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Now, then, behold the lovingkindness of the Lord, how graciously He allows the beloved disciple to lean on His breast. O how tenderly do they love each other ! Observe also the other disciples, much distressed at this saying of our Lord ; not eating, but gazing at each other, not knowing what course to take. This suffices for the first point.
To the second, give diligent attention. For whilst they were in this state, the Lord Jesus rises from supper, and immediately the disciples also rise, not knowing what he was going to do. Then we may depict Him going down into a lower room in the same house, as tradition relates ;. and He made them all sit down, and ordered water to be brought to Him. Then He lays aside His garments, girds Himself with a towel,3 and pours water into a stone basin, that He might wash their feet Peter refuses, and, full of amazement, declines an action in his judgment so unfitting. But upon hearing the warning of Christ, he wisely changed his opinion for the better. Consider, then, well each action, and contemplate all with wonder. Highest Majesty bows Himself down, and the Master of humility stands bending down to the feet of a fisherman, and with bent knees, while they were sitting, washes with His own hands their feet, dries, and, it may be, kisses them. But that which magnifies His humility above all the rest, is, that He performed the same service for the traitor himself. But O, wicked heart, and harder than all hardness ; if thou art not softened at the sight of such humility ; if thou dost not reverence the Lord of Majesty ; if even still thou thirstest for the death of One Who has ever shown thee kindness, ever been free from doing any harm ! Woe to thee, wretched man ! What thy hardened heart hath conceived, thou shalt bring forth ; not, however, He, but thou shalt really perish.
Here, then, we should marvel at so great a depth of humility and kindness, etc.
Having, then, completed this service, He returned to the upper room, and reclining again, He exhorted His disciples to imitate His example. You can then, in this place, meditate how the Lord Jesus, on that evening, gave us an example of five great virtues ; namely, of humility, in washing their feet ; of charity, in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, and in His discourse, which is full of precepts of love ; of patience, in bearing with the traitor, and the many insults He endured when captured and led away as a robber; of obedience, in undergoing His Passion arid Death in submission to His Father ; of prayer, by praying thrice in the Garden. Let us, then, endeavour to imitate these virtues of our Blessed Lord. We add no more on this.
But in meditating on the third point, wonder at Christ’s amazing and loving condescension, and unspeakable charity, whereby He gave Himself for us, and left Himself for our spiritual nourishment. When He had washed the disciples’ feet, He sat down again, willing to put an end to the institutions and sacrifices of the old law ; and to ordain a New Covenant, making Himself the New Sacrifice, He took bread, and raised His eyes to His Father, and consecrating the most Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood, gave it to His disciples, saying, This is My Body, which is given for you. And likewise, taking the cup, He said, This is My Blood, which is shed for you.
Behold this mystery, then, thoughtfully before God, and see how carefully, faithfully, and devoutly our Lord does every action, and how, with His own Hands, He communicated that His beloved and blessed family. And then, as a memorial of His love, He adds, “Do this in remembrance of Me.* This is that Memorial which, when the grateful soul receives, whether by eating or by spiritual meditation, it ought to be inflamed and inebriated with love, and through the intensity of devotion and affection transformed into the Lord Himself. For nothing could He leave for us dearer, sweeter, and more profitable than Himself. For He Who comes to us in the Sacrament, is the same Who was wonderfully conceived and born of the Virgin, Who endured death for you, and Who rose again, and ascended gloriously, and sits at the Right Hand of the Father. He it is Who created heaven, and earth, and all things, and Who rules and guides them. He it is on whom your salvation depends, in whose power and will, it is to give, or not to give, the glory of Paradise. He it is Who is offered for you and is given to you. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. This on our third point
But concerning the fourth head, which is something supperadded to the rest, attend to the other marks of Christ’s love. For He makes a most beautiful discourse, full of sweetness, and glowing with the fire of love. Having communicated His disciples, and that most vile Judas (according to S. Augustine, though others think he did not communicate), the Lord Jesus says to Judas, “That thou doest, do quickly.”4 But he, wretched man, went out, and went to the chief priests, to whom on the Wednesday before he had sold Him, for thirty pieces of silver, and sought from them a band of soldiers to take Him. But in the interim the Lord Jesus delivered to His disciples this discourse, from which, in its whole extent, admirable, useful, and venerable, I take five principal points for meditation. First, how, foretelling His departure, our Lord comforted them. For He said, “Yet a little while I am with you,” but “I will not leave you comfortless ; I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.” These things, and the like, which L briefly run through, He said to them, which went through and pierced them to their very hearts. For they were not able to bear the thought of His departure. Secondly, meditate about this discourse, how cordially and earnestly He instructs them upon charity, saying in many places, “These things I command you, that ye love one another ; by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” and similar teaching which you can find in abundance in the sacred text Thirdly, meditate in this discourse upon the way in which our Lord carefully exhorted them to the observance of His commandments, saying, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments,”5 and, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love,”6 and similar things. Fourthly, take for your meditation the way He encourages His disciples against tribulation, which He foretold would come upon them, in this manner : ” In the world ye shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”7 And again, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.”8 “The world shall rejoice,” but “ye shall be sorrowful ; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”9 Fifthly, contemplate the Lord Jesus lifting up His eyes unto Heaven, turning to His Father and saying, “Father, keep those whom Thou hast given Me ; while I was with them in the world, I kept them, but now I come unto Thee ; Holy Father, I pray for them ; I pray not for the world ; neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory ;”10 and other similar utterances, which were truly heart-rending. It is wonderful, indeed, how the disciples, who so intensely loved their Lord, could bear these words. If, then, you meditate with attention on the sayings which are to be found in this discourse, and lay them to heart, you will rest in a sense of their sweetness, and you will burn within at so great condescension, kindness, consideration, indulgence, and love, as well as at the other actions of our Lord which were done that evening.
Behold Him, then, as He speaks, how efficaciously, how earnestly, how sweetly, He addresses them, impressing on the minds of His disciples what he says, and regaling them with the tenderness of His looks and words. Behold, too, the disciples, how mournfully they droop their heads, and weep and draw long sighs, filled to the full with sadness, as the Truth itself bears witness : “Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart .”11 But, amongst the rest, observe John, in close communion with Jesus; with what attention and eagerness He regards His Beloved, and with tender anxiety gathers up His every word. For S. John alone has handed down to us a record of these things. Amongst other things, the Lord Jesus said to them, “Arise, let us go hence.” O, what fear took possession of them, not knowing whither they went, or how they were to go, and fearing above all else that they would be separated from Him; nevertheless, He did not at that moment conclude, but continued His discourse, and then went on with it along the way. See, then, the disciples going after Him and with Him, each one drawing as close to Him as he could, gathering together like a flock, even as chickens round the hen ; first one, and then the other pressing forward with the desire of touching Him and hearing His words, while He willingly suffered this from them.
At last, all these mysteries having been finished, He went into the Garden, across the brook Cedron, and there He awaited the arrival of the traitor, and his armed band.
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