Volume II, Treatise VII, Chapter IV

That Sorrow and Contrition for Our Sins, Is One of the Fruits We Ought to Reap from Meditating on the Sufferings of Our Saviour

THE second affection we ought to exercise ourselves in, and endeavour to excite in ourselves by meditating on the sufferings of Jesus Christ, is sorrow and contrition for our offences; and it should appear, that there is no fruit more easily to reap from it than this; because there is nothing better calculated, to shew us the enormity of sin, than this. The quality of the remedy necessary to be applied ought to give us an idea of the quality of the disease. ‘‘ Acknowledge, O man,” says St. Bernard, “how grievous your wounds were, for the cure of which it was necessary Jesus Christ should be wounded.” Neither the eternity of pains due to sin, nor any other thing whatsoever, can give us so clear a sight of the grievousness of sin, as to think that it was necessary that God should make himself man, and thereby make satisfaction for us to the divine justice, which could not be fully appeased any other way: because the offence being in some sort infinite, as being committed against God, who is infinite; and man not being capable, to make a due reparation, by reason of the infinite distance between God and him, it was altogether necessary that he who should make satisfaction, should be of infinite dignity; and equal to him who received the injury. Divines are wont to clear this point by an example. A clown, say they, gives a king a box on the ear, or a blow with a cudgel. It is certain, that what revenge soever the king should take, the satisfaction could no ways answer the injury; by reason of the great difference and distance, between the king and the clown: for what proportion is there between an affront given a king, and the punishment, though death itself were inflicted on the clown? What must there be required then, to make the king full satisfaction? Nothing less certainly than that he who has done the injury, should be raised to a dignity equal to the other, and so to submit himself to a proportionate satisfaction, and then the offence would be entirely repaired.

The same thing happens in our case. Man who is but dust and ashes, had offended the immortal King of glory. If God therefore _ should cause him to be put to death, the injury would not be repaired—for this requires, that man should become God, equal to him who is offended, and so repair the injury by his suffering. What remedy then, since there is no other God, than he who is offended? It is therefore in this, that the mercy of God was infinite,- who found out an admirable medium to pardon man without prejudicing his justice. For he being injured, and there being no other God that could make satisfaction for this offence, he of his own accord made himself man, in order that man who had offended God, should suffer and die, and at the same time it was God himself that suffered; that as the offence was in some sort infinite, so the sufferings and satisfaction should also become infinite by his person. Behold here what caused the necessity of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and what also clearly shews, the greatness and grievousness of sin. Wherefore St. John Damascen says very well, that if God for the punishment of sin, had eternally damned all the men that ever were, or ever should be, his justice would not have been so satisfied, as it was by the incarnation and death of the Son of God. And this is no hyperbole or exaggeration. It is the very truth; for all the torments of hell are not an equal payment, to the death of Jesus Christ; since, as God, he has sufficiently satisfied by his death the justice of God; whereas an eternity of pain can never entirely satisfy, for even one mortal sin.

Now this being so, I affirm, that one of the greatest fruits we can reap from the meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, is to deplore and detest our sins, which cost him so much. My sins, O Lord, were the cause of the crown of thorns that so cruelly pierced your head, and of the cruel whipping which tore your sacred body all over! they were my sins which put you into the miserable condition you were in. “It is I who have sinned, it is I who have done evil, I beseech thee, let thy hand be turned against me.” (2 Kings 24:17) “Take me and cast me into the sea; for I know this tempest is raised upon my account.” (Jonas 1:12)

It is I, Lord, who deserved this cross, it is I who merited these injuries and affronts, and all those calumnies and reproaches which you have suffered for me!

