Our Lord has also told us, that unless we abide in him we can bear no fruit, that will be agreeable to his father.-John xv. 4. Alas; how many souls are there who do not please God, because they are not in Christ. What is not in him, cannot be pleasing to the eternal Father, who is not pleased but in his only Son, who approves of nothing but the thoughts, intentions and works, which are conformable to the thoughts, intentions and works of Christ: and who rejects all those which Christ has judged unworthy of himself. Let us then only hear this well-beloved Son, and shut our ears to everything else.

V. We must observe secondly, that Jesus descending from the mount, charged them, saying; tell the vision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead (Matt. xvii. 9), because the world was not capable of it; and unless people were well experienced in divine things, they could not enter as they ought into that mystery of divine love. Our Lord said to Ananais, speaking of St. Paul: I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.— Acts, ix. 16. He had not as yet shown him them, although he was already converted! that secret was revealed to him only in heaven, when he was caught up in a vision into the third region; from whence he returned, full of light and love, and after having written, that he had heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter (2 Cor. xii. 4), he concludes that he knew only Jesus Christ, and him crucified.-1 Cor. ii. 2. Indeed he thought of nothing afterwards but of loving and suffering; and suffering was as familiar to him as loving.

We may thereby comprehend why, after the fall of the first man, God has not given here below, at least to his faithful servants, a sure peace; but has been pleased that they should be subject to misery in this life. For as God does everything for his elect, and as the government of the earth is subordinate to the predestination of the saints, who are in this world, as in a school of heavenly wisdom, and in a continual exercise of pure love; he has covered the earth with so great a deluge of evils, that they can neither find rest nor security but in the ark, which is Christ. Thither it is they retire, and taste in secret, that sweet peace, which the world cannot give, and the hope of which takes from them the fear of tributations and the love of false goods. Wherefore our Saviour after spending thirty years in a continual bitterness, was pleased to discover to those three disciples the secrets of his love and cross; that is, the solid glory and interior peace, which he has hidden therein, and which he reserves only for his true followers; but he would not have that favour become public, till mankind, better instructed in those heavenly truths, fortified by the doctrine of his resurection, and confirmed by the communication of the Holy Ghost, should be capable of these great mysteries.

Expect not then, O Christian soul! the end or mitigation of sufferings, whilst you live on earth: for it is not the place of your repose. The happiness of the elect, in regard of whom God preserves this world, is to be unable to find any joy therein, and to be afraid, above all things, of wedding themselves to it, considering that those, who desire to settle their happiness in anything abstracted from God, meet with nothing but labour and affliction of spirit. Seek, therefore, when you suffer, for consolation and peace where it is to be found, that is, in the divine love and communication with Christ. Then will you experience that great truth, with which St. Augustine was so penetrated, after his conversion; that it is infinitely sweet to be deprived of the pleasures of this world, and that we do ourselves a pleasure at last in abandoning what, heretofore, we had been afraid to lose.

TWENTY-SIXTH SUFFERING OF CHRIST.-His sorrow in the Garden of Olives.

I. Our Saviour's passion began, as did his life, by a sense of the cruel death he was to suffer, and of the sins of the world he was to expiate. Thus when he beheld the moment approaching wherein he had resolved to die, he was pleased to suffer death in such a manner, that he might at the same time satisfy the justice of God to the full rigour, and excite our hearts to love him, and our minds to know him: for therein consisted the whole fruit which he designed to gather from his labours.

He waited not, therefore, till his executioners came to shed his blood; but being unable to suffer delay, he abandoned himself to so profound a sorrow, that all the endeavours of his enemies could never have caused the like in him, because the hatred they bore him, could not equal the love he had for us. He was pleased to make us comprehend in the beginning of his Passion, that it was rather the effect of his choice and his love, than of the violence of the Jews. For this reason he retired into a place, where he was wont to pray, that his enemies might find him more easily; and there before they appeared, having deprived the sacred Humanity of the support it received from the Divinity, and discovering to it at the same time everything it had to suffer, he reduced it to a cruel agony.

II. For having washed his disciples' feet, instituted in their presence the sacrament of his body and blood, and made them a very moving and sublime discourse, he entered with them into the garden of Gethsemani. Then seeing them dejected, he exhorted them to have recourse to prayer, as to the most efficacious remedy against sadness, and retired afterwards a little further with three of his apostles, Peter, James, and John; having represented to

himself in a most lively manner everything he was to suffer, the pains, torments, ignominies, the triumph of his enemies, the contempt of his person, wisdom, and miracles, the new kinds of reproach and cruelties which were prepared for him, he fell into such a dejection, as would have deprived him of life, had it not been miraculously preserved: he testified this himself, saying: my soul is sorrowful even unto death.-Matt. xxvi. 38. He returned to his disciples, in order to find with them some comfort in this extremity; but they themselves were so dejected by his sadness, who was wont to fortify them in their troubles, that our Saviour returned to prayer, without receiving any consolation from them; and said to his Father in the excess of his grief: O my Father! if it is possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. He found his Father inexorable, and his sorrow augumented to such a degree, that it more resembled the agony of a dying man than the ordinary sorrow of a man that suffers; but notwithstanding his pain, he continued his prayer: which made the Evangelist say, that being in an agony he prayed the longer.— Luke xxii. 43. The combat which was then maintained between the inferior and superior part, occasioned him such an abundant sweat of blood, that after bathing his garments, it also moistened the ground where he prayed.

