Now we must consider what the Lord did on the day of the Sabbath. Immediately upon His Death He descended into Hell, to the Holy Fathers, and remained with them. Were they not then in glory — for the sight of the Lord is perfect glory? Consider, then, here, and observe what kindness, what charity, what lowliness, Christ showed in going down into Hell For He might have sent one of His angels to them, and freed all His servants, and then vouchsafed His Presence when He pleased. But His infinite love and humility would not have been satisfied with this course; therefore He went down Himself, and visited them, not as servants, but as friends, though He was Lord of all, and abode with them even till Sunday dawned. Think, then, of these things ; admire, and strive to imitate the virtues which are manifested. The Holy Fathers rejoiced, indeed, at His Advent, and were filled with immense sweetness ; all disquietude was at once expelled ; and they continued to sing canticles of praise and joy before Him, upon which you may meditate in this manner. Imagine them, as if clothed with bodies such as shall be theirs after the Resurrection, and likewise that most benign Soul of our Lord Jesus Christ. For as soon as they felt His saving Advent, they met Him joyously, exhorting one another, and saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people,”1 and the rest. “Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh,”2 ” Arise, arise, O Jerusalem ; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck.”3 “Behold, thy Saviour cometh, to loose us from our chains.” “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in,”4 We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, our most loving God. And falling down, they worshipped Him, with joy and great gladness. But consider them, for with reverence and great exultation, and joyful countenances, they stand before Him, and give utterance to such praises as we have named. And in similar praises, canticles, and songs, they continued in those borders till nearly daybreak on Sunday. A multitude of angels, we can conceive, would join them in their jubilations. Then the Lord led them forth from hell with triumph, going before them gloriously, and placed them in a Paradise of delights. After which, He remained with them a brief space, it may be in sweet converse with Elias and Enoch, who recognized Him, and then He said, “It is time that I raise My Body ; I will go and resume it.” Whereupon all fell on their faces, and said, “Go, O Lord, King of Glory, and return quickly, if Thou wiliest ; for we long to see Thy most glorious Body.”
You have, then, matter for meditation, on the Lord Jesus, His mother and disciples, and the Holy Fathers, for the Saturday in Holy Week. Now, as I have run through the entire history of the Passion, without adding quotations, for fear that by doing so I might have called off the mind’s attention from the great theme; I now propose to add a few authorities, by which to stir up our spirit to a more fervent and devout meditation. Hear, then, according to our wont, what S. Bernard says. “You owe,” says he, “all your life to Jesus Christ, because He laid down His life for you, and endured such bitter torments, lest you should have to suffer eternally. For if all the days of the sons of Adam, and all ages, or all the labours of men who ever have been or shall be, were gathered into one, yet would such bear no comparison in moral worth to that Body, which is beautiful and wonderful, even in the sight of heavenly intelligences, in its conception by the Holy Ghost, in its Birth of a Virgin, in its innocency of life, in the affluence of its teaching, in the coruscation of its miracles, in the revelation of Sacraments. For as heaven is higher than earth, so is His Life above ours. In fact, there is no possibility of instituting any comparison between terms which are so distant, for no life is more worthy than His, none more miserable than ours. When, then, I dedicate to Him all that is in my power, it bears in comparison with His self-sacrifice, the proportion of a star to the sun, of a drop to a river, of a stone to a mountain, of a grain to a bushel.” And again, “The € emptying * of Christ of His glory was not a solitary act, or one of limited character ; on the contrary, He humbled Himself to the flesh, to death, to the Cross. Who can ever form an adequate estimate of His lowliness, His meekness. His condescension — a God of Majesty, to be clothed with flesh, to be punished by death, to endure the shame of the Cross ? But, shall we say, the Creator was not able to mend His work, without resorting to such extreme measures? He was able, but He preferred to suffer Himself, lest there should be any longer occasion or excuse for man’s ingratitude, a vice most odious and base. Truly, He embraced much fatigue, so that, through His great love, He might make man a debtor ; and that the very difficulty of His Redemptive Work might move man to gratitude, whose creation through its facility had failed to call it forth. For what did man, created and unthankful, in effect say ? ‘I have been made, it is true, but my creation cost my Maker nothing, no toil, no labour. He only spake the word, and I was made, and all