St. Bernard feigns an example to our purpose, in this manner. I was, says he, in a public place, diverting myself, and at the same time sentence of death was pronounced against me in the king’s closet, without my knowing any thing of it. The only son of the prince, hearing thereof, presently took his crown from his head, cast off his royal robes, came out barefoot, clothed in sackcloth; with his head covered with ashes, weeping and sighing; because they had condemned to death one of his servants. Beholding him on a sudden pass by in this condition, I remained surprised, and asked the cause thereof; they answered me, that he went to die to save my life. What then ought I to do, continues the saint; and what man is there so insensible and so brutal, as to continue his sport, and not quit all, at least to accompany the son of the prince, and mingle his tears with his? It is in this manner and for the like considerations, that we ought to endeavour in our prayer to weep for, and regret our sins, which have caused the death of the Son of God. Hence, what St. Ignatius, in the exercises of the passion, would have us beg of God, is, to have sorrow, indignation and confusion, that the Sovereign Master of all things, has suffered so much for our sins. Now what he marks for the subject of our petition, in the prelude of each exercise, is precisely the fruit he would have us reap from it.

This exercise is extremely recommended to us by the saints, and it is very good not to neglect it; for the practice is very profitable, not only for those that enter into the way of God, but for those who are already advanced in it. First, it is very proper to keep us in humility§ the sight of our sins accompanied with a regret for having committed them, being one of the most powerful motives that we can have, to live continually in a great confusion and in a great contempt of ourselves. He who reflects that he has deserved hell, for having offended his Lord and Creator; what affronts, what contempts, what injuries does he not suffer with a good will, to expiate those many offences committed by him against the infinite majesty of God? Secondly, this exercise gives us a great assurance of the pardon of our sins—it does so in the following manner. One of the things which ought most assure us of the pardon of our sins, is to have a great regret and sorrow for them; so that if we continually look upon them with sorrow and confusion, God will forget them, and regard them no more. For this reason, David being touched with sorrow for his, in order to make God forget them, and turn his eyes from them, said to him, “I know my iniquity, O Lord, and my sin is always before mine eyes.” (Psalms 1:5) St. Jerom makes a just remark upon the words of the same prophet; “turn thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.”’—(Pa. 1. 11.) “Tf,” says the holy doctor, “you put always your sins before your eyes, God will not put them before his.”—(Hier. in Ps, sup. cit.) In effect there is nothing that at the hour of death can give us a greater confidence and joy, than this; and therefore, it is very good to prepare ourselves beforehand after this manner. Moreover, this exercise’is not only a remedy for our past sins, but it is also a preservative against our relapsing into them, or committing others. For he who continually entertains himself in a very lively sorrow for having offended God, is far from offending him anew. It is also a very good remedy to comfort and assure those that are always in pain, to know whether they have consented or not toa | temptation, and to comfort such as are troubled with scruples. For when people often make acts of contrition with detestation of sin, and firmly resolve rather to die a thousand times than to commit a mortal one, they may assure themselves, they have not consented to those temptations they are in doubt of—it being very hard to imagine that without their knowledge, a consent to a thing of which they have so much horror, could escape them. Lastly, this exercise is an exercise of the love of God; because true contrition, proceeding from the love of him, is nothing else than a very sensible sorrow for having offended so good and amiable a master, and one worthy to be served; and the more we love God, the greater our sorrow will be, for having offended the Divine Majesty.

St. Clement, in a book of which he is esteemed the author, says, that as often as St: Peter thought of his having renounced Jesus Christ, he wept so bitterly that his tears even burned his face, and made furrows in his cheeks as they flowed. He says also that the remembrance of this caused him to rise every night at the first crow of the cock, to put himself in prayer; and that he slept not all the night after, observing this custom as long as he lived. We must endeavour to imitate the sorrow of this great saint; and doubtless one of the most profitable exercises, both in and out of prayer, is to make frequent acts of contrition, by detesting sin, and firmly purposing rather to die a thousand times, than to commit one mortal sin—begging also earnestly of God, rather to take us out of the world, than permit us ever to offend him. Permit not, O Lord, that any thing may ever be able to separate me from thee; for why should I live but to serve thee? I desire life only for this end. Therefore take me, O God, to thyself, before so great a misfortune should happen to me as to offend thee.

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project