compared to that enjoyed by thy true spouses, who think but of thee, who act, suffer, and breathe but for thee alone; whose hearts are centred in thee. Amen.
Jesus Christ as our Physician.
REFLECTION.
"HAVE mercy on me, G Lord, for I am weak.” (Ps. vi. 3. ) “ They that are whole, need not a physician: hut they that are sick ” Nor didst thou come “to call the just, but sinners, to repentance ( Luke v. 31, 32.) Alas! my soul is sick indeed, my heart is ill at ease. I am full of inordinate desires and unruly passions. I am all impatience, sensuality, immortification, and inconstancy. Thou, O Jesus, art my physician, thou alone canst heal me. Take compassion on me then, for all my hope is in thee. What a subject of comfort and confidence have I not, since my physician is almighty, having all creatures at his command; all-merciful, his love inducing him to what is best; all-wise, knowing my wounds, and the means of curing them. But what is the remedy he prescribes? No unsavoury drugs, but the most sweet and wholesome food, the bread of angels, even his own most precious body and blood. O love unheard of! O remedy beyond conception! and all this for a slave, a worm, a nothing! nay, even an enemy! What return, my soul, canst thou make for so ineffable a bounty? O excess of goodness! Thy physician is himself thy remedy, thy regimen, and thy life. O prodigy of love ! He is bleeding from his hands and feet, he is wounded with thorns in the head, he is pierced in the side with a lance; he is drenched with vinegar and gall; in the end he dies on the cross; and why all this? “He was
