Let us take the devotion to the cross of Jesus Christ, to his wounds, to his name, which the church has made so many festivals. What is the object of the feast of the cross? It is two-fold: there is a material object, which is the cross itself, and there is a spiritual object, namely, Jesus Christ crucified, and consummating on the cross the sacrifice of our redemption. The spiritual object communicates to the cross its dignity, and by its union renders it worthy of the great honours which are solemnly paid to it by the church. But the festival does not take its name from this spiritual object, but from the material, and it is called the feast of the cross. In like manner the devotion to the wounds of Jesus Christ, has two objects indivisibly united! the wounds themselves, which are a sensible object, and the sufferings of Jesus Christ, caused by those wounds, and the mystery of love therein contained, which form a spiritual object. The devotion takes its name from the wounds, the sensible object; but it is the spiritual object, or the mystery of the sufferings and love of
