streams of Thy Precious Blood might gush forth like those of a crimson river-all which Thou didst endure that Thou mightest purge us from the deep-rooted pollutions of our sins, and mightest cleanse our souls from every guilty stain by Thy own most Precious Blood.
Alas, alas, O Lord my God, how great was the fury of those most wicked Jews, what hearts of stone were those of the men who struck Thee, who shrank not from scourging Thee, the fairest of men, all sinless as Thou wert; but reared themselves like giants over Thee, and did their very worst against Thee!
O Thou Holy and Well-Beloved Son of my Lord, Thou Who art Innocence itself, what hadst Thou done to deserve such bitter pains? Nothing, nothing. Why then was all this? It is I — I a man lost and undone — who am the cause of all Thy misery and distress. Woe be to thee, thou mighty burden of my sins, to rid me of which it was needful that the Son of God should endure such torments!
Keep therefore ever in remembrance, O faithful soul, redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ, the Scourging of thy Lord; and, suffering so far as thou mayest with Him, give to Him in return the obedience of a heart filled with a lively sense of gratitude.
And thou, humble servant of God in religion, who livest under the strict rule of monastic life, fail not hither to turn the eye of thy mind in meditation. For if thou hast anything hard, anything contrary to the flesh, to endure; if only thou wilt meditate on the scourging of Jesus, it will be to thee light and easy to be borne. When, therefore, thou art reproved for thy faults, or art even
