DISCOURSE VII.
The Eternal Word from being Happy made Himself Afflicted.
Et erunt oculi tui videntes Praeceptorem tuum.
"And thy eyes shall see thy teacher."— Isa. xxx. 20.
St. John says, All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.[1] Behold the three sinful loves which held dominion over man after the sin of Adam, — the love of pleasures, the love of riches, the love of honors, which generate human pride. The divine Word, to teach us, by his example, the mortification of the senses, by which the love of pleasures is subdued, from being happy became afflicted; to teach us detachment from the goods of this earth, from rich he became poor; and, finally, to teach us humility, which overcomes the love of honors, from being exalted he became humble. We will speak on these three points during these three last days of the Novena; to-day let us speak of the first.
Our Redeemer came, then, to teach us the love of the mortification of the senses more by the example of his life than by the doctrines which he preached; and therefore, from happy, as he is and had always been from all eternity, he became afflicted. Let us see it, and let us ask light of Jesus and Mary.
I.
The Apostle, speaking of the divine beatitude, calls God the only one happy and powerful: The blessed and only mighty.[2] And with reason, because all the happiness which can be enjoyed by us his creatures is nothing
