Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 13. Denudatio, alligatio ad columnam et flagellatio Domini lesu.

Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 13. Denudatio, alligatio ad columnam et flagellatio Domini lesu.

I bless you and give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, most gracious protector of all who hope in you, for your shameful stripping before the sight of your mockers, when you were commanded by the cruel order of the wicked governor to be stripped of your clothes by the soldiers of the praetorium and to be completely naked on the cross, bound with harsh ropes and fiercely beaten with sharp whips, and to be scourged like a malicious seducer and the worst transgressor of the law, to please the angry hearts of the priests seeking to devour your soul and to lead you down to the underworld with sorrow. I praise and honor you with humble gratitude, especially for your most severe binding to the hard column, so that you might free us from the chains of our sins and restore us to everlasting liberty. I praise and glorify you with a constant offering of thanks for your most terrible scourging, for each of the harsh blows and the sharp wounds of your most holy and tender body, while those brutal flagellators mercilessly struck your virgin flesh, deeply lacerated it, adding wound to wound, inflicting bruise upon bruise from every side, so that nothing uninjured would remain in you, but that countless streams of your precious blood would flow abundantly like crimson rivulets from each blow, to wash us clean from the long-standing stains of our sins and to cleanse our souls from every guilt with your precious blood. Alas, Lord God, what a fury from the most wicked Jews! How stone-like are the hearts of those men who struck you, the most beautiful of all men, without cause! They stood against you like giants, and they spared you in nothing. O holy child, chosen child of my Lord, what have you done to deserve such great bitterness? Absolutely nothing. So what? I am a lost man, the cause of all your sorrow and confusion. Woe to you, the weight of my sins, for which it was necessary for the Son of God to endure such bitter torments. Therefore, be mindful of the Lord's scourging, O devoted soul redeemed by Christ's red blood, and with a heartfelt compassion, repay Him with diligent gratitude. Come now, you devout servant of God, who lives under the strict order of the monks; direct your gaze frequently to this consideration. For if something difficult or contrary to the flesh comes your way, it must be endured; from the meditation on the scourged Jesus, it will surely become light and easy to bear. So when you're about to be corrected for your sins or to receive discipline for your excesses, quickly recall the innocent Jesus, stripped and harshly beaten for you, and prepare your mind for this and for the spontaneous discipline in remembrance of the Lord's Passion and for the expiation of all your sins. Humbly bend your knees, take off your scapular, remove your garment, bow your neck, and submit your whole body to regular discipline, and devote yourself to the correction of your soul amid the blows of discipline; for I am ready for the scourges, and my pain is always before me. Wash me more and more, Lord, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Against you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; therefore, I justly deserve to receive discipline. It's better to willingly submit to temporary punishments now than to be subjected to eternal torments later. For those who now refuse to be whipped with Jesus will be excluded in the future as unworthy sons from the kingdom of Christ. O sweetest Jesus, who was fiercely whipped for me, a worthless sinner, grant that I may look upon each of your wounds with a troubled heart and fervently kiss them from within, whence I sense the fragrance of life and the medicine of eternal salvation flowing forth. Ignite in me the fire of your immense love, by which you have deemed me worthy to be loved, since you have patiently endured so many blows of the whip for your condemned servant. Grant me the help of your grace for my weakness, as the burden of tribulation comes upon me, so that I may not be crushed by violent distress or stirred up inappropriately, but remembering your unjust flagellation, may I be found gentle in all my troubles. Make me a participant in your suffering and in the scourging of your children, so that, humbly chastised, I may be more pleasing to you in this present time and may rejoice more gloriously with you in the future, where all the saints will rejoice in the everlasting palm of patience, with all fear of evil removed.