Lignum vitae

Jesus, the solicitous shepherd.

13. How great was the care of his solicitude for the lost sheep, and how great the mercy, of the most loving shepherd, the good shepherd himself shows by the tender figure of the shepherd and the hundredth sheep that was lost and sought with much care and at last found and carried home on his shoulders with joy, and declares openly in express words when he says: "The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep"; and in him is that prophecy truly and perfectly fulfilled: "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd." For on this account he endured labors, anxieties, and want of food, and amid the snares of the Pharisees and many dangers went about the cities and towns preaching the kingdom of God, spent wakeful nights in prayer, and, fearing neither the murmuring nor the scandal of the Pharisees, showed himself affable to publicans, declaring that he had come into the world for those who are ill. To penitents also he extended a father's affection, showing openly to them the bosom of divine mercy. As witnesses of this I invoke and bring forward Matthew, Zacchaeus, and that sinful woman prostrate at his feet, and the woman taken in adultery. Follow, then, this most loving shepherd perfectly after the manner of Matthew, receive him as a guest after the manner of Zacchaeus, anoint him after the manner of the sinful woman and wash his feet with tears, wipe them with your hair and soothe them with kisses, so that at last, with that woman set before his judgment, you may deserve to hear the sentence of absolution: "Hath no man condemned thee? Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more."

Jesus, watered with weeping.

14. For to unlock the sweetness of the highest love, the fountain of all mercy, the good Jesus, wept for us wretches not only once but many times. For first over Lazarus, then over the city, and at last on the cross, streams of tears flowed from those most loving eyes for the expiation of the sins of all; and the Saviour wept abundantly, now bewailing the misery of human weakness, now the darkness of the blind heart, now the depravity of hardened malice. O hard, mad, and impious heart, to be lamented as though bereft of true life, why, like a madman, do you rejoice and laugh amid such miseries while the Wisdom of the Father weeps over you? Behold your weeping physician and make for yourself the mourning of an only son, a bitter lamentation; let tears run down as a torrent day and night; give yourself no rest, and let not the apple of your eye cease.

Jesus, acknowledged as king of the world.

15. After Lazarus was raised and the alabaster box of ointment poured out upon the head of Jesus, when the fragrance of his fame was now spread abroad among the people, he himself, foreknowing that the crowd would come out to meet him, mounted a little ass, so that amid the applause of the thronging peoples, cutting branches and spreading garments in the way, he might furnish a wondrous example of humility. Nor was he forgetful of his mercy, for while the crowds uttered their song of praise, he himself took up a lament over the destruction of the city. Arise now, handmaid of the Saviour, that as one of the daughters of Jerusalem you may behold King Solomon in the honor which his mother the Synagogue reverently showed him as a figure of the nascent Church, so that with branches of olive and of palm, as it were, that is with works of love and triumphs of the virtues, you may continually accompany the Lord of heaven and earth riding upon the colt of an ass.

Jesus, the consecrated bread.

16. Among all the memorials of Christ, it is agreed that the last banquet of the most sacred supper is worthy of the chief remembrance, in which not only the paschal lamb is set forth to be eaten, but also the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world is given for food under the appearance of bread having all delight and the sweetness of every taste. In this banquet the sweet goodness of Christ shone forth wondrously, when with those poor little disciples and with Judas the traitor he supped at the same table and from the same dish. A wondrous example of humility shone forth when the King of glory, girded with a towel, most diligently washed the feet of fishermen and even of his own betrayer. A wondrous bounty of generosity appeared when to those first priests, and consequently to the whole Church and the whole world, he gave his most sacred body and his true blood for food and drink, so that what was soon to be a sacrifice pleasing to God and the priceless price of our redemption might be our viaticum and sustenance. A wondrous excess of love shone forth at last when, loving his own unto the end, he strengthened them in good with so sweet an exhortation, warning Peter in particular toward strength of faith and offering to John his breast for a sweet and sacred resting place. O how wondrous are all these things, filled with sweetness only for that soul which, called to so renowned a banquet, runs with the whole ardor of its mind, so that it may utter that prophecy: "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after thee, O God."