brought to the sacrifice : He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter. [1] What a cause of wonder it must have been to the angels, O my God, to behold their innocent Lord led as a victim to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross for the love of man! And what a cause of horror to heaven and to hell, the sight of a God extended as an infamous criminal on a shameful gibbet for the sins of his creatures!
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ( for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree): that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. [2] “ He was made a curse upon the cross," says St. Ambrose, “that thou mightest be blessed in the kingdom of God." [3]
O my dearest Saviour! Thou wert, then, content, in order to obtain for me the blessing of God, to embrace the dishonor of appearing upon the cross accursed in the sight of the whole world, and even forsaken in Thy sufferings by Thy Eternal Father, — a suffering which made Thee cry out with a loud voice, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? [4] Yes, observes Simon of Cassia, it was for this end that Jesus was abandoned in his Passion in order that we might not remain abandoned in the sins which we have committed : “Therefore Christ was abandoned in his sufferings that we might not be abandoned in our guilt.” O prodigy of compassion! O excess of love of God towards men! And how can there
