VI. O Signor mio, ben fu l'amor tuo forte
The Strength of Divine Love
The speaker reflects on the sacrificial nature of Christ's love, which led him to the cross to rectify human failings.
O my Lord, how strong your love was, that it led you to such a cruel death! Who led you up onto that cruel wood, with your limbs driven hard and fixed there? It was love that led you there, not scorn; it was your charity that led you.1 Once they had taken you, you had no pity at all for yourself, as long as you set our crooked works straight.
Contemplating the Wounded Savior
A vivid meditation on the physical suffering of Christ and the life-giving power flowing from his side.
When I look at your holy face—beaten, bloody, and with veiled eyes; when I see you dead and mocked, your head pierced and finding no rest, your mouth dry—how cruel it is to see you brought to such a fate! I look on that wound in your side that pours out so much blood and water together that the whole world has been refreshed by it, and even this seed of yours has grown from it.✦ O my Lord, peace and kindness flow from every side to comfort us. —
The Call to Eternal Life
Christ speaks directly to the soul, contrasting his sacrifice with the soul's self-destruction and offering the path to his kingdom.
I have suffered many pains and great torment to save you from the pains of eternity. So that you might live, I chose to die—and you have been a murderer of yourself. It is left to you to make yourself fit for heaven: I have opened the doors of my kingdom to you.23 —
Read the original Latin
– O Signor mio, ben fu l’ amor tuo forte, Che ti condusse a così crudel morte!
Chi t’ à condotto in su quel crudel legno Con le tuo membra, forte conficcate? E’ t’ à condotto amore e non isdegno, E’ t’ à condotto la tua caritate. Di te preso non ài punto piatate, Pur che dirizzi nostre opere torte.
Quando risguardo in quel tuo santo viso Alla faccia battuta e sanguinosa, Gli occhi velati; e se’ morto e deriso, E la testa forata e non si posa, La bocca asciutta; com’ è cruda cosa A vederti condotto a cotal sorte!
Contemplo quella piaga del costato, Che gitta tanto sangue ed acqua insieme, Che tutto el mondo se n’ è rinfrescato, E cresciuto n’ è pur questo tuo seme. O Signor mio, da tutti e’ lati geme Pace e benignità che ci conforte. –
– Patito ho molte pene e gran martìre Per campar te dalle pene eternale, Perchè tu viva, ho voluto morire, E tu se’ stato di te micidiale: Da te rimane el farti celestiale: Aperto t’ ò del regno mio le porte. –
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.19.34 — But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Notes
- 1 ↩Italian pairs amore and caritate in parallel answers. Rendered as love / charity to keep the double naming; both name Christ's self-giving love, not mere feeling.
- 2 ↩Italian micidiale (murderous/deadly) with di te: Christ charges the soul with self-killing through sin—stronger than mere carelessness.
- 3 ↩Da te rimane = it remains with/depends on you; farti celestiale = make yourself heavenly/celestial. Rendered as responsibility left to the hearer, not as earned merit independent of grace.
Storie Sacre and Laude of Lucrezia Tornabuoni de' Medici companion
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