Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 31. De dira perforatione sacratissimi lateris Domini lesu post excessum vitae. 20

Tractatus Prior, Pars Altera, Cap. 31. De dira perforatione sacratissimi lateris Domini lesu post excessum vitae. 20

I bless you and give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, source of unending love and grace, for the terrible piercing of your most sacred side after the end of your life. Then, indeed, most holy of saints, you were so powerfully struck by one of the soldiers with a military spear in your right side that the point pierced your innermost being, reaching the tenderness of your heart, and from that wide wound, a most health-giving fountain of blood and water flowed forth for us, by which the whole world might be cleansed. O sacred and wonderful outpouring of the blood of Christ from the right side of the sleeping one on the cross, flowing for the redemption of the human race. O, the clear and sweetest flow of the blessed water from the Savior's sacred side, for the cleansing of all our sins pouring forth. Once, indeed, Moses, the servant of the Lord, struck the rock in the wilderness, and abundant waters flowed out, and the people and their animals drank from that stream with sweetness and ceased from their complaining. But Longinus, a valiant soldier, took up a mighty spear in his hand and struck the rock, opening the side of Christ; and immediately blood and water flowed out, and from it the pure mother Church drew the sacraments of her salvation. Just as Eve was called the mother of all living and was formed from the rib of her husband Adam, so the holy Church, which is the mother of all the faithful, is named and reformed from the side of Christ, her bridegroom. O great and precious wound of my Lord, to be loved above all wounds, deeply pierced and opened for all the faithful to enter, widely laid open, a more miraculous fluid, more abundant and blessed, formed later, but primarily marked. From this sacred and most divine source of the wound, whoever drinks even once from the draught of love will be freed from all their evils, healed from the heat of temporal and carnal desires, ignited with the love of eternal things, filled with the inexplicable sweetness of the Holy Spirit, and will become a fountain of living water springing up to eternal life. Come, come, my soul, into the right side of your crucified Lord. Enter through the notable wound into the most loving heart of Jesus, pierced by love, to rest in the cleft of the rock from the storm of the world. Come, human, to the deep heart, the hidden heart, the secret heart, to the heart of God, which opens its door to you. Come in, blessed God; why do you stand outside? The wound of life has been opened for you, the way of salvation, the heavenly ark, from which many fragrances flow. Behold, a refuge from the face of the tempter enemy, a place of propitiation from the wrath of the ensuing judgment. Here is the fountain of oil and grace, continually flowing, which never ceases to offer mercy to sinners, if they truly desire to come with a contrite heart. This is the source of the divine river flowing from the middle of paradise, to water the surface of the earth, to quench the thirst of the dry mind, to wash away sins, to extinguish the movements of lust, and to calm the conflicts of anger. So you should draw from this fountain of the Savior a cup of love. Draw sweet comforts of life from the side of Jesus, so that you may live not in yourself, but in him who was wounded for you. Give your heart to him who opened his heart to you. Enter through the door of the sacred wound to the depths of the Redeemer. He invites you to enter, asks you to remain with Him, desires that you have one heart with Him. Son, He says, give Me your heart. God doesn't require anything more from you; if you give that, you've offered the most precious gift. Give to Jesus, not to another; give to Christ, not to the world; give your heart to eternal wisdom, not to vain philosophy. Therefore, He opened His side so wide and pierced it so deeply, to make a way for you to approach the heart of your beloved, so that you can penetrate the depths of the Son of God and unite with Him in the true union of hearts, directing all your affections toward Him and doing all your works for His honor with a simple heart, so that you may please Him alone, and strive to cling to Him with a pure mind and all your strength. Where can you rest more securely, dwell more safely, or sleep more sweetly than in the wounds of Jesus Christ, crucified for you? There, you will find a deeper wisdom and a more useful way of living than in the innermost bowels of Christ's suffering, from whose heart a living fountain flows forth abundantly. Where you can be so warmly revived, kept safe from all noise, and perfectly gathered within, just as in the heart of Jesus, who was pierced by a lance out of love for you? Nothing ignites, draws, and penetrates the heart of man like the love of the crucified Redeemer. Therefore, a certain saint said: "My love is crucified." To whom I respond with deep feeling: Behold, my love is wounded and pierced, so that a free entrance may be granted to me into His beloved heart. As much as you can, with a pious eagerness, draw near to the sacred side of Jesus, so that you may be sprinkled with His blood and water. And if it’s possible, draw out your heart and place it next to the heart of Jesus, so that He may guard, guide, and possess it, so that it won’t be drawn away into distractions and become troubled. Reveal your heart to Him; confidently commit yourself to Him, giving Him all your desires and refusals; let your heart be one and your soul one in God, thinking the same and feeling the same in all things with Him according to His highest will forever. Then you'll be in great peace, and you won't easily be disturbed or troubled inappropriately, when you have fully entrusted your heart to Jesus for it to be kept and inhabited forever. O most sincere Jesus, creator of all secrets and inhabitant of loving hearts! O cruciform spectacle of all contemplatives! O divine treasury of all graces and gifts, King Christ, Redeemer of the faithful, who caused your most sacred side to be opened with the point of a dreadful lance! Open for me, I ask, the door of your mercy, so that I may enter through the great and evident opening of your side into the secret of your most loving heart, that my heart may be united to you with an unbreakable bond of love and may be fervently ignited, so that you may dwell in me and I in you, remaining forever united in a covenant. Let the wounds of my heart be pierced by the arrow of your love; may your soldier's lance pass through my innermost being and pierce all my interior parts, so that through this healing wound my soul may attain perfect health, and that I may admit no lover but you, seeking no consolation outside of you. May my heart be open and accessible to you alone, closed to the world and the devil, and fortified against every temptation by the sign of the cross.