Oh adorable Face, whose brow was crowned with thorns, have pity on us.

Transport thyself, my soul, to the place of suffering where thy God is about to drink to its dregs the chalice of opprobrium. His Holy Face will not he spared; it is above all against it that his enemies will he most infuriated, and that they will do their utmost to disfigure and tarnish this mirror of the incarnate divinity. But, before contemplating so frightful a spectacle, enter into thyself, be recollected and silent, and filled with a sweet compunction. May the Holy Spirit inspire thee and direct thee in this pious meditation.

1st POINT. — OPPROBRIUM INFLICTED ON THE HOLY FACE.

The high Priests have withdrawn and have abandoned the innocent Jesus into the hands of soldiers and menials. These cruel men are about to inflict injuries on every part of his body. His sacred Face will become unrecognizable through the ignominies and blows inflicted upon it. Already one of them has dared to raise his hand against the author of nature, and to bruise his divine cheek with an infamous blow. And this is only the prelude of what the Man God will have to endure from this impious and sacrilegious race. He has called himself God, ant the Son of God, and by this title he is about to be made the object of their brutality. His eyes are at first veiled with an old worn out piece of stuff; his Face is spit upon, blasphemies wound his sacred ears; and wretches approach him and give him hard blows. Cuffs from the horny hands of menials, and blows from fists armed with the iron gauntlets of soldiers, rain upon his cheeks and make his lips bleed, whilst shouts of bitter irony are raised— “Prophesy unto us, oh Christ, who is it that struck thee(1).”

But this was not all: at Pilate’s house, in the presence of a cohort of soldiers, Jesus will be clothed with a purple cloak by way of a royal mantle; a reed will be placed in his hand, a crown of thorns will be woven and put on his brow; it will be thrust down upon it with heavy blows, and the Face of Jesus will become utterly unrecognizable. What a horrible vision thy prophet had, oh my God, when he exclaimed— “We have seen him, and there was no beauty that we should be desirous of him; despised and the most abject of men, struck by God and afflicted, wounded for our iniquities and by whose blood we are saved.” Pause, my soul, contemplate this lamentable spectacle, and ask thyself what can have been the cause of these sufferings inflicted upon the Holy Face.

2nd POINT. — SILENCE AND SERENITY OF JESUS.

On the first day of the Creation, it only needed one word from the Lord to make the world issue out of nothing, an act of the will of Jesus would suffice to make it return to chaos. Are your lips about to open, oh my Savior, that they may pronounce the anathema which will at least hurl your enemies, whilst still living, into hell? One look, one word spoken in the garden of Olives sufficed to cast them down to the ground. But no! the time of justice has not arrived; it is the season of expiation and of sacrifice. Jesus is silent. He gives himself entirely up to the mercy of his executioners. As a lamb before the shearer, he does not open his mouth to complain. His Holy Face is not troubled, it preserves its serenity when Pilate, crowning the measure of his iniquities, pronounces the terrible sentence in the name of all present.

Have I any right to revolt against the injustice of men, to allow my face to be covered with the flush of indignation, and to permit bitter words to escape from my lips when my God is silent in the presence of those who outrage him? Oh divine Face! I unite myself to your humiliations and your sufferings. I desire to share them, to make reparation for them by my gentleness, my patience, my Christian forbearance. I bow my head, I close my eyes, and I accept blows through love and through imitation. Sweet and humble Jesus, have pity on me, help me. Henceforth I renounce, in order to please thee, all pretensions to pride, to self love, to all movements of vanity.

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET

Tanquam agnus coram tondente se obmutescet.

He shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer. (Isaiah, liii, 7.)

CURE OF GENERAL DE LANGAVANT.

The cure of General Cléret de Langavant, as related by his son, a scholastic of the Society of Jesus, before the tribunal instituted for the cause of the canonization of M. Dupont, is accompanied by really extraordinary circumstances.

M. Cléret de Langavant, connected by marriage with M. Dupont, was second officer in command on board the vessel Iena stationed at the port of Toulon. He was seriously wounded during a maneuver. The inflammation which set in occasioned a gangrenous phlegmon on the knee. A disposition to dysentery gave reason to fear that gangrene had already reached the intestines. A burning fever, added to these symptoms, rendered amputation impossible. However, the doctors affirmed that it was the only chance of saving the patient’s life. It was therefore decided that the operation should be attempted. A telegram was sent to Mme. Cléret, who was at Brest, and who, it was feared, would not be able to arrive in time to receive her husband’s last sigh.

When she reached Tours, as she had three hours to wait there, she bethought herself of her relative Louis Dupont, and determined to pay him a visit that she might pray with him. After having recited together the Litanies of the Holy Face, the servant of God said to her— “It is possible that your husband may get better from to-day, I will make a note of it. As soon as you arrive at Toulon, you will write to me. To-morrow evening, at the nocturnal adoration, we will pray for him, and the general communion, which takes place at four o’clock and which terminates the adoration, shall be made for his intention.” This was on a Tuesday, at two o’clock in the afternoon Mme. Cléret, as soon as she reached Toulon, saw a naval officer approaching her, and as soon as he came near to her, he said— “Madam, your husband is much better.” She then learnt that on the Tuesday afternoon, immediately after the recitation of the Litanies at M. Dupont’s house, the surgeon who was on duty thought that he perceived a change in the wound, and next morning, at the official visit, the doctor in chief, having taken of the dressings, exclaimed— “Not only is his life saved, but his leg also.” The gangrene had disappeared almost of itself, and another doctor declared the fact to be miraculous.

This cure was, it is said, the cause of many conversions. General Cléret de Langavant bore the scars of his wound, but he was able to continue his career, and his son states that up to the day of his death, he was able to take long walks. Mme. de Langavant is not afraid of affirming that she attributes this cure to the holiness and the prayers of M. Dupont.

INVOCATION.

Oh Savior Jesus, who didst will to cure the body, in order to cure the wounds of the soul, cast on us a glance of thy divine Face, and grant to our persevering prayers, offered with faith and fervor, the spiritual and temporal graces which we ask of thy mercy.

(1) Tunc expuerunt in faciem ejus, et colaphis eum ceciderunt; alii autem palmas in faciem ejus dederunt, dicentes: Prophetiza nobis, Christe, quis est qui te percussit. (Matth. xxviii, 67.)