God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" A loud cry and a shrill voice are signs of excessive grief. Our Lord was left alone in His sufferings for a long time. He was destitute of every kind of comfort which might arise from the inferior part of His soul; He was forsaken by His own people, even by His disciples; He foresaw, besides, that the greater part of mankind would forsake Him, although He endured all these torments for their •salvation. At this awful moment the oracle of the prophet Jeremias was fulfilled, "Great as the sea is thy destruction; who shall heal thee?" (Lament, ii. 13.)
II. Christ might have easily freed Himself from this interior anguish, had He chosen to do so, by surrendering Himself to the joys of the beatific vision which possessed the superior part of His soul; but He refused to do this, in order that in His sufferings He might reduce Himself to our level in all things. He wished also to instruct us how to bear desolation and aridity in prayer and that trouble of mind from which the greatest virtue does not exempt us. Learn, therefore, on similar occasions, to stand resolutely collected within yourself, to have recourse to prayer, and patiently to await the assistance of God: " For it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack." (Habac. ii. 3.)
III. If the eternal Father left His Son in this state of desolation, you have no reason to be surprised or to complain if He sometimes seem to abandon you, and to withdraw all consolation from you. Such desolation is frequently a sign of His love, sent to try your constancy and increase your merit. Hence, David prayed, " Prove me, O Lord! and try me; burn my reins and my heart." (Ps xxv. 2.) Offer yourself to God in the same spirit, and only beg with the same prophet that " He would not utterly forsake you." (Ps. cxviii. 8.)
