THE THIRTY-FIFTH CHAPTER.

A prayer to Jesus Crucified.

Jesus, Paradise of delights, Key of David, that shuttest and no man openeth, and openest and no man shutteth, stretch forth the arms of Thy divine mercy and grace, and take me, Thy wretched creature, that flieth to Thee in his trouble. Moaning and trembling like some poor sheep, when surrounded on all sides by many and savage wolves, I come to Thee, the Good Shepherd, who hast laid down Thy life for Thy sheep. Open to me Thy sacred Wounds, that I may lie hidden therein, and be concealed from the fiery darts of the enemy. Embrace me, even as a poor mother is wont to embrace her sick child, in the bowels and arms of Thy mercy, since Thou hast willed, out of pure love for me, to be 287so fearfully stretched upon the Cross, and so fastened thereto with nails, that all Thy bones were torn out of their joints, and so disturbed out of their proper seat and place, that they might all easily be numbered; and thus wert Thou fastened hand and foot to the Tree of Life with horrible pain, that Thou mightest blot out, by Thine own innocent Blood, the handwriting of the old debt, which our first parents had contracted by stretching forth their hands towards the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and that Thou mightest fasten sin to the Cross and utterly destroy it. Kill, also, within me, all the desires of the flesh, and whatever I have of self-will, or of pride, or of vicious leaning. Extinguish in me all vice, and whatever is displeasing to the eyes of Thy holiness, and stir up anew within me a good and firm spirit, and a desire of practising all virtues. Raise up all the powers of my soul by love, that I may love, praise, thank, and honour Thee, O God, my Maker and my Saviour, and that not even one of my members may cease to bless and magnify Thy holy Name. Re-make and repair me as Thy own instrument, which I myself have destroyed, and make me so subject to Thee, and obedient and pliant, that Thou mayest be able to work in me as freely and pleasantly as Thou hast ever worked 288in any creature. For since we have drawn into ourselves the vein of corruption from the root of the sin of our first parents, we have become prone to all wickedness. Nor can this poison of the old serpent and vicious propensity be cured, except by the divine mystery of the Holy Cross. But if, O Eternal Wisdom, human nature, when it was still in its first dignity, and abiding in itself, could not remain stable, but fell; how much less shall I, who am already corrupt and vicious, be able, by my own power, to lift myself above myself? I cannot, indeed, without Thy great mercy, be restored to my first innocence, but I shall be as one born out of due time, brought forth by his mother with continual pain, and all the labour and pain of the birth will be borne in vain.

O tender Jesus, if Thou hast so loved me when I was lost, as to redeem me by Thy Precious Blood, and to undergo for my sake a most shameful death; how much more now wilt Thou in nowise suffer me to perish, or all Thy labour and pain to be of no effect in me. O merciful God! behold, I desire to serve and obey Thee with my whole strength. But Thou, Who hast given me this good will and desire, must also grant me the effect of good works. For from Thee is all our good, and not only Thou givest to will and to 289work, but also Thou preparest the heart to desire to have this good will. For what have I of myself? What have I been able to draw from the inheritance of original sin, save all corruption and proneness to every evil? Wherefore, if there be ought else in me, this is Thy work, O Lord! and it cometh from Thee, the source of all good, Who art just and holy in all Thy works.