man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and
they shall be two in one flesh.' That was the marriage of which it is
written: 'This is a great Sacrament. I speak in Christ and in the Church.'
Jesus Christ, the second Adam, was pleased also to let sleep come upon
him--the sleep of death on the cross, and he was also pleased to let his
side be opened, in order that the second Eve, his virgin Spouse, the
Church, the mother of all the living, might be formed from it. It was
his will to give her the blood of redemption, the water of
purification, and his spirit--the three which render testimony on earth--and
to bestow upon her also the holy Sacraments, in order that she might be
pure, holy, and undefiled; he was to be her head, and we were to be her
members, under submission to the head, the bone of his bones, and the
flesh of his flesh. In taking human nature, that he might suffer death
for us, he had also left his Eternal Father, to cleave to his Spouse,
the Church, and he became one flesh with her, by feeding her with the
Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, in which he unites himself unceasingly
with us. He had been pleased to remain on earth with his Church, until
we shall all be united together by him within her fold, and he has
said: 'The gates of hell shall never prevail against her.' To satisfy his
unspeakable love for sinners, our Lord had become man and a brother of
these same sinners, that so he might take upon himself the punishment
due to all their crimes. He had contemplated with deep sorrow the
greatness of this debt and the unspeakable sufferings by which it was
to be acquitted. Yet he had most joyfully given himself up to the will
of his Heavenly Father as a victim of expiation. Now, however, he beheld
all the future sufferings, combats, and wounds of his heavenly Spouse;
in one word, he beheld the ingratitude of men.

The soul of Jesus beheld all the future sufferings of his Apostles,
disciples, and friends; after which he saw the primitive Church,
numbering but few souls in her fold at first, and then in proportion as
her numbers increased, disturbed by heresies and schisms breaking out
among her children, who repeated the sin of Adam by pride and
disobedience. He saw the tepidity, malice and corruption of an infinite
number of Christians, the lies and deceptions of proud teachers, all
the sacrileges of wicked priests, the fatal consequences of each sin,
and the abomination of desolation