The Seven Last Words

Preparatory Prayer:

"Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain." Psalm 47.

Setting:

I kneel for my prayer today upon holy ground, upon Calvary, the soil of which is soaked with Blood, with precious Blood, the Blood of Christ. He is lying on His deathbed, the hard bed of the Cross, a crown of thorns for His pillow; and it is my privilege to be with Him, quite close, in His last hour. His friends arc here too, Mary, His Mother, and John, the disciple whom He loved, and the penitent Magdalene, out of whom He cast seven devils. Long since has Magdalene become the inseparable companion of the Immaculate Mary; they are together here too, in the hour of Christ's disgrace and failure before the world. His executioners are seated a small distance away, casting dice for His garment. Occasionally one of them comes forward and jeers the poor dying Man, defying Him to come down. Two thieves hang on crosses, one on His right and one on His left, "and Jesus in the midst."

Fruit:

To penetrate the significance of His Seven Words, spoken for me on the Cross.

Love cannot be forced; the heart must be won. Because we are endowed with free will we can resist the appeal of love even when the Lover is Jesus Christ. The soul has the fearful power of being able to erect walls that will act like a dam to check the streams of divine grace. Even the divine Lover (perhaps we should rather say, the divine Lover especially) will never try to force the soul to break down those walls. If the soul will surrender, of its own choice, then indeed will the waters rush in, purifying and irrigating and fructifying.

There are many souls who never capitulate. In the blind infatuation of their sin, they resist all efforts of the divine Lover to win them; they refuse even on the very point of death to listen and repent. They are here on Calvary. The thief on Our Lord's left hand side is of this type. In his death agony he continued to blaspheme, and, as far as can be judged, died unrepentant. Neither was there the slightest vestige of repentance in the soldiers who crucified Jesus. On the contrary, they continue to heap scorn upon Him, they jeer Him in His anguish, they make merry over His prophecies. Egged on by Pharisees and chief priestswhose hearts are made of flint the soldiers devise new ways and means of showing their contempt for the Prisoner.

A pagan writer tells us that sometimes the torments of crucified men became so intense that they broke out into the most fearful language; sometimes, in order to stop this, the command would be given to tear the tongue out. Imagine those men standing around the Cross, wondering how He will curse, how He will blaspheme, as the strain and the agony become no longer endurable. His curse, when it does come, is a petition for a blessing; His blasphemy is a prayer to His Father to forgive them. He tries to find an excuse even for them: "They know not what they do."

His first three words refer to three different types of souls. Those in greatest need He puts in the first place, showing the anxiety He feels for those who are hardening in sin and by their evil example lessening in others the appreciation of its malice.

My God, how long a time I remained obdurate in sin! Can I say that even now I am sincerely penitent, or must I still be classed with those on Calvary who reject and resist? Miserere, Domine.