else besides me .’”5 And further on, “‘ But the mouth of those that speak evil shall be stopped.6 It is clearer than the day now, O man, what thou hast cost thy God. From the Lord to become a servant, from the rich poor, from the Word the flesh, from the Son of God the Son of man, He disdained not. Remember, if at no cost He made, He did not at no cost redeem thee. In six days He made all things, and thee among them. But for the whole of thirty years, He laboured for thy salvation in this earth. O how did He labour, bearing the necessities of the flesh, and the temptations of the enemy ! He could not intensify any further the shame which He endured on the Cross ; He could not heighten the honour of His Death.” And again, “That which makes Thee lovable to me, O good Jesus, is the cup which Thou didst drink in order to accomplish my salvation. Here is that which exacts a return of love from me. This, I say, it is, which woos our love and kindles our devotion, and even commands it out of justice, and binds us to it and greatly moves us. Much, indeed, did the Saviour labour to redeem us, but in creating the whole world, the Creator suffered no fatigue. He spake and they were made ; He commanded and they were created. But in redeeming, He bore contradiction as to His words ; treachery, in actions ; derision, in sufferings ; reproach, in death .” 2 “In the exceeding greatness of His love, Christ gave up His Soul to death, and from His own Side, He paid the price of Satisfaction, to reconcile man to the Father. In which there is an allusion to the words of the Psalmist,7 With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.8 1 Yes, indeed, ‘plenteous,9 for it was not a drop, but streams of blood which issued from the five Sacred Wounds of Christ’s Body. What could He have done for us that He did not do ! He gave sight to the blind, He set the prisoner free, He brought back the wanderer, He reconciled the guilty. Who would not run after Him, willingly and gladly — Him who frees from error, effaces faults, who in life obtains merits, and in death acquires a recompense? What excuse can he have, who does not run in the odour of His ointments, unless he has lost his sense of smell? But the odour of His life fills all the earth. For ‘the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord,* and ‘His mercies are over all His works.* He, then, who does not perceive this vital fragrance, which is spread everywhere, must be either dead or in a state of decay.** Again, “The Spouse is not ashamed to be black, because she knows that this colour was once that of the Bridegroom, and it is a glory for her to resemble Him. Nothing is more glorious than to bear the reproach of Christ Hence that word of exultation and salvation, God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ .* 2 The ignominy of the Cross is grateful to him who is not offended at the Crucified. This blackness, then, is but the form of and resemblance to the Lord. Go to the sacred pages of Isaiah, 8 and he will tell you what he saw in spirit. What else does he speak of, but ‘of the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, who had no beauty that we should desire Him*? And he adds, ‘We did not esteem Him — as if a leper, as one smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, and by His stripes we are healed .’ 99 And again, “In the end, He made Himself ‘ sin ; ’ do I fear to say ‘ black10 ? Behold Him, in mean attire, livid with blows, covered with spittle, pallid with death.” 1 Again, “Could He have been more deformed, or have appeared blacker to the spectators, than He was when His two Hands were stretched on the Cross, in the midst of two thieves, a sight to call forth derision from the wicked, but tears from the faithful, when He alone was mocked, Who should have caused terror, and ought to have received homage?”11 And elsewhere, “The rock is a refuge for the wild goats ; and are not the wounds of Jesus a firm and safe hiding-place for the weak? So much the more secure I dwell, as He is the more powerful to save ; the world may roar, the body press down, the devil lie in wait — I fall not. For I am founded on a strong rock. I have committed a great sin, my conscience is disturbed, but not overwhelmed, for I will remember the wounds of my Lord. He, forsooth, was wounded for our iniquities. Who, then, so near to death, that He may not be saved by the Death of Christ?” And below, “The nail cries, the wound cries, that truly God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. The iron passed through His Soul, it was plunged into His Heart, that He might henceforth be able to compassionate our infirmities. The secret recesses of His Heart were laid bare through the wounds of His Flesh, that great mystery of love was laid bare, that mercy of our God whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us. How were those inner yearnings of the Heart of God disclosed, if not by these wounds ? In what, more clearly could the love of God have been manifested than in Thy Wounds ; for Thou, O Lord, art good, and gracious, and full of lovingkindness ? For no one hath greater mercy than this, that he should lay down his life for those who are condemned and given over to death.”12