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As
if it were a Fable
by
Our Holy Father St Alphonsus
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Alas!
What a pity to see the contempt with which men treat the Passion
of Jesus Christ! How few are there, even among Christians,
who reflect on the sorrows and ignominies which this Redeemer
has endured for our sake. We barely remember in a passing
way the Passion of Jesus Christ, during the last days of Holy
Week, when the Church renews the remembrance of His death
by its mournful chant, by the nakedness of its altars, the
darkness of its temples, and by the silence of its bells.
But, during the rest of the year, we think as little of the
Passion of the Redeemer as if it were a fable, or as if He
had died for others and not for us. O God how great must be
the torture of the damned in hell when they see all that a
God has suffered for their salvation, and that they have voluntarily
brought themselves to perdition!
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While
Jesus upon the cross is being outraged by that barbarous populace,
what is it that He is doing? He is praying for them, and saying,
O My Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do. O Eternal Father, hearken to this Thy beloved Son,
who, in dying, prays Thee to forgive me too, who have outraged
Thee so much. |
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Then
Jesus, turning to the good thief, who prays Him to have mercy
upon him, replies: Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.
Oh, how true is that which the Lord spake by the mouth of Ezechiel,
that when a sinner repents of his faults, He, as it were, blots
out from His memory all the offences of which he has been guilty:
But if the wicked do penance, I will not remember all his iniquities. |
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What
pangs, too, must not those loving Hearts of Jesus and Mary have
felt when the moment arrived in which the Son, before breathing
his last, had to take His leave of the Mother! Behold what the
last words were with which Jesus took His leave in this world
of Mary: Mother, behold Thy Son; assigning
John to Her, whom, in His own place, He left Her for a son. |
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He
casts His eyes around Him, and there is no one that gives Him
comfort. He asks His Father for consolation but the Father,
beholding Him covered with all the sins of men, even He too
abandons Him; and then it was that Jesus cried out with a loud
voice, saying, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? My God, my God, and why hast Thou also abandoned
Me? This abandonment by the Eternal Father caused the death
of Jesus Christ to be more bitter than any that has ever fallen
to the lot of either penitent or martyr; for it was a death
of perfect desolation, and bereft of every kind of relief. |
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Jesus
then, knowing that His sacrifice was now completed, said that
He was thirsty: He said, I thirst And the executioners
then reached up to His mouth a sponge, filled with vinegar and
gall.
But,
Lord, how is it that Thou dost make no complaint of those many
pains which are taking away Thy life, but complainest only of
Thy thirst? Ah, I understand Thee, my Jesus; Thy thirst is a
thirst of love; because Thou lovest us, Thou dost desire to
be beloved by us. Oh, help me to drive away from my heart all
affections which are not for Thee; make me to love none other
but Thee, and to have no other desire save that of doing Thy
will. |
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Behold
how the loving Saviour is now drawing nigh unto death. Behold,
O my soul, those beautiful eyes growing dim, that face become
all pallid, that heart all but ceasing to beat, and that sacred
body now disposing Itself to the final surrender of its life.
After Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, It is
consummated. |
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Behold,
in the last place, how our Redeemer, after having commended
His blessed soul to his Eternal Father, first breathing forth
from his afflicted Heart a deep sigh, and then bowing down his
head in token of His obedience, and offering up His death for
the salvation of men, at length, through the violence of the
pain, expires, and delivers up His spirit into the hands of
His beloved Father: “And crying out with a loud voice,
He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit;
and saying this He gave up the ghost.” |
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My Jesus, who
is there more than I that has reaped the fruits of Thy death?
I, through Thy
merits, without even so much as knowing it, was, in the outset, by
baptism, made a child of the Church; through Thy love I have been
forgiven so often since, and have received so many special graces.
Oh Jesus, do not
permit me to be among the number of the unhappy damned.
No; I will never
cease to think of the love which Thou hast shown me in bearing so
many torments and ignominies for me. Help me to love Thee, and always
to remember the love that Thou hast borne me. †
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