Chapter 52: Of the lonely dereliction of the Lord Jesus on the Cross

I BLESS You, and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, most loving Son of the Father's Love, for Your awful and lonely dereliction on the Cross, when, at the moment of Your direst need, as if You had been an alien and of no account; as if You had not been the very Son of God; as if You had no power or merit of any kind soever, You were forsaken of God the Father, by the host of Heaven, and by every creature upon earth — at which time Your most sorrowful Mother, attended only by a few poor women and by the disciple to whose care You had committed her, alone stood by You; and she, by reason of the grief and anguish of her soul, could scarce speak to You one word.

I praise and glorify You for that strong cry which burst from Your lips, when, in the hearing of all those that stood by. You did utter those woeful words: " Eli, Eli, lamma sabachthani." By those words, O my Lord, You did make abundantly plain the intensity of Your anguish, and the withdrawal from You of consolation of every kind. You did declare by them the measure of what You were enduring for the salvation of us men, by whom You were in return being set at nought, nay, rather were being treated as the vilest of malefactors, and as one quite unworthy to live.

Mark well, my soul, this Word of Jesus; for it was spoken specially for your learning. Consider — Oh the wonder of it! — how the Lord of all things. Who has need of nothing, is reduced to such a depth of misery that He tells forth His need into His Father's ears; that He Who orders all things as co-worker with His Father, complains that His Father has forsaken Him; that He Who upholds all things by the word of His Power proclaims the burden laid upon Him to be too heavy for Him to bear; that He, Who is ever ready to comfort the mourner and the oppressed, confesses Himself to be an outcast and forlorn; that He Who is the Hearer of prayer. Whose Ears are ever open to the cry of the poor, humbly asks the question: " My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" Of a truth, from the beginning of His Passion until now, no words so woeful had yet been spoken.

It was for me, O Christ — I know it well — it was for me that in Your passible human nature You did utter this cry upon the Cross; for Your dereliction is my comfort, Your bitter cry is my support, Your weakness is my strength; Your sufferings have paid the penalty for all my sins and shortcomings. You are the heavenly Physician; moved by Your infinite love and compassion, You did submit to be overwhelmed by unfathomable sorrow and anguish: and thus it is that with the weak You can be weak, with the mourner You can mourn, with the sinner You can be sad, with the oppressed You can grieve, and for all Your weak members You can offer up prayer with strong crying and with tears. Those words which You did utter were not spoken by way of rebellion or of despair: they were the cry of Your human nature and sensibility. Your Flesh was suffering the penalty of guilt, of which it had never known the taint. Your Soul was enjoying the highest bliss; but Your Body, all innocent as It was, was enduring punishment than which none could be more severe. Your Divinity brought no relief to Your anguish; but It worked a miracle in Your power of endurance, that so for the Redemption of our race nothing might be wanting.

What faithful soul is there, which, after meditating on these things, can help sharing Your anguish ? What heart is there so hard as not to be pierced by that exceeding bitter cry ? Even the elements, devoid of feeling as they are, stood unmistakably aghast in sympathy with Your sufferings; for from the sixth until the ninth hour the sun withdrew his light from the world, refusing to shine upon men who were so unworthy of it; and the earth quaked, shuddering at the insults heaped upon its Creator, grieving over the sufferings which the Author of life had to endure, and exclaiming that it could not bear to see Him die. When therefore the sun mourns, and the earth trembles and quakes, see you to it, O man endowed with reason, that you too take part in their grief; that you do fully mark the cry of Jesus, why the cry was uttered, and what it meant. Note how, in all His tribulation and anguish, the Lord Jesus remained meek and patient, and how all the words which fell from His Lips were words of sweetness and of love. His prayer is addressed to His Father in Heaven; He calls upon God alone; Him alone does He tell of His desolation. He seeks no comfort from His Mother; He asks no help from His friends.

Here, then, is instruction for you, from the Mouth of Jesus; He shows you what you should do when you are in distress. Art you suffering from some bodily infirmity; have you some mental 'trouble or unhappiness to bear; are you looked down upon by others; have you lost the favour of men by reason of your poverty or other defect; be not cast down, be not impatient; but use your trouble as a stepping-stone in your spiritual progress, use it as an opportunity for sweet converse with Jesus as He hangs upon the Cross, despises! and rejected of men, and with the Father's Face hidden from Him for a season; and meditate upon those words which He spake: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

When you are feeling weak and ill, try to be patient and gentle; do not grumble if every now and then your attendants neglect you, or your brethren fail to visit you. Think of Jesus in His desolation upon the Cross, and shrink from complaining of your petty discomfort; pray Him to visit you, seek your consolation from Him, Who is able to comfort you, even when you are forsaken and alone. Set no store by the fleeting solace which is all that this world can give; make not too much of the attachment of your friends; desire rather to have God's angels watching over you, and call upon the Saints to pray for you. Lift up yours eyes to Him Who hangs above you on the Cross; meditate on His Sacred Wounds; pray to the glorious Virgin; keep Mary ever in mind; pray earnestly to her; for she never left the Cross's foot, and she heard Jesus crying with a loud voice to the Father. Close yours eyes to all things earthly, lift up your soul to your home which is above. Cling to God as your Father, to Jesus as your Brother, to Mary as your Mother, to the Angels as your friends, to the Saints as your kinsfolk. Of that noble and exalted stock you come too, not by natural birth, but by the spiritual freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. Surrounded by protectors such as these; with loving patrons such as these ready at your call, you may in confidence await the coming of the day of doom, and hope for mercy at the hands of your most loving Saviour.

O supreme and adorable Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, have respect, I entreat You, to the prayer which Your servant now offers to You by the hands of Your Beloved Son, as He hangs upon the Cross; forgive me all the sins which I have at any time committed; withhold not from me the gift of Your heavenly grace; suffer me not to be tempted above that which I am able to bear, nor to be unduly distressed by the fiery darts of the wicked one. Prove me, O Lord, and try me, as You know it to be good for me; but keep my soul in Your Hands, and with every temptation make for me such a way of escape that I may be able to bear it. That which the cunning enemy of my soul has contrived for my hurt, turn You, I beseech You, into a means of salvation, and of the shedding forth upon me of yet more grace. The more I feel the weight of the trouble which is laid upon me, and the less I am able to put my trust in what man can do forme, the more powerfully and the more closely be You at hand to help me; for in the hour of a man's greatest need You are of all friends the most true. And if, when trouble is laid upon me, You should see fit to leave me for a while without consolation, give me then. I pray You, grace to bear even this patiently, and in trusting faith to commit all my burden into Your Hands ; to store up in the deepest recesses of my heart the thought of that time of desolation through which Your Beloved Son, in Whom You are well pleased, had to pass ; and to remember that in His extremity, when bereft of the help of all his friends, He was mindful of You, and of You alone.