It was surrounded by the thick wreath of thorns even to the tender
brain. Whence in the Prophet,--the people hath surrounded me with
the thorns of sin. And why was this, save that thine own head might
not suffer--thine own conscience might not be wounded? His eyes
grew dark in death; and those lights, which give light to the world,
were for a time extinguished. And when they were clouded, there was
darkness over all the earth, and with them the two great lights of
the firmament were moved, to the end that thine eyes might be turned
away, lest they should behold vanity; or, if they chance to behold
it, might for his sake condemn it. Those ears, which in heaven
unceasingly hear "Holy, Holy, Holy," vouchsafed on earth to be
filled with: "Thou hast a devil,--Crucify him, Crucify him!" to
the intent that thine ears might not be deaf to the cry of the poor,
nor, open to idle tales, should readily receive the poison of
detraction or of adulation. That fair face of him that was fairer
than the children of men, yea, than thousands of angels, was
bedaubed with spitting, afflicted with blows, given up to mockery,
to the end that thy face might be enlightened, and, being
enlightened, might be strengthened, so that it might be said of
thee, "His countenance is no more changed." That mouth, which
teaches angels and instructs men "which spake and it was done," was
fed with gall and vinegar, that thy mouth might speak the truth, and
might be opened to the praise of the Lord; and it was silent, lest
thou shouldst lightly lend thy tongue to the expression of anger.
Those hands, which stretched abroad the heavens, were stretched out
on the cross and pierced with most bitter nails; as saith Isaiah, "I
have stretched forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people."
And David, "They pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my
bones." And Saint Jerome says, "We may, in the stretching forth of
his hands, understand the liberality of the giver, who denieth
nothing to them that ask lovingly; who restored health to the leper
that requested it of him; enlightened him that was blind from his
birth; fed the hungry multitude in the wilderness." And again he
says, "The stretched-out hands denote the kindness of the parent,
who desires to receive his children to his breast." And thus let thy
hands be so stretched out to the poor that thou mayest be able to
say, "My soul is always in my hand." For that which is held in the
hand is not easily forgotten. So he may be said to call his soul to
memory, who carries it, as it were, in his hands through the good
opinion that men conceive of it. His hands were fixed, that they may
instruct thee to hold back thy hands, with the nails of fear, from
unlawful or harmful works.
That glorious breast, in which are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, is pierced with the lance of a soldier, to the
end that thy heart might be cleansed from evil thoughts, and being
cleansed might be sanctified, and being sanctified might be
preserved. The feet, whose footstool the Prophets commanded to be
sanctified, were bitterly nailed to the cross, lest thy feet should
sustain evil, or be swift to shed blood; but, running in the way of
the Lord, stable in his path, and fixed in his road, might not turn
aside to the right hand nor to the left. "What could have been done
more?"
Why did Christ bow his head on the cross? To teach us that by
humility we must enter into Heaven. Also, to show that we must rest
from our own work. Also, that he might comply with the petition,
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth"; also that he might
ask permission of his bride to leave her. Of great virtue is the
memory of the Lord's passion, which, if it be firmly held in the
mind, every cloud of error and sin is dispersed. Whence the blessed
Bernard says: "Always having Christ, and him crucified, in the
heart."