Tractatus Alter, Pars Prior, Cap. 16. Oratio de quinque sacris vulneribus lesu

Tractatus Alter, Pars Prior, Cap. 16. Oratio de quinque sacris vulneribus lesu

Christ. I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, most loving Son of God, for the salvation of the world, crucified, for all your pains and sacred wounds, both greater and lesser, which you bore with piety and innocence to cleanse and absolve my sins, and which you willingly and gratefully offered to your heavenly Father in true love and perfect obedience while dying. I especially praise and glorify you now and in all the days of my life with the utmost gratitude and blessing from my mouth, from the depths of my heart, and with the sweetest remembrance for the greatest and most amiable dignity and the open display of the five holy wounds of yours, which you reserved in your most holy and glorious body after your blessed and glorious resurrection, and which you presented to your disciples to see with their own eyes, and kindly and certainly offered to the doubting apostle Thomas to touch, and you confirmed them in faith, and as a sign of your everlasting love for them and for all your faithful throughout the world, you wished these to be announced and declared to your devoted followers, so that they might love you deeply and never cease to praise you. Therefore, it is fitting and useful for me to reflect daily on your greatest love for me, so that, just as these five sacred wounds of yours remain in your glorious body like new and indelible openings in a shield shining above all the stars of heaven, they may also remain fixed in my memory and in the memories of all your faithful, because of the countless good things that flow from them and to drive away and eliminate evil in this life, and certainly for the eternal joys, O holy Jesus, that are to be happily attained with you. Praise, honor, virtue, glory, and victory to you, Lord, for your sacred wounds, by which you redeemed me, cleansed the world, stripped hell, opened paradise, illuminated heaven, and brought joy to the angels. And to draw me, a wretched sinner, to you, to reconcile me with the Father, and to turn away His anger, you kept these holy wounds even as you ascended into heaven, always to have mercy on me. And you carried them to the right hand of the Father for all who grieve in you for their sins, and for all who dwell in heaven as a sign of conquered death. O wonder and joy, O immense hope of believers, Jesus Christ, King of glory, You are the splendor of the Father, the honor of the Mother, the beauty of the Virgin, the Son of Mary, the flower of the field, the lily of the valleys, the comfort of the troubled, the health of the sick, the joy of the devout, the blessedness of the saints, the happiness of the angels. Lord, I ask You, write these holy and precious wounds of Yours in my heart with Your precious blood, so that I may intimately share in Your suffering and love You above all things, and bear at least a few words out of love for Your sweetest holy name, which is above every name of the saints, angels, and men, most high and blessed forever and ever. Paint these with red figures and golden circles before my wandering eyes, so that I may not see the vanities of the world, nor think about them, nor hear any troubling rumors, and that I may not pay attention to those who tell me anything that is not about you, Jesus Lord, my God. For all things that distract me from contemplating heavenly goods are vain, and I weep over your sacred wounds. , Therefore, drive your sacred nails into my feet like sharp spurs, so that I may follow your footsteps through bitter and adverse times, and not be lifted up in good times nor cast down by evil afflictions. Pierce my feet with your wounds, so I don't stray too far from you. Drive the nail of fear into my left foot, so that I don't give in to the vices of the flesh, but rather tremble at the future pains of hell. With your right foot, drive in the nail of holy love with the fervor of great devotion, to walk the path of your commandments day and night in your service, in hymns and divine praises, joyfully and wholeheartedly giving thanks to you, or even in extreme labors for the common good, through obedience and brotherly love, wearing ourselves out. All temporal labor and sweat, thirst and pain of the body for you, my God, in the flesh that suffers and is wounded, is brief and light; but the eternal punishment, hell, and the fire that burns forever is long and exceedingly long. Drive your two nails into my hands to help me diligently do good works while there's still time, and to avoid the vile idleness that harms the soul so much, and to embrace you with both my arms lovingly while you hang on the cross for me, full of wounds, and praying for your enemies. Draw me to you from the beloved cross, from the earth to heaven. I long to be dissolved and to die with you on the cross, and to be cleansed from my sins through your wounds and to be freed from eternal death. You are my God, and I will confess my sins to you; heal me through your holy wounds, which were inflicted on me with great severity. Who can cleanse me from all my evils and neglects but you alone, God, my Redeemer, who was crucified for me and wounded by many blows? Among those things that stand out, resonate, and shine, your five precious wounds are especially prominent, marked by the nails and the pierced lance, like the red seals of the Lamb of God stained with divine blood, shaped by the impulse of divine love, and like the holy signs of my eternal redemption that can never be erased; but they are full of grace and sweetness, granted to me and all the faithful for kissing and gazing upon with the eyes of the mind, opened to enter the secrets of heaven, given to those who weep. Confidently, I enter, my soul, through the depths of your mercy, O God, hanging on the cross; I enter into the profound wounds of your body, from the face of the serpent that lies in wait, both openly and secretly. Stay here in silence and security, like a mourning dove in solitude and like a hidden dove in the clefts of the strongest rock, hoping for all the joy of the world, meditating on the sacred wounds of Jesus Christ and trusting in God. If you grant me these eternal rewards of heaven, they will be given to you. I beg you now, most merciful Jesus Christ, also to speak the healing word to my soul that you said to your holy apostle Thomas, strengthening him in faith and as a sign of your greatest love, forgiving him all his sins: "Put your finger here and see my hands, which were pierced for you out of love, with hard nails on the cross, and bring your hand here to touch me mentally and place it in my side, which is open to you in friendship, pierced so harshly by the soldier's lance that blood and water might flow from it abundantly for the true remission of all sins and for all who believe in mercy." Do not be unbelieving, but faithful; do not be doubtful, but firm and stable; do not be curious, but simple and devout; do not be sluggish or forgetful, but fervent and always grateful to God for such great benefits. Grant me this, good and beloved Jesus: to think of you often and to meditate on you, to believe firmly and cling to your words, never to doubt your eternal truth, to quickly turn to your Passion in every temptation and tribulation, and to seek comfort in your holy wounds and sufferings, finding peace and rest for my soul in you always. Who with the Father, etc. ar