Page:ThePathToHeaven.djvu/483

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

into a basin, and on bended knees didst humbly wash the feet of thy disciples, and wipe them with thy own hands.

3. O good and gracious Jesus! who, when the time of thy death approached, didst bequeath a most excellent legacy to thy children, leaving us thy most sacred body to be our meat, and thy most precious blood to be our drink: no wit can teach, nor understanding penetrate the bottomless depth of this thy charity.

4. O good and gracious Jesus! who, having entered into the garden of Olives, beganst to fear and to be heavy; whereupon thou saidst to thy disciples, My soul is sorrowful, even unto death; and then leaving them, kneeledst upon, the ground, and falling flat on thy face, prayedst to thy Father, If it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. And yet with perfect submission, wholly resignedst thyself to him, saying, Father, not my will, but thine be done: and at length, through most painful agony, thy afflicted and fainting body sweated drops of blood.

5. O good and gracious Jesus! who, inflamed with an ineffable desire to redeem me, didst go to meet thine enemies, and sufferedst Judas the traitor to kiss thee, and thyself to be taken and bound with cords, and as a malefactor disgracefully led by the basest of the people to Annas, where with admirable meekness thou receivedst a cruel stroke on thy face, most unjustly given thee by a vile wretch and slave.

6. O good and gracious Jesus! who wast led fast bound like a notorious malefactor from Annas to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, where the Jews most unjustly accused thee, and with barbarous insolence spat upon thy meek and amiable face, buffeting thy cheeks and blindfolding thine eyes, scornfully mocking, and maliciously affronting thee with injuries all that night.

7. O good and gracious Jesus! who in the morning wast brought to the presence of Pilate, and with a most sweet and humble countenance, pasting thine eyes down, stoodst before him in the judgment-day; and when thou wast most falsely calumniated by the Jews, and many insults and provocations were given thee, thou meekly