February 2012

Let us, with very profound reverence, adore Jesus crowned with thorns, after having been cruelly scourged, and then presented to the Jews with a reed in His hand by way of scepter, and an old garment of purple upon His shoulders by way of a royal mantle. O my Savior! By all this they wish to turn Thy kingdom into ridicule; but under this insulting exterior I recognize Thee to be my Savior and my God. I honor Thee, I praise Thee, I bless Thee under this unworthy disguise, which Thy love for me has caused Thee to accept.

We will consider today that the ceremony of the ashes invites us to sanctify Lent: first, by penance and mortification; second, by the thought of death. We will then make the resolution: first, cheerfully to embrace all the mortifications suitable to this holy season, fasting and abstinence, with all the crosses sent by Providence which we may encounter; second, to excite ourselves to do all these things well by means of the saying of St. Bernard: “If you were destined to die today, would you do this or that?”