Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 27. De siti Domini lesu in cruce pendentis, 5

Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 27. De siti Domini lesu in cruce pendentis, 5

I bless you and give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, fountain of living water and stream of saving wisdom, for your intense thirst on the cross, when you were parched and physically thirsty, having poured out your sacred and precious blood, and all your natural fluids were exhausted due to the excessive torture of your body, yet you thirsted even more ardently with a desire for our salvation, like a poor beggar asking to drink, saying: "I thirst." But there was no one to help with this small request, to offer you even a cup of cold water, O Creator of all waters. However, some of those present, hearing this, showed no mercy toward you at all, but instead became even more hardened. For they filled a sponge with the deadly poison of their malicious hearts and soaked it in vinegar mixed with gall, and they offered you a bitter cup to drink, which would have been unworthy to be given to dogs. I praise and honor you for your most gracious tolerance in receiving and tasting the most bitter drink, which you tasted for the expiation of the illicit delight of the parents' prisms, so that, just as the tasting of the forbidden fruit was the cause of death, the taste of your bitter drink might become for us a medicine of salvation. But woe to you, impious people of Judah, burdened with sorrow and the weight of grave iniquity. How have you turned to such great wickedness, that you would release Barabbas and crucify Christ? How have you changed into such madness that you would offer vinegar to someone asking for a drink? Offer it to the chief priests or to the leader of your people and see if he consents to drink. What has Christ done for you, or in what way has Jesus of Nazareth troubled you? Answer me, I beg you. Doesn't God rain down manna from heaven for you and bring forth water from the hardest rock, so that you could eat and drink in abundance? But look, you offer sweet manna and wine to drink, and yet you don't even give one drop of water to Christ when He is thirsty. If Christ had wanted, He could have turned all your waters into salt, and you would soon perish from thirst, lacking bread and water, because of the excessive dryness due to denied mercy. If He had wanted to have a sweet drink, there’s no doubt that the holy angels would have gladly and quickly brought Him the saving dew from heaven, more delightful than any other drink, just as they had once provided sustenance after the threefold temptation of the enemy. But he did not want to defend himself nor to show a sign of his power. He showed a sign of patience and forbearance, so that he might build up all the teachers of poverty. So take, then, you disciple of Jesus, this cup of the sweet confection as a remedy against the gluttony of appetite. If you want to feast with Christ in the kingdom of His Father, let your heart not desire rich dishes or precious cups of wine, nor soft linens or fine garments. These things are very contrary to the most pure life of Jesus and to His most bitter passion. Don't be led astray by the pleasures of the flesh, but restrain your enticing desires with the sobriety of your diet. But if you exceed the proper measure, whether by eating more or more delicately, then discipline yourself through daily labors and nightly vigils, always recalling the bitter cup of Christ to your mind with sorrow. O Jesus, heavenly manna and sweetest nectar, who were given vinegar and gall to drink while you were thirsting intensely on the cross, and yet you could not have even a little water to refresh yourself, grant that I may gradually remember this bitter potion of yours at the time of my nourishment at the table, so that I do not pour out my heart eagerly over the food of the body, but may be intent and suspended over the words of sacred selection. I will learn to take only what is necessary for my sustenance with fear of you, and to offer you heartfelt thanks for the benefits you have given me. I won’t be content with the meager food of the poor, nor will I feel worthy to be sustained by the charity of others or by their labor. Give me the hunger for food that doesn’t perish, but endures for eternal life. Grant me to thirst for the fountain of everlasting life and to receive a crumb of the living bread from the heavenly banquet, with a taste of its intimate flavor, sometimes to perceive and experientially savor how sweet, O Lord, is your Spirit poured out freely upon the children of grace.