"He is so large that he cannot be carried, and so small that he cannot walk alone."
Look at Him afterwards in the shop at Nazareth, growing towards mannood, how busily He toils and labors in helping Joseph at his trade of carpenter! Who can ever attentively consider Jesus, that beautiful youth, fatiguing and exhausting Himself to bring into form some rough-hewn piece of wood, and not exclaim: But, most sweet Youth, art Thou not that God, Who by a mere nod didst create the world out of nothing? And how comes it that Thou hast labored now for a whole day, and bathed in sweat, to fashion this piece of wood; and even still Thy work remains unfinished? Who has reduced Thee to such a state of weakness? O holy faith! O Divine love! O God! O God! how such a thought as this, if once well penetrated, would suffice, not only to inflame us, but to reduce us, so to speak, into ashes with the fire of love! Has a God, then, come to such a pass as this? and wherefore? To make Himself loved by men!
Observe Him, again, at the close of His life bound with cords in the garden, from which He cannot loose Himself; tied in the praetorium to a pillar to undergo the scourging; see Him with the Cross on His shoulders, but too feeble to carry it, and therefore He frequently falls upon the road; see Him fixed to the Cross with nails, from which He can find no escape; behold Him, finally, how, for very exhaustion and weakness, He is already in His agony, draws near His end, and expires.
II.
And for what reason did Jesus Christ become so weak? He made Himself weak, as we said above, that so He might communicate His strength to us, and by this
