Chapter 46: Of the plundering, and the sharing of the garments of Christ

I BLESS You, and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, and Giver of all good things, for the rude plundering and the mocking partition of Your garments; when, as soon as You had been cruelly nailed to Your Cross, You were savagely despoiled of all Your clothing, and were driven forth disinherited even to the last farthing; so that there was not left You even a stitch of clothing wherewith to cover Your nakedness, nor even a piece of linen for a shroud, in which after Your death You might be wrapped, and be decently laid in Your grave. If You are not to go to Your grave naked, a winding-sheet will have to be obtained for You from strangers, and will have to be given as an act of kindness to one utterly poor and destitute. How hungry was the covetousness of those soldiers — soldiers indeed, nay rather low vagabonds! How shameless was the rapacity of those base men of the guard set over Him, who in their unholy greed were not ashamed of despoiling Jesus of His scraps of worldly goods; but sated, as best they might, their thirst for gain by making the meagre garments of the Crucified their prey! Having taken His garments, they made of them four parts, to every soldier a part, leaving entire the coat only, because it had no seam; and for it they cast lots, because they could not share it otherwise without wasting it. Alas for the wickedness of those robbers! Alas for the spite of those extortioners, who had not even so much pity for Jesus hanging on the Cross, poor and naked, as to give Him back some little thing, or to leave even a shred of one of His garments for His sorrowing Mother to keep as a remembrance of Him Whom she had lost! Not one of these things did they, because, urged on by the Devil, they were working out their sacrilege, without thought of a judgement to come. O my most dearly loved Jesus, neither by word, nor by deed, do You offer any opposition to all this: You do endure it all in silence; and surely, in thus bearing the loss of all that belonged to You, You make it plain to me what I ought to do when anything which I think needful for me is taken from me; for it is Your Will that I should show myself more ready to bear the loss of worldly goods, than to claim things which belong to me of right. Your garments were not, as I suppose, elegantly made, nor of brightly coloured stuffs, but rather plain and simple, such as poor folk would wear; or were, may be, made after the fashion of the clothing of the Nazarites or of the prophets of old; doubtless they were not the dainty work of a cunning tailor, but rather were woven and put together by the hands and the needle of the Holy Virgin, with skill inspired by the Holy Ghost; or were, may be, bought, during His childhood, for the use of her Son, by the Virgin Mother, with money earned by her by work done for her neighbours. To think of the Supreme Creator of Heaven, true God, and true Man, reduced to such straits as this! At His birth he had scarcely a few poor rags to cover Him, and now at His death, He has no clothes at all! Then a narrow manger held His infant limbs; now deprived of all His worldly goods, He has, in all the world which He created, no place to lay His Head except His Cross; for a& He came into the world poor and needy, so now He willed to leave it naked and an outcast. At His birth He was tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes; at His death He is pierced by lance and nails. The thought of so great misery calls surely for compassion; the showing forth of so great patience calls surely for imitation. Be you, then, more patient than ever before, when things that seem needful to you are taken from you, or when things upon which you have set your heart are denied you. Learn to do with little, and to be content with what is mean and poor; so shall you be kept from grumbling, and shall have peace in yourself, and favour with Almighty God.

O that I could possess, or could devoutly touch or kiss, even one small piece of those sacred garments of Jesus, my Lord, from whence so often went out such great virtue that the sick were healed thereby! How holy are the relics of those garments, and in what veneration should they be held, wherever they are to be found! Truly, if those soldiers had but known their worth, they would never, in their greed, have cut them up, or sold them for some mere trifle; but rather would most carefully, and with due reverence, have preserved them in caskets of silver; for they were indeed more precious than all the royal mantles of kings, and all the robes of bishops, nor has any metal been found so precious as to deserve to be compared with them. But their sanctity and high distinction were hidden from those ungodly men, whose anxiety to satisfy their greedy thirst for gain made them unable to perceive the fragrance of their holiness. Alas! How sad it is to think that so noble a jewel should have been broken up, and rent asunder by men who cast lots for it. It seems to me that if some rich and powerful follower of Christ had been there at the time, he would willingly, for the redeeming of those holy relics, have offered a great sum of money; or would at any rate have secured some part of them; and having thus acquired a treasure of untold value, would have gone home rejoicing.

And now, O most sweet Jesus, patient endurer of so many wrongs, grant that, to the increase of Your praise and glory, I may be able, by pious meditation, in some measure to undo the tangle which those soldiers, by way of causing You distress, set themselves to weave. Blessed be the holy and spotless garment, with which Your virginal Body, born of Mary the Virgin, was for many years becomingly clothed. Blessed be the hem of Your garment, on touching which all who had need of healing, and came to You in devout faith, were, as we read, at once made whole. Blessed be Your coat, woven without seam, that should never have been used by man, but should have been kept for God's holy service only.

For it ought to have been kept intact, not only on account of the special reverence due to it, but also as a symbol of the unity of Holy Mother Church throughout the world. She indeed, although divided by countries, nations, and languages, and although she has within her fold men of different ranks and stations of life, yet lives, and is governed and sustained under one head, and one chief pastor, as one whole body of the Church, keeping one faith, acknowledging one baptism, believing in God, One in Undivided Trinity; having one Spouse, Jesus Christ, reigning in Heaven, from Whose Side no temptations of whatever kind can separate her: for You, O Lord, have indeed given to Your Bride, the Catholic Church, an impregnable shield against all error — the word of truth, the light of knowledge, and the fervour of charity — that so she may obtain the crown of everlasting life which fades not away.

O Jesus, King of kings, at once the richest and the poorest of men, O Lord most poor, as stripped of Your clothes, and deserted by Your friends; but at the same time most rich in the fullness of Your spiritual gifts; grant, I beseech You, to me. Your poor servant, out of the abundance of Your excellences, to have one at least in its fullness, that, namely, of not being found naked and ashamed before You, like the man who was found at the marriage supper not having on a wedding garment, and was presently, for this defect, cast out from the company of the Saints. May my heart be torn to pieces by a wholesome sorrow for sin, in remembrance of the tearing of Your garment into four parts, so that by one at least out of four motives I may be moved to repentance; by fear of Hell, by hope of future glory, by sorrow for past sin, or by thankful love for grace given me. Give me also that of which Your seamless coat is the symbol — the unity, namely, of brotherly love in the bond of peace, that so I may get rid of everything which may lead to dissension; may shun the hubbub of the world; may, for love of inward peace, abstain from foolish talk and speculation; may rejoice to lead a poor and hidden life with You; and may have no hankering after this world's pleasures. May I not be anxious to have anything of my own; since You, when on earth, had no worldly goods, and the little that You thought fit to use for Your actual need, that even You did allow robbers to take from You, and to waste; thus setting to all those who are suffering wrong, an example of patience, that so they may not regret overmuch the loss of what belongs to them.