had received, ought to have made them models to their people instead of a scandal.

APPLICATION. Here is another melancholy proof of the truth of the old saying, Optimi pessima corruptio -- The best when corrupted become the worst; and this we unhappily see too often in our own days, when priests or religious become infidels or apostates; they seem as if they wanted to deaden their own consciences, or entirely to efface the seal of their sacerdotal consecration or religious profession.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT II. "The governor said to them, Why, what evil hath He done?"

CONSIDERATION. This question ought to have opened the eyes of the Jewish people. It reminded them of the public life of Jesus, every step of which had brought down blessings on them. Even among this very multitude there might have been found many whom He had miraculously cured -- to whom He had given sight, hearing, or the use of their limbs -- and a still greater number whom He had delivered from the possession or temptations of the devil.

APPLICATION. During the whole of our lives, and especially since we entered religion, we can remember nothing but wonderful graces and blessings; they constantly flash across our minds, and the memory of them ought to increase our love and devotion to Jesus, our Divine Lord. How is it, then, that we correspond so little with these graces, that we are so lukewarm in His service? Let us search into the causes of this, fight against it, and overcome it if possible.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "And he said to them the third time, I find no cause of death in Him. I will chastise Him, therefore, and let Him go."

CONSIDERATION. Pilate was guilty of the grossest injustice. Three times he had declared that the prisoner brought before him was innocent, and yet he condemned Him to a cruel and shameful punishment. His aim was to save Him at least from death, by exciting compassion for His sufferings, under the punishment to which he was sentenced. He did not see that he was actually clearing the way for the death by crucifixion, which the Jews were aiming at, for it was often the custom to precede crucifixion by scourging.

APPLICATION. How often have our passions made us act like fools! Have we not, from pride or sensuality, tried to escape the humiliations and mortifications which we ought to seek after, especially in religious life? Or have we not sought for pleasures and distinctions which we knew would do us harm? Are we, then, on our guard against our passions, and do we fight manfully against them?

COLLOQUY with our Divine Master.

Third Week of Lent: Friday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

THIRD WEEK OF LENT: FRIDAY
Barabbas compared with and preferred to Jesus

1st Prelude. Behold our Divine Lord before all the people compared with an infamous robber.

2nd Prelude. Beg for grace never to hesitate between the Creator and the creature.


POINT I. "They therefore being gathered together, Pilate said, You have a custom that I should release one unto you at the Pasch. Whom will you that I release unto you: Barabbas, or Jesus, that is called Christ?"

CONSIDERATION. Pilate knew and had acknowledged the innocence of our Lord; it was against his conscience to condemn Him; but his self-interest bade him gratify the Jews, or he would lose favour in the eyes of Caesar. Conscience being on the one hand, and interest on the other, he tried to get out of the difficulty. He sent Him to Herod, not being able to find out what He was guilty of; then he offered the people their choice between an odious criminal and the Saviour, whom till lately they had reverenced so much. But his plans proved futile, and after some further attempts which were all useless, always shrinking back from doing his duty, he completed his evil work by condemning the innocent, and thus lost his own soul.

APPLICATION. How true are those words of our Lord's, "No man can serve two masters"! It is impossible to steer a middle course between God and the world; we cannot hover between virtue and vice, though the transgression may be a slight one. A friendship which is inordinate, though it may be based on motives of zeal, may cause us perplexity and trouble of conscience. Our own good sense and our confessor tell us to decide at once to give it entirely up. But we answer, No, you expect too much; but I will be more careful for the future. My case is an especial one. This is a delusion of self-love which leads to nothing. What does our experience tell us on this head?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS


POINT II. "But the chief priests and ancients persuaded the people that they should ask Barabbas, and make Jesus away. The whole multitude cried out together, Away with this Man! and release unto us Barabbas."

CONSIDERATION. Let us try to understand as far as we can the extent to which the insults of Jesus were carried. He is placed on a level, or, as we say, weighed in the balance with Barabbas, the greatest criminal which the prisons then held, by the chief magistrate, before all the people; and to the astonishment even of Pilate, Barabbas was preferred to Jesus by unanimous consent. All, says holy writ, with one voice cried, "Not this Man, but Barabbas."

APPLICATION. Who among us, then, can dare to complain that he is not treated as he deserves; that others are preferred before him; that he is put last of all? If we remember how often in past life we have imitated the Jews by allowing sin to reign in our hearts, rather than God our Saviour, we shall count ourselves unworthy of a place in God's house, and still more unworthy of the meanest office therein.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.


