{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/suso/vol-1-15-chapter-xv.json" }, "work": { "slug": "suso", "name": "Heinrich Suso" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 16, "slug": "vol-1-15-chapter-xv", "title": "Chapter XV.", "of": 51, "words": 1458, "text": "## Chapter XV.\n\nOf the sorrowful way of the Cross, which he made with \nChrist when He was being led forth to death. \n\nAt first for a long time the Servitor was, \nas it were, spoiled by God with heavenly con- \nsolations; and he was so eager after them, \nthat all subjects of contemplation which had \nreference to the Divine nature were a delight \nto him; whereas, when he should have medi- \ntated upon our Lord's sufferings, and sought \nto imitate Him in them, this seemed to him a \nthing hard and bitter. He was once severely \nrebuked by God for this, and it was said to \nhim: — Knowest thou not that I am the door \nthrough which all true friends of God must \npress in, if they would attain to true bliss? \nThou must break thy way through My suffer- \ning Humanity, if thou wouldst verily and indeed \narrive at My naked Divinity. The Servitor \nwas struck with consternation at this, and it \nwas a hard saying to him ; nevertheless he com- \nmenced meditating upon it, much though it \nwent against him, and he began to learn what \ntill then he knew not, and he gave himself up \nto practise it with detachment. \n\nHe now began every night after matins at \n\n\nTHE WAY OF THE CROSS. 51 \n\nhis usual place, which was the chapter-room, to \nforce himself into a Christlike feeling of sym- \npathy with all that Christ, his Lord and God, \nhad suffered for him. He stood up and moved \nfrom corner to corner, in order that all sluggish- \nness might leave him, and that he might have \nthroughout a lively and keen sensitiveness to \nour Lord's sufferings. He commenced this ex- \nercise with the Last Supper, and he accompa- \nnied Christ from place to place, until he brought \nHim before Pilate. Then he received Him \nafter He had been sentenced at the tribunal, \nand he followed Him along the sorrowful way \nof the cross from the court-house to beneath \nthe gallows. The following was the manner in \nwhich he made the way of the cross : — On com- \ning to the threshold of the chapter-house, he \nkneeled down and kissed the print of the first \nstep which the Lord took, when, on being sen- \ntenced, He turned Him round to go forth to \ndeath. Then he began the psalm which de- \nscribes our Lord's passion, \" Deus, Deus meus, \nrespice,\" &c. (Ps. xxi.), and he went out by the \ndoor into the cloister, repeating it. Now there \nwere four streets through which he accompanied \nHim. He went with Him to death along the \nfirst street, with the earnest desire and will to \n\n\n52 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\ngo forth from his friends and all perishable \ngoods, and to suffer, for Christ's glory, misery \nwithout consolation, and voluntary poverty. In \nthe second street he proposed to himself to cast \naside all perishable honour and dignity, and vo- \nluntarily to despise this present world, consider- \ning how the Lord had become \"a worm and the \noutcast of the people.\" At the beginning of the \nthird street he kneeled down again, and, kissing \nthe ground, willingly renounced all needless \ncomfort, and all tender treatment of his body, \nin honour of the pains of Christ's tender body : \nand he set before his eyes, what is written in \nthe psalm, how that all Christ's strength was \ndried up, and His natural vigour brought nigh \nto death, as they drove Him onwards thus piti- \nably; and he thought how fitting it is that \nevery eye should weep and every heart sigh on \naccount of it. When he came to the fourth \nstreet, he kneeled down in the middle of the \nroad, as if he were kneeling in front of the \ngate through which the Lord must pass out; \nand then falling on his face before Him, he \nkissed the ground, and crying out to Him, prayed \nHim not to go to death without His servant, \nbut to suffer him to go along with Him. Then \nhe pictured to himself as vividly as he could \n\n\nTHE WAY OF THE CROSS. 53 \n\nthat the Lord was obliged to pass quite close to \nhim, and when he had said the prayer, \"Ave, \nrex noster, fili David !