And if God spared not His beloved Son defiled by the sins of others, will He spare us laden with our own? If the fire of God's vengeance so fiercely devoured Christ, the green wood, will not we, the dry wood, be utterly consumed? If Christ's Passion be the measure of God's hatred of sin, who shall deny that hell exists and is eternal? But here we must acknowledge, too, Christ's boundless goodness for that He saved us from a fearful doom, for by sacrifice of self He restored the earthly paradise and reopened heaven. Wherefore it is that every tongue should confess the Lord Jesus, and every Christian imitate His virtues. While adoring the dead cross of Christ, let us not forget our duty regarding the living crosses of our lives. In sinning our guilt was more than that of merely having looked on sin, and our expiation calls for more than merely looking on Christ crucified. Like St. Paul, we ought to be fixed to the cross with Christ, we ought to live, not we, but Christ in us. We ought, like St. Francis, to bear in our bodies the stigmata, or, like St. Clare, have the cross imprinted on our hearts. Mary and John were dearest of all to Christ because nearest to His cross, and we, if we imitate them, shall be by Him exalted unto the glory of God His Father.
