第44章 THE THIRD PART(3)

Ah,my Lord,remember,1.How the sharp spear was thrust into Thy divine side;2.How the purple blood ran out;3.How the living water gushed forth;4.And with what bitter toil Thou didst garner me up;5.And how generously Thou didst ransom me;Loving Lord!may Thy deep wounds shelter me from all my enemies;Thy living water cleanse me from all my sins;Thy rose-coloured blood adorn me with all graces and virtues.Tender Lord!May the praise Thou didst so bitterly win bind me to Thee!The ransom Thou didst so freely pay unite me eternally with Thee.Oh,thou chosen consolation of all sinners,Ho,thou sweet Queen,remember today.1.How thou didst stand under the cross,and how,as thy Son hung dead above thee,thou didst cast on Him many a look of misery;2.How affectionately His arms were received by thee;3.With what fidelity pressed to thy blood-stained face;4.His bleeding wounds,His dead and ghastly features,were by thee kissed again and again;5.How many a death-wound thy heart then received;6.How many a fervent unfathomable sigh burst from thee;7.How many scalding tears thou didst shed;8.Thy miserable words were so full of sorrow;9.Thy most gracious figure was so steeped in affliction;10.Thy woeful heart was without consolation from all mankind.Oh,pure Lady,on this account forget not to be a constant protectress of my whole life,and my faithful guide.

Turn thy eyes,thy mild eyes,at all times,with compassion on me.Watch over me like a mother in every temptation.Protect me faithfully against my enemies,protect me beneath thy tender arms.Let thy faithful kissing of His wounds be to me as a tender reconciliation with Him;Let the wounds of thy heart obtain for me a cordial repentance of my sins;Thy fervent sighing procure for me a constant yearning;And let thy bitter tears soften my hard heart;Be thy lamentable words even as a renunciation to me of all voluptuous speeches;Thy weeping form as a casting away of all dissolute conduct;Thy disconsolate heart as a despising of all perishable affections.

ON SATURDAY,OR AT COMPLINE

1.O,Thou ravishing brightness of eternal light,how art Thou at this moment,when my soul embraces Thee under the cross as dead in Thy sorrowful mother's lap,with lamentations and thanksgiving,how art Thou utterly extinguished!Extinguish in me the burning desire of all vice.2.O,Thou pure clear mirror of the Divine Majesty,how art Thou defiled for very love of me!Wash out the great stains of my evil deeds.3.O,fair and shining Image of the Fatherly goodness,how grievously disfigured Thou art!Restore the disfigured image of my soul.4.O,innocent Lamb,how piteously art Thou abased!Atone and reform for me my guilty sinful life.5.O,King of all kings,O,Lord of all lords,vouchsafe me,since my soul embraces Thee with sorrow and lamentation in Thy abasement,that it may be embraced by Thee with joy in Thy eternal glory.O,pure Mother,worthy of all love,remember today,1.The forlorn condition in which thou foundest thyself when they tore thy murdered Son from thy breast;2.Remember thy separation from Him;

3.Thy faltering steps;4.Thy heart sighing again for His body;5.The constant fidelity which thou alone didst evince for Him in all His woe till He was laid in the grave.Obtain for me,from thy tender Son,that in thy sorrow and His sufferings I may subdue my own.Moreover,that I may shut myself up with Him in His sepulchre from all temporal anxieties;That I may be inspired with disgust for all this world;That I may only cherish a perpetual desire of Him,and may persevere in His praise and service to the grave.Amen.

When all this was ready and written out,there still remained a little to make up at the end of a chapter,appertaining to our Blessed Lady,and in that very part he had left a blank space until he should be inspired with it by God,for he had been many months in a state of spiritual dereliction,so that he could not finish the chapter.Then he besought our Blessed Lady,the Mother of God,that she would do it.And,on the eve of St.Dominic,at night,after he had sung matins,it seemed to him in his sleep,as if he were in a chamber;and as if,while he was sitting there,a very fair youth entered with a ravishing harp,and with him four other youths with flutes.

Then the youth with the harp sat down by the brother,and began to touch his harp,and play upon it very sweetly.This was pleasant for the brother to hear,and he said to him,O,when wilt thou come to the place where I dwell,and lift up my heart a little with thy music?Then the youth asked the brother if he was still busy with what he had for a long time been occupied with?To which he said,Yes.Then the youth answered and said:It is hard to play.So he turned to the four with flutes,and bid them blow.Then one of them answered and said that if two of them blew it would be enough.But the other said,that two would not be enough,and that they must all blow their flutes together,and he gave them a certain tune,which was well known to him,but of which the brother knew nothing,and it was done accordingly.

Meanwhile he presently neither saw nor heard any harp or flute,but saw that the youths had in their hands a picture,above all measure lovely,of our Blessed Lady,and that it was worked in cloth,and the mantle of the picture was red and purple,with damask embroidery,which it was delightful to behold,and the ground was as white as snow.Then the brother marvelled greatly,and took pleasure in the sight;and he perceived that they would needs complete it,and,first of all,fill up the empty space.Then they said,See how it grows!Presently he saw it completed.And then one of them took a needle and thread,and made on the fore part of the mantle very skillful cross stitches,and they were very finely done,and wonderfully adorned our Blessed Lady.And now his eyes were opened,and he understood that he should no longer doubt that it was given him to complete the ground,the blank space,and the spiritual picture,which had so long been denied to him;for he was accustomed to have all that he had hitherto performed clearly manifested to him by God in the way of some similitude like the above,and so,on the morrow,he finished his work to the end.