POINT III. "And as he was sitting in the place of judgement, his wife sent to him, saying: Have thou nothing to do with that Just Man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him."

CONSIDERATION. Most interpreters believe that the uneasiness of Pilate's wife was caused by an inspiration of grace, and that it obtained her salvation. The Greeks even honour her as a saint, under the name of Claudia Procula. Be this as it may, the warning thus sent to Pilate was an extraordinary grace vouchsafed to him at the critical moment, when he was hesitating between doing a great act of justice, which would have won his salvation, and an atrocious crime, which brought fearful misery on him both in this world and the next; for we know that he fell into disgrace and was banished, and finally destroyed himself.

APPLICATION. How many times and in how many ways have our guardian angels and our directors warned us and tried to strengthen us, when our passions had obtained such a mastery over us that our judgement was darkened, and we were hesitating between good and evil! All these warnings were extraordinary graces. How have we corresponded with them? How have we profited by them?

COLLOQUY with our Blessed Lord.

Third Week of Lent: Thursday - Traditional Lenten Meditation

Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus. First translated from the French, 1868. Though primarily intended for Religious, the devout layman will find the Practical Meditations a most serviceable and bracing form of Spiritual Exercise amounting in fact to something like the daily practice of a Retreat.

THIRD WEEK OF LENT: THURSDAY
Jesus insulted at the Court of Herod

1st Prelude. Let us picture to ourselves Jesus reviled and insulted, and treated as a fool at Herod's court.

2nd Prelude. Beg for grace to understand the indignities which Jesus bore for love of us.

POINT I. "And when he understood that He was of Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him away to Herod, who was also himself at Jerusalem; and Herod, seeing Jesus, was very glad for he hoped to see some miracle wrought by Him."

CONSIDERATION. Herod was a vain and degraded man; he had put St. John Baptist to death; and he wanted the Saviour of the world, of whom he had heard so much, to work a miracle before him, not that he might be touched and converted, but simply to gratify his vanity and curiosity. But God does not grant extraordinary graces to such men as these. He reserves them for the humble, who deem themselves unworthy of them. He delights to pour them on those who are emptied of self, dead to self-love, seeking only His greater glory. These souls ask for extraordinary graces or miracles only that they may serve Him better, or gain others to His service.

APPLICATION. The reason why we receive so few extraordinary graces is, that we either lack these dispositions altogether, or have made little progress in them; and after having perhaps passed many years in our holy vocation, we are very unlike those who, powerful in word and work, had the same vocation, and of whom wonderful things are recorded.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS

POINT II. "And he questioned Him in many words; but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood by, earnestly accusing Him."

CONSIDERATION. Wonderful indeed was the silence and passiveness of our Divine Lord before the tribunal of Herod, to which His cause was referred. He was accused of greater crimes still, but His accusers so outwitted themselves, that He could in a few words have confounded them, and turned the tide in His favour. Yet He held his peace. He went there to receive a sentence for life or death, and if He had chosen to work a miracle at Herod's desire, He would have found protection; but He would work none. It is in reality a greater miracle to triumph thus completely over every human feeling than to raise the dead; but the world cannot understand this. The calm silence of our Lord was looked upon by Herod and his court as helplessness and stupidity, and they treated it as such.

APPLICATION. Our Lord kept silence to punish Herod's pride and to teach us to mortify ours. Our pride is our greatest trial; in spite of ourselves it makes us desire esteem, notice, praise, and applause from men, especially from the great ones of the Earth. Have we fought steadfastly and victoriously against this unruly passion of pride?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT III. "And Herod with his army set Him at naught, and mocked Him, putting on Him a white garment, and sent Him back to Pilate."

CONSIDERATION. Let us contemplate Jesus, the King of glory, the eternal Wisdom, standing before Herod, insulted by the coarse and stupid mob; let us follow Him in spirit, wearing the fool's robe, through the streets of Jerusalem, amidst the jeerings of the populace and the immense crowd of strangers which the Paschal feast had brought into the city, and we shall see that the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled to the very letter: "I am made a derision to all My people."

APPLICATION. This meditation ought to produce great fruit in us. When we contemplate Jesus Christ as the true way, which leads us unto life, as the living model of perfection, it should kindle in our hearts an ardent desire to become like unto Him, to serve Him willingly, to be ready, in imitation of Him and for His love, to be despised, insulted, reviled, and even looked upon as a fool, although we have done nothing to deserve this treatment: this is the foolishness of the Cross. Many of God's servants have travelled by this road; why should not we follow in their footsteps?

COLLOQUY with our Blessed Lady.