Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 22. De verbo ad latronem in cruce dicto.

Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 22. De verbo ad latronem in cruce dicto.

I bless you and give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, the highest and singular comfort of sinners, for your immense mercy and overflowing compassion, which you deemed worthy to show to the most wicked thief hanging at your right hand on the cross, but who has now turned back and, with all his heart, repented. Immediately, as he recognized his guilt and truly repented of the wrongs he had done, he received the promise of forgiveness for all his sins and the entrance into paradise through your faithful word. No repentance is truly effective or fruitful where there is not genuine contrition and complete conversion. O blessed and wholesome conversion and contrition for sins, by which anyone can quickly deserve to obtain the kingdom of heaven. This repentant thief and now blessed confessor, although he had sinned gravely and for a long time, still returned to his heart at the end and in his final need, and perfectly lamented all his offenses, humbly asking for forgiveness and obtaining a generous pardon. He recognized his own guilt, admitting that he was justly condemned to death. He had a zeal for justice, the one who rebuked his companion for the wickedness of blasphemy. He shows the feeling of compassion when he cries out to Christ, who is free from all harm and without sin, hanging on the cross. He had great faith, who did not despair of Christ's mercy, but asked to be remembered in the kingdom of God. Therefore, confidently overflowing with the gifts of virtue, he said to you, Lord Jesus, as to the true shepherd and most loving confessor of souls, who clearly knows the whole course of his life: "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." To whom you, O most gracious Jesus, responded with the sweetest and most comforting word: 'I.' Amen, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. O truly sweet and wonderfully lovely word that gently comes from the mouth of God, but resounds more sweetly in the hearts of sinners who are in the throes of death, comforting the anxious and fearful heart most powerfully in such an hour. Oh, how secure one can be in death, when such a promise has been given to them! For one will not fear on a bad day, whom the Lord Jesus has taken under His protection. This promise is given to the thief who confesses, which was denied to Peter when he pleaded. Peter wanted to stay on the mountain to contemplate, but he couldn't manage to do so. He wanted to follow me in everything even before the hour of my passion, but it was said to him: You can't follow me now; you'll follow me later. Peter was called to the apostleship first, but this thief was introduced first into the kingdom. O how wonderful are your works, Lord! Your thoughts are so deep. O how inscrutable are your judgments, Lord, and how unutterable are the words of your mouth. A foolish man doesn’t understand this, and a stupid person won’t grasp it. O how fortunate that thief was to find the hour when he deserved to suffer with you, to die with you, and to enter your kingdom! I can't find anything good he did in his life before this; but this much I know for sure: at the moment of his death, he cleansed all his past sins with a humble confession. Therefore, it was a great act of mercy that such a notorious criminal was granted forgiveness so quickly, just as he poured out his prayer to you with a humble heart. Lord, he said, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And you, Lord, merciful and compassionate, soon heard from the cross the plea of the penitent heart, comforting the soul of the one who was dying with this most kind response: "Amen, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." O how comforting and beneficial it is for me to reflect on the outcome of this thief and your sweetest response, not so that I might sin more securely or delay my own amendment, but so that I don’t despair if I’m suddenly overtaken by weakness, when I hear that such a wicked man has been so suddenly transformed for the better and, by your merciful grace, is to be saved forever and restored to paradise. I would be greatly troubled because of my many sins if I didn't know your mercies, Lord, and if I hadn't heard of the examples of those who have been received by you so kindly after their repentance. For you said through the prophet: 'I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live.'^✦ Et item per temetao ipsum: Sic Deus dilexit mundum, ut unigenitum suum daret, ut omnis, qui credit in ipsum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam. And again: I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. You have forgiven all the sins of Mary Magdalene, who wept at your feet, without delay. You received Peter back to grace after he bitterly wept for denying you three times. You healed those who were afflicted by various illnesses through your mercy, and you freed those who were entangled in more serious sins by a greater gift of compassion. Just as it is clear that you rescued the adulteress from the hands of her accusers so that she wouldn’t be stoned, O most gracious Jesus, my mercy and refuge, my supporter and liberator from my angry enemies, be merciful to me and do not let my soul be lost with the wicked, for whose redemption you willed to endure the cross. Remember your holy word, which you spoke to the thief, in which you left me the most solid hope. So speak to my soul, Savior of my life, when the time of my departure draws near: Today you will be with me in paradise. What could be more joyful to hear, what sweeter to grasp while dying, than to be uplifted by such a response: 'Today you will be with me in paradise'?^✦ In this moment, Lord, in your kingdom, don't abandon me at the terrifying hour of death, when my strength fails, and my voice becomes silent, when my eyes begin to grow dim, and my hearing fades away. Then help me, good Jesus, and send your holy angels to comfort me in my struggle, so that the wicked enemy, lurking at the hour of my death, does not prevail against me, he who even dared to seek something in you that belonged to him, but finding nothing, left you completely confused. Let them be confounded, who seek to take my soul; let them turn back and be greatly ashamed. But let my soul rejoice in you and exult in your salvation, Lord, pondering the sweet word you spoke from the cross for the second time: "Amen, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."^✦ This should often be on your lips, but even more often in your heart, for it tastes sweeter because it was spoken by you on the cross. For the words spoken from the mouth of my crucified Lord have a sweeter grace and a greater power; therefore, they must be pondered more attentively and chewed over more eagerly. If only I could live like this! If only I could serve my Lord like this, so that at the hour of my departure from this body, I might be worthy to hear the sweetest word from heaven: 'Today you will be with me in paradise.'^✦ Oh, if you could say that equally joyful word to your servant: 'Well done, good servant, because you were faithful in a little, enter into the joy of your Lord.' Then nothing would be better or more pleasant than to have lived well in life and to have served you faithfully until death.