been deprived for ever of the happiness of heaven;— represent to yourself, as I said, all these evils piled up together in one horrible heap, and with them the bones of all who have ever died, as well as of those who shall yet die, and alas! according to the testimony of the Apostle (a), all these are the unhappy consequence of sin. Wherefore, by the severity of the punishment you can measure the malice of the offence. 3. Yet, withal, this malice is nowhere seen more clearly than on the height of Calvary. For, in order to make due reparation to the Divine Justice for this one sin of Adam, it was necessary (be moved, ye tender hearts, by the terrible sentence) that the Word should be made flesh,. that Jesus Christ should be nailed to the Cross, that a God should die between two robbers. Yet this is so. All the united labours, sufferings, and virtues of all the saints would have been insufficient of themselves to blot out this single sin. Nay more, though one hundred million souls, each one surpassing in sanctity the life of heaven's queen, had, with this end in view, endured for ten thousand years, with amazing constancy, punishments far surpassing those of hell's fire; nevertheless, this would still be insufficient to make reparation for that one sin. Though the entire world should swim in the blood of atoning victims, it would, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, have been all in vain, if the blood of Jesus had not been shed-if the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity had not offered Himself up as a Victim to the offended ma (a) Romans v. 12. jesty of God. Had not this been done the world's sin would not have been expiated, nor God appeased, -so atrocious, so enormous, so truly infinite was the malice and perversity united to this mortal sin. Now, what conclusions do you draw from all this? First conclusion. If all the pains of the body, if the loss of riches and of reputation, if, in fine, all the calamities of the world, and even death itself are the punishment of Adam's sin, it follows that sin is a greater evil than all these. For, as S. Thomas says, "The fault has in it more of the nature of evil than the punishment" (a). Therefore, one ought more willingly to endure every evil than commit a single sin. Second conclusion. God dies upon the Cross for the sin of Adam (weigh the words accurately one by one),-God dies upon the Cross for the sin of Adam. Nothing less than the blood of a Man-God was able to cancel it. Therefore, it must be a most grievous and detestable evil, because God would not have expired amidst such fierce torments for a matter of light consequence. Third conclusion. If the Eternal Father did not spare his own Son, although He assumed merely the form of a sinner, and only made Himself a surety for the sin of Adam, how will He treat us- -vile slaves, rebellious Deicides, sinners guilty of so many crimes? AFFECTIONS. 1. Therefore, let us repent of our past sins, and preserve ourselves from falling into future ones. (a) P. i. q. 48, a. 6. 2. Weighed down by the burden of our sins, let us humble ourselves beneath the Omnipotent hand of God, and let the consideration of them repress in us the desire of being placed above others. 3. Let us cherish a holy hatred of our flesh, constantly detesting its allurements as being the source of every sin. Nevertheless, we ought not to occupy ourselves overmuch with these two affections; as the fruit of this meditation consists in an intense sorrow for past sins, and an efficacious horror of sin in the future. That this fruit may be the more substantial, three things demand our attention. 1. Our principal care must be to occupy ourselves especially with this act, and to elicit it with all the fervour of which we are capable. 2. We should detest our past sins in such a manner as to include in this detestation sensuality and pride, since they are the chief source of all evils. 3. We ought to pass on from a detestation of mortal, to a detestation of venial sins. For the rest, what is there capable of exciting greater horror in a human breast than sin? And what can excite within us a more intense sorrow, than the Son of God dying nailed to a Cross for our sake. O ye Heavens, the Son of God, by command of his Father, dies upon a cross because of sin! Oh, sight calculated to strike horror into the very demons, and cause the universe to become a total wreck! God dies upon a cross for sin. . . . . God! I believe all this, and yet I do not repent of my past sins, nor start back affrighted at the thought of future ones. Nay, rather, I continue to sin, "crucifying again to myself the Son of God, and making Him a mockery" (a). . . . . O thunderbolts of Heaven! what arm restrains you, what cloud arrests your progress! Ah! my soul! behold your the cross. Jesus who dies upon and He dies not for the sin of and this Adam alone, but, also, for your sins, He does, the while you, with blood-stained hands, are in the very act of crucifying Him. . . . . Can you look upon Him, and yet not melt into tears? At this sight the sun is darkened, the rocks are split asunder, the very Gentiles return from the scene striking their breasts, and you—you alone remain insensible! The sepulchres of the dead are opened, the veil of the Temple is rent, all nature is convulsed, while you alone, O sinner, are not moved! You alone! you, more hardened than steel, gaze with tearless eyes upon your Saviour hanging from the cross, and already expiring amid the most horrible torments! . . . Nay more, you dare to renew this pitiful sight one hundred and one thousand times! Ah! let my tears at length gush forth, let me heave deep sighs, let sadness take entire possession of my soul, that I may weep as I ought the offence offered to the majesty of God, which I now understand, and which it is impossible to learn better than from the death of Jesus Christ. O Jesus crucified! permit me prostrate at your feet, and melted in tears, to testify to you my grief; and, in my horror of the malice which sin involves, I pray that I may cease to live sooner than I should cease to grieve for, and detest, it. "As long as breath remaineth in me, (a) Hebrews vi. 6. and the Spirit of God in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity" (a), nor shall my heart dare to commit it. I shall sacrifice every treasure, I shall endure every evil, rather than again offend Thee even slightly. Yes, even slightly. For, venial sin, also, is the cause of the sufferings and death of Christ, and the sanctity of God abhors it beyond measure. Yes, I too abhor and detest them, and especially the sins of . . . . N. N. . . as well as pride and sensuality, the poisoned sources from which they spring. I will exclaim with Thomas à Kempis, "Oh ! how low ought I to cast myself down under the bottomless depths of thy judgments, O Lord: where I find myself to be nothing else but nothing! I stand astonished and consider that the heavens are not pure in Thy sight. In the angels Thou hast found sin. Stars have fallen from heaven, and I that am but dust, how can I presume? Oh, then, how humble and lowly ought I to think of myself!" (b). O how deserving of detestation is the appetite for honours and pleasures, the unhappy source of every evil! Yes! I have already adopted my unalterable resolution. Like S. Paul, I also will "chastise my body, and bring it into subjection:" (c)—that body which was to you, my Jesus, the occasion of so many sufferings, and of such a bitter death. Like David, I, too, will "make myself meaner than I have done: and I will be little in my own eyes" (d). I will serve Thee, my Lord God, I will serve Thee, in that manner (a) Job xxvii. v. 3. (b) Imitation of Christ, Book iii. ch. xiv. (d) 2 Kings vi. 22. |