Then an angel descended from heaven to comfort him; not that he wanted the necessary power for opposing the weakness of nature; but in order to teach all those who suffer, that their consolation and strength must come from heaven. So the angel, who was not ignorant who that afflicted person was, did not lose time in proposing different motives of consolation to him; but only besought him, in the name of heaven and earth, and of all sinners, to apply to their evils, out of his infinite love, that sovereign remedy which they could not receive but from him alone; and to prefer to the reproaches and torments of one day, the eternal glory which he was to obtain thereby! for, as the apostle says, having joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising shame.—Heb. xii. 2. The sinner, for whose love our Saviour vouchsafed to undergo so great a conflict, ought here to beg of him the interior spirit, and the divine dispositions, which made him then suffer by a voluntary submission, without any human comfort, what appeared so terrible to nature. No words can express it, no understanding is capable of comprehending it, without a particular gift of the spirit of God. IV. Thus it is that he who supports others in affliction abandons himself thereto; that the comforter of all men falls into desolation; that the joy of heaven and earth was overwhelmed with grief; and that the Son of God, in order to gain our hearts, was pleased to take our infirmities upon himself.

Two things occasioned him this mortal sorrow, the first was, the

greatness and infinite multitude of the sins of the world, which were all in particular present to his mind, with a clear view of the divine majesty offended by so many crimes, and the ruin of souls destined to eternal punishments. The second was, the great number of those to whom his death would be unprofitable. As he was comforted on one hand, by the certainty of the advantages he was to reap from his passion; he was afflicted on the other, in thinking how few men would receive the benefit from that remedy, which his love had prepared for all; and he found no consolation therein, but in submitting to the immutable decrees of his Father, who would have him suffer for those very persons that would not profit by his sufferings.

V. His conflict and prayer continued about three hours, during which that good Shepherd, who in his greatest sufferings, not forgetting his flock, visited his disciples thrice: having found them asleep the first and second times, he exhorted them to watch and pray; and the third time, perceiving that he who was to betray him was not far off, he said to them, sleep on now and take your rest; and a little after: rise, let us go: behold, he is at hand that will betray me.—Matt. xxvi. 45, 46. By these words he taught us, according to the interpretation of St. Hilary, that we ought not to wait till the enemy is at hand, before we watch and pray; but we must be upon our guard when he is at a distance, lest we be surprised by him; that the apprehension of danger does not permit us to take any rest; but the hour being come when the enemy assaults us, we should be without fear, and depend upon the valour and experience of our Head, who has taken our dangers upon himself, and fights for us.

In fine, that ineffable love increased to such a height, that it could not be satisfied but by reducing Christ to a state of interior desolation which was without example; and showing us thereby that we should find in him alone the remedy of all our fears and weaknesses: for this mystery is full of admirable instructions for

us.

Our Saviour was pleased to feel that extreme pain, that we might not think all is lost, when the inferior part avoids what is contrary to it; and to teach us, that we shall not be judged according to the infirmity of our flesh, but according to the disposition of our will. He truly suffered a mortal grief, but it was proportioned to his power, in order to persuade us, that God, who dispenses the miseries of this life as he pleases, will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able; but will make us escape in temptation, that we may be able to bear it.-1 Cor. x. 13.

He clearly showed us in himself two seemingly opposite inclinations: the one corporeal, which abhorred sufferings; and the other rational, which remained subject to God; that a Christian may not think himself an enemy to God, because the flesh resists

the spirit; but that he may endeavour subdue it, and comprehend that the animal man does not hurt the interior man, whilst the interior man adheres to the law of God.

There descended an angel from heaven to comfort Christ, to show all those that suffer, that God forgets them not in tribulation; that their labours are known in heaven; and that it is from thence they ought to expect their consolation.

In fine, the Son of God besought his heavenly Father to dispense with so rigorous a precept, although he well knew it would not be granted him; to instruct us in this so necessary a truth, that the divine help consists not in delivering us from the afflictions which God sends us, but in making us support them with an humble submission, and an entire conformity to his designs, in remaining always united to him by love.

CONTEMPLATION.-On Christ, in the sorrow he suffered in the Garden of Olives.-I. Thy love, O divine Jesus! can bear no delay; it urges thee continually; and to wait only two or three hours for the beginning of thy sufferings, is a great suffering to thee. Thou waitest not till the soldiers load thee with chains; till the Jews and Gentiles overwhelm thee with reproaches; till the inhuman executioners tear thy innocent flesh, and fasten it to the cross: thou abandonest thyself to so bitter a grief, that thou art obliged to complain, and to seek some comfort amongst rude men, incapable of compassionating thy pain.

How different is my conduct from thine, O my Saviour! I am overcome by sadness; when I seek joy, I am troubled with a thousand afflicting thoughts, from which I endeavour to deliver myself; and thou, O repose of my soul! overcome by thy love alone, thou voluntarily abandonest thyself to thy sorrow; recallest to thy mind everything that can afflict that heart, so great, so tender and so charitable; which is the refuge of those that suffer. Thou feelest all the evils which we feel: we, because we are miserable-and thou, because thou art merciful.

It is not enough for thy love to wait for these floods of sorrows which are ready to overflow thee, the dereliction of God and men, the injuries, reproaches, and torments which were preparing for thee. Thou tormentest thyself beforehand, by representing them to thyself in as lively a manner as if thou didst already suffer them, and permittest thy sacred humanity, struggling at the same time with the desire and fear of suffering, to shed a sweat of blood in that violent agitation; and thou wilt be destitute of all help, as if there were no more consolation to be hoped for by thee, either in heaven, on earth, in thy friends, or in God himself.

II. Is it thus, then, O divine fortitude! that thou allowest thyself to be weakened, when thou must combat such enemies as none but thyself can overcome? What is become of that desire of suf