Oh adorable Face, covered with the sorrowful shadows of death, have pity on us.

Yet a few moments, and the great sacrifice will be consummated, love satisfied, the ransom of humanity wholly paid to divine justice. Let us betake ourselves in spirit to Calvary, let us contemplate for the last time the livid bloody features of the Holy Face, let us listen to its last words, let us receive its last sigh.

1st POINT. — THE LAST WORDS OF THE HOLY FACE.

Seven words were spoken by Jesus upon the cross. Let us meditate upon them with sentiments of compunction, of gratitude, of contrition, and of love. “Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom,” said the good thief. And Jesus, turning towards him that same Face, the aspect of which had touched the new found sheep, answered— “Amen, I say to thee, this day, thou shalt be with me in paradise(1).” Then seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved, he addressed to them the words which we have already meditated upon— “Woman, behold thy son(2),” he said to Mary, and to St John— “Behold thy mother(3).” And from that moment John received Mary as his mother, and Mary looked upon John as her son. Then the end of the sorrowful drama approaching, nature herself associates her mourning with the mourning of the friends of Jesus.

Darkness covers the whole earth. The sun is obscured. Jesus sees that all will soon be consummated, and vet he still thirsts after suffering and the salvation of souls. Sitio¹, “I thirst,” he cries out. For three hours darkness has enshrouded Calvary and the city in a mysterious obscurity, when suddenly a fresh cry breaks forth and awakens the echoes of Calvary— “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me²?”

They have meanwhile given him to drink, and when his lips were saturated with bitterness, he sees that nothing can now he added to his sufferings. Consummatum est(4), “All is consummated,” and uttering a last cry which tears as under the veil of the temple of Jerusalem, rends the rock of Calvary, makes the earth tremble and the dead to rise from their graves, “Father,” he says, “into thy hands I commend my spirit(5).” And he expires. The lips of the adorable Face of Jesus close, his eyelids droop, his head is bowed down; all is consummated.

Contemplate, oh my soul, the Face of the Savior, covered with the sad shades of death; adore and comprehend this mystery of pardon and salvation.

2nd POINT. — LESSON TO BE DRAWN FROM THE SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” Who would dare to believe it, oh Jesus, if thy mouth had not affirmed it? What goodness and what exceeding mercy! To pardon those who have attached thee to the cross, to pardon a thief, and for the sake of a moment’s repentance, to remit a whole life of crimes and of guilt! What was it that obtained for him so great a grace? a glance of thy Face, and on his part a sigh of grief and regret! Mary is henceforth my mother, it is Jesus who gives her to me from the summit of the cross. What can deprive me of her tender love? One thing, only, oh my God, sin, which I will flee by imitating the innocence of the beloved disciple, my model and my brother.— Thou didst thirst! what does that mean, oh Jesus? Thirst for suffering, thirst for souls. And I, thy child, I fear suffering, I am indifferent to the loss of souls which cast themselves into hell like leaves which the wind of autumn detaches from the trees and rolls into the abyss. Oh my God, may my lips thirst for expiation; may my heart thirst for the salvation of sinners. “Why hast thou forsaken me?” thou saidst to thy Father. I also have often repeated these words, but with feelings very different from thine, with discouragement and hopelessness, when thou hast seemed to withdraw thyself for a moment. And yet thou wert very near me, and at the hour marked out by thy Providence, thou didst suddenly appear. Thou didst command the sea, thou saidst one word, and there was a great calm. — Consummatum est. Oh my Savior, after having meditated upon thy Passion, may all be consummated for me as regards sin and the world, may I have but one desire, after a life of penitence, namely that of commending like thee, without regret and without weakness, my soul into the hands of thy Father, repeating the while those words of Holy Writ— “Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like unto them(6).”

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET

Et haec dicens, expiravit.

And saying this, he gave up the ghost. (Luke, xxiii, 46.)

CURE OF FRANCES CHEVALIER STATEMENT ADDRESSED TO THE BISHOP OF BLOIS BY M. L’ABBÉ GRANDJEAN.

“Frances Chevalier, aged twenty-two years, employed in the work-room of St Nicolas, felt during the Autumn of 1858 that her sight was becoming weak. At the commencement of December the affection continued to increase, and she consulted a doctor whose prescriptions she followed faithfully.

“In spite of all the care lavished on Frances Chevalier, her sight continued to diminish day by day.

On the 2nd January 1859. she lost her eyesight completely during about half an hour. The doctor, having been consulted, declared after a careful examination that it was an attack of congestive amaurosis, an affection which he had feared and expected beforehand. Except on the 4th and 5th of January, the attacks became more and more serious and frequent, spite of the energetic treatment prescribed by the doctor, which led him to tell me several times that the sight of the young person was entirely compromised, and that he feared that she would very soon become absolutely and hopelessly blind. In the interval of her attacks, her sight was so enfeebled, that she could hardly distinguish the objects that were nearest to her.

“On the 10th January, at eight o’clock in the morning, Frances Chevalier lost her sight completely: the strongest light did not produce the slightest effect upon her eyes. Spite of the most careful nursing and the most active treatment, the deplorable state of utter blindness continued, and on the 13th January, after a minute examination, the doctor declared that he considered her sight as definitely lost, that she would be blind during her whole life and that medical treatment could do nothing for her. Then, seeing that all human hope was at an end, I resolved to ask God for the cure of our poor blind girl. After having prayed, I anointed both her eyes with the oil which burns before the Holy Face in the house of Dupont, making with it the sign of the cross upon them. I had hardly finished the last unction, when Frances Chevalier uttered a loud cry, saying that she was cured and that she could see perfectly. In fact, the cure was so complete, that spite of the state of absolute blindness which had lasted for four days, Frances Chevalier was able to bear the strongest light without feeling any pain and without her eyes being tired.

“On Friday, the 14th, in the morning, the doctor having come to see her, astonished and delighted at a change so sudden and unexpected, declared, after a serious examination, that the cure was complete and could not be attributed to his remedies.

“The fact, Monseigneur, that I have now related to your Grace is confirmed by the declaration of the doctor, and by the signature of the young person: it could furthermore be testified to by several of the mistresses of the workroom, who were present when the cure took place.”

INVOCATION.

Oh Savior Jesus, who hast said— Ask, and you shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened to you, grant us health of body, and grant us the more precious health of our souls, that we may serve thee with our whole heart, and that our one desire may be to obey thee by the practice of thy divine commandments and of thy holy inspirations.

(1) Amen dico tibi: Hodie mecum eris in paradiso. (Luc. xxxiii, 43.)

(2) Mulier, ecce filius tuus, (Joan. xix, 26.)

(3) Ecce mater tua. (Joan, xix, 27.)

(4) Luc. xxiii, 28.

(5) Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quid dereliquisti me? (Marc. xv, 34.)

(6) Moriatur anima mea morte justorum. (Num. xxiii, 10.)