\" (Hail, our King, son of \nDavid !), he let Him move onwards. After this \nhe knelt down again, still turned towards the \ngate, and greeted the cross with the verse, \" O \ncrux ave, spes unica !\" (Hail, O cross, our only \nhope!), and then let it go past. This done, \nhe kneeled down once more before the tender \nMother Mary, heaven's queen, as she was led \npast him in unfathomable anguish of heart, and \nhe observed how mournfully she bore herself, \nand noted her burning tears, sad sighings, and \nsorrowful demeanour ; and he addressed her \nin the words of the \" Salve Regina\" (Hail, O \nQueen !), and kissed her footsteps. Then he \nstood up and hastened after his Lord, until he \ncame up with Him. And the picture was some- \ntimes so vividly present to his mind, that it \nseemed to him as if he were in body walking at \nChrist's side, and the thought would come to him, \nhow that when King David was driven from his \nkingdom his bravest captains walked around him \nand beside him, and gave him loving succour (2 \nKings xv.). At this point he gave up his will \nto God's will, desiring that God would do with \nhim according to His good pleasure. Last of \n\n\n54 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nall, he called to mind the epistle, which is read \nin Holy Week, from the prophecy of Isaias, \nbeginning, \"Quis credidit auditui nostro\" (Is. \nliii.), and which so exactly describes how the \nLord was led forth to death, and meditating \nupon it, he went in by the door of the choir, \nand so up the steps into the pulpit, until he \ncame beneath the cross, and then he besought \nthe Lord that neither life nor death, weal nor \nwoe, might separate his servant from Him. \n\nThere was another mournful way of the \ncross that he used to make, and it was in this \nwise: — While the \"Salve Regina\" was being \nsung at compline, he contemplated in his heart \nthe pure Mother as at that moment still stand- \ning beside her dear Child's grave, with all a \nmother's grief for her buried child, and that it \nwas time for her to be led home again, and that \nhe was to lead her home. Accordingly, he made \nthree prostrations (yenias) in his heart, and with \nthem he led her home again in his contempla- \ntion. The first was at the sepulchre. As soon \nas the u Salve Regina\" began, he bowed down \nhis soul before her, and supporting her in spiri- \ntual fashion with his arms, bewailed her tender \nheart, which was at that time so full of bitter- \nness, outrage, and deadly sorrow, and he sought \n\n\nTHE WAY OF THE CROSS. 55 \n\nto comfort her by reminding her that on account \nof all this she was now a queen in dignity, our \nhope and our sweetness, as it stands in the hymn. \nThen, when he had brought her under the gate- \nway into Jerusalem, he went on before her into \nthe street, and looking back upon her, as she \ncame along in wretchedness, all blood-stained \nwith the hot blood which had dropped upon her, \nas it streamed forth from the bursting wounds \nof her pierced Son, he marked how forsaken she \nwas and bereaved of all her consolation. Then \nhe received her again with a second interior \nprostration, at the words, \"Eia ergo advocata \nnostra!\" (Hail then, our advocate!), meaning \nby them that she should be of good cheer, since \nshe is the worthy advocate of us all ; and he \nbesought her with that love which shone forth \namid her anguish to turn to him her merciful \neyes, and to grant him, when this miserable life \nis over, lovingly to behold her august Son, ac- \ncording to the wish expressed in the prayer. \nHe made the third interior prostration before \nthe door of her mother St. Anne's house, whi- \nther he had led her in her sorrows, and, as he \ndid this, he commended himself to her gentle- \nness and loving sweetness, in the devout words, \n\"O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria!\" \n\n\n56 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\n(O gentle, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary!), \nand he prayed her to receive his wretched soul \nat its last passage, and to be its guide and de- \nfender from its evil enemies, through the gates \nof heaven to everlasting bliss.", "project_translation": false, "text_trust": "verbatim", "quote_safe": true, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }