Arthur Martin

“ For three hours has Jesus hung upon his transfixed hands: His blood has run streaming down His body and bedewing the ground; and, in the midst of excruciating sufferings, He has pardoned his murderers, promised the bliss of Paradise to the good thief, and committed His blessed Mother and beloved disciple to each others care. ”

“ Oh Thou, the most comely amongst the sons of men! behold, in the state to which Thy mangled body is reduced, an image of what my soul, formed to Thy resemblance, adorned with Thy especial graces, has been made by sin. ”

“ As Jesus proceeds along covered with the sweat of death, a woman, moved with compassion, makes her way through the crowd of soldiers, and wipes His face. In reward of her piety, the impression of His divine countenance is left upon the veil. ”

“ The multitudes have left the heights of Calvary, and none remain, save the beloved disciple and the holy women, who, at the foot of the cross, are striving to stem the grief of Christ's inconsolable Mother, when Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus unfasten the body of her divine Son, and deposit it in her arms. ”

“ The body of the dearly beloved Son is taken from his Mother and laid by the disciples in the tomb. The tomb is closed, and there, cold and motionless, lies the lifeless body, until the hour of its glorious resurrection comes. ”

“ Especially when the thought of bewailing their base ingratitude, and of animating themselves to embrace sufferings and death, if they could only propagate the knowledge and the love of Him in the hearts of men? The first Christians, also, even those who lived at a great distance from Jerusalem, were naturally impatient to contemplate spots where such mysteries had been accomplished, and to learn from eye witnesses every circumstance of their Lord's agony ”

“ Of the multitudes from Pontus, Cappadocia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the whole East, who flock here to edify us by their devotion. They all differ in language, but the piety of all of them is the same. Each nation forms a separate choir to resound the praises of God. ”

“ The Saint goes still further, and declares in a letter to Desiderus, that "a man thought himself only half a Christian until he had worshipped his Lord upon the soil which His divine feet had trod." Still, numberless as were the pilgrims who undertook annually the painful and oftentimes dangerous expedition to the Holy Land, there were nevertheless many thousands who sighed devoutly for the privileges which their circumstances did not allow them to enjoy. ”

“ They compel Simon of Cyrene to assist Him in carrying his cross: but the virtue of the cross changes his heart, and from a compulsory task it becomes a delightful occupation.
Oh Jesus! may the place of that stranger be mine. I will never refuse Thy cross. What part so ever of thy sufferings Thou dost destine for me, I accept with confidence, submission, and love. Especially do I resign myself to death and its agonies. I desire to die for Thee, who didst die for me.
The Act of Contrition. Page 17.
THE SIXTH STATION.
A pious woman wipes with a veil the face of Jesus. ”