hold it firmly, kiss it devoutly. Throw thyself at its feet, lie there, cling to the ground it hallows, go not from the Cross; that so at least one drop of the Blood which is trickling from it may fall on thee; or that thou mayest win to hear some word spoken by the Crucified, or, when the end comes, to stand by His side. May the same earth which received Jesus at His death, receive thee too; and where Jesus was buried, there mayest thou too find the place of thy rest, that as thou art one with Him in spirit, so also thou mayest be in the last resting-place of thy body.
Pay to Him the duty, which thou owest Him, of thy tears; enter into the secret chamber of thy heart; let the Crucified find in thee a loving and a sorrowing disciple, one who is thankful and devout, a cherisher of the inner life, and one who is drawn by the cords of love to His wounds; that so the whole world may be crucified to thee, and thou to the world; that so to thee to live may be Christ, and to die with Him thy greatest gain. Be it far from thee to glory, save in the Cross of Jesus Christ, thy Lord. Be it far from thee to trust in thy own merits; because upon the Cross of Jesus alone depend thy Salvation and thy Redemption, and on Him thou art most firmly bound to place thy only hope. Through Him it is that thy sins are forgiven, from Him it is that rich merits flow forth abundantly; with Him are the rewards of the righteous; and He will give to every man the just recompense of his deeds.
Strive therefore, after the example of the Crucified, to cast off the burden of things earthly, and to withdraw thy heart from all that may be hurtful to its inner life; to hold thyself aloof from the unrealities of thy passions and of worldly
