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blood freezes at the sound of those hammers. Let my soul be convulsed with pain as is your body; let my tears flow as freely as does your blood. Oh, look at Him now, hoisted on His cross between earth and heaven — incarnate modesty exposed naked to the sight and vile scoffs and jests of a libidinous throng; swayed unsteadily to and fro as they move the foot of the cross to the pit prepared for it; torn with all anguish as, with a rude jerk, they drop it in. The shock were enough to tear His soul from His body, but still it could not draw a word of complaint from His lips. The crucified thieves fill the air with their cries and one calls loudly on the Christ to use now His boasted power and blast their executioners and save all three. But lo! the thorn-crowned head is raised, and the eyes glance heavenward, and in a trembling voice He cries: " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He taught mankind: " Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that persecute you;" and here He proves He well knows how to practice what He preached. They have hung Him as a criminal, they have put an insulting inscription over His head, they have robbed- Him of His last and only possessions,, His garments — and after all He prays for them: " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Ah, no wonder one thief forgot his torture to admire this sublime charity; no wonder he believed in Our Lord's divinity and received then and there the promise of the reward of faith: "This day thou shalt be with Me in para-