“He who desires," says St. Bonaventure, “ to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus." And he adds that “ there is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ."
St. Augustine also said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water. Yes, because it was for this end that our Saviour suffered so much, in order that we should think of his sufferings; because if we think on them, it is impossible not to be inflamed with divine love: The charity of Christ presseth us, [1] says St. Paul. Jesus is loved by few, because few consider the pains he has suffered for us; but he that frequently considers them cannot live without loving Jesus. “The charity of Christ presseth us." He will feel himself so constrained by his love that he will not find it possible to refrain from loving a God so full of love, who has suffered so much to make us love him.
Therefore the Apostle said that he desired to know nothing but Jesus, and Jesus crucified; that is, the love that he has shown us on the cross: I judged not myself to knew anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. [2] And, in truth, from what books can we better learn the science of the saints — that is, the science of loving God — than from Jesus crucified? That great servant of God, Brother Bernard of Corlione, the Capu-
