Oh adorable Face, raised by the instrument of the most shameful punishment, have pity on us.

Behold, thou art now arrived at the summit of Calvary, oh Jesus; thou art stretching thyself courageously upon the tree of the Cross. Thy feet and thy hands become as so many sources whence grace is about to flow on the world. All at once the executioners seize the cross, they raise it on high. Friends of Reparation, let us attach ourselves specially to the contemplation of the sufferings of the Holy Face.

1st POINT. — SUFFERINGS OF THE HOLY FACE UPON THE CROSS.

Thy divine head, oh my Savior, wears the mock crown which thy executioners wove in order to symbolize thy real royalty. Fastened upon a bed of suffering, thou didst not know where to repose thy head without augmenting thy cruel sufferings. Thine eyes are filled with tears of blood.

Thou weepest, oh Jesus, thou weepest over our sins, the sight of which, like a fearful cloud, obscures the incomparable beauty of thy august Face. Thy ears are tom by the blasphemies of the people. “Let Christ the King of Israel come down now from the Cross, that we may see, and believe(1).”

Thy lips are burning, thy heart thirsts to make expiation for the salvation of souls, and thou criest out— Sitio! And immediately they bring gall mixed with vinegar to quench the thirst of thy divine mouth. Not one of thy senses but was steeped in tortures and opprobrium, and we can in very truth repeat with thy pious servant Marie de Saint-Pierre “Oh adorable Face, who art become like to that of a leper, have pity on us. Impress upon my heart thy sacred wounds, that I may read therein thy sufferings and thy love; thy sufferings, in order to suffer pain for thee; thy love, in order to despise for thy sake all other love.”

2nd POINT.— LESSON TO BE DRAWN FROM THE SUFFERINGS OF THE HOLY FACE.

We ought to love thee, oh my God, with a penitent love. It is often through our senses that the devil enters into our souls, it is by them that their reparation ought to he accomplished. At the sight of thy humiliated brow, crowned with thorns, who would not be ready to bow his proud head, beneath the trials which thou sendest for our salvation, under a voluntary penitence and humiliation. At the sight of thine ears torn by blasphemies, who would not hasten to close his own to flattery, to licentious conversation, to backbiting, to calumnies, to criticizing his neighbor? At the sight of thy eyes, dimmed with blood, who would not consent to shut his eyes to the vanities of this world, in order to fix them solely upon thy divine Face, disfigured by suffering? Lastly, at the sight of all thy senses crushed by suffering, who would not renounce sin and energetically shun every occasion of it?

Oh amiable Face of my Jesus, I adore and I love thee. I detest my pride, which has crowned thee with thorns; my sensuality, which has torn thee by the hands of thy executioners; my love of independence which, during three hours, kept thee attached to the Cross. Give me courage to follow thee faithfully along the path of expiation, attract me more and more towards thee, so that I may not cease to contemplate thee, to love thee, to resemble thee by the practice of every virtue.

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET

A planta pedis usque ad verticem capitis, non est in eo sanitas.

From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein. (Isaac, i, 6.)

CONVERSION OF A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER IN CONSEQUENCE OF A CURE PERFORMED AT M. DUPONT’S HOUSE.

A venerable dean of the diocese of Tours related the following incident, which testifies at one and the same time to the cure of a sick person, and the conversion of a soul. “One day, about 1856, he says, a foreign traveler of distinguished manners and appearance, whom I did not know, called upon me. ‘Monsieur le Cure,’ he said on approaching me, ‘are you acquainted with M. Dupont?’ — ‘Yes, certainly.’ — ‘He has converted me, and I am come to beg you to confess me.’ He then told me what had happened. Passing through Tours, in a street which was in the vicinity of the railroad, he saw a number of people hastening to enter a house. He made enquiry as to what it was which attracted them thither. ‘It is’, he was told, ‘because a gentleman lives there who works miracles.’ On hearing these words, he felt himself impelled to enter with them that he might satisfy his curiosity. It was the house of M. Dupont. On seeing him, the servant of God bows courteously to him. ‘What is the motive, Sir, which gives me the opportunity of seeing you?’ The traveler ingenuously states what had taken place and what he had just been told. ‘Yes, Sir,’ answers M. Dupont, ‘miracles have taken place here by the grace of God, and they occur, moreover, every day. Seeing the obvious astonishment of the visitor, he added’— ‘It is no difficult, Sir, for a Christian to obtain them, it suffices to ask for them, and if you wish, you shall have a proof of it. Here is a woman almost totally blind; we are all going to pray for her and I hope that she is about to have her sight restored.’

“I knelt down, continued the traveler with all the persons who were present, and I began to pray, although for the last ten years I had not performed an act of religion. The eyes of the almost sightless woman were anointed. A first she declared she could not read a single word in a book which was presented to her; soon, however, or being again anointed several times with the oil of the Holy Face, she began to see and distinguish the persons who surrounded her, and at last recovered her power of seeing; then she began to read in a book which was presented to her.” Touched with what he had seen and especially struck by M. Dupont’s words, the stranger felt that he could no longer rest in the position in which he was with regard to his conscience and to God. Betaking himself to a priest whom he did not know, he asked him to confess him. “And in fact, added the Dean of Ligueil, he confessed himself with the greatest signs of sincerity and repentance. It was the starting point for him of a complete and lasting conversion; at least, I know that during many years he continued to make his Easter Communion.”

INVOCATION.

Oh Lord Jesus, who didst receive on the way to Calvary the aid of the Cyrenean, permit me to unite myself to this pious man, to follow thee along the way of sorrow, in order to bear thy Cross with thee. Grant, oh Lord Jesus, that I may not be separated from thee in suffering, in order that I may not be separated from thee in thy glory.

(1) Christus rex Israel descendat nunc de cruce. (Marc. XV, 32.)