m his
birth; fed the hungry multitude in the wilderness." And again he
says, "The stretched-out hands denote the kindness of the parent,
who desires to receive his children to his breast." And thus let thy
hands be so stretched out to the poor that thou mayest be able to
say, "My soul is always in my hand." For that which is held in the
hand is not easily forgotten. So he may be said to call his soul to
memory, who carries it, as it were, in his hands through the good
opinion that men conceive of it. His hands were fixed, that they may
instruct thee to hold back thy hands, with the nails of fear, from
unlawful or harmful works.

That glorious breast, in which are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, is pierced with the lance of a soldier, to the
end that thy heart might be cleansed from evil thoughts, and being
cleansed might be sanctified, and being sanctified might be
preserved. The feet, whose footstool the Prophets commanded to be
sanctified, were bitterly nailed to the cross, lest thy feet should
sustain evil, or be swift to shed blood; but, running in the way of
the Lord, stable in his path, and fixed in his road, might not turn
aside to the right hand nor to the left. "What could have been done
more?"

Why did Christ bow his head on the cross? To teach us that by
humility we must enter into Heaven. Also, to show that we must rest
from our own work. Also, that he might comply with the petition,
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth"; also that he might
ask permission of his bride to leave her. Of great virtue is the
memory of the Lord's passion, which, if it be firmly held in the
mind, every cloud of error and sin is dispersed. Whence the blessed
Bernard says: "Always having Christ, and him crucified, in the
heart."

THE BLESSED DEAD

They who die in the Lord are blessed, on account of two things which
immediately follow. For they enter into most sweet rest, and enjoy
most delicate refreshment. Concerning their rest it immediately
follows. "Even so saith the spirit" (that is, says the gloss, the
whole Trinity), for they rest from their labors. "And it is a
pleasant bed on which they take their rest, who, as is aforesaid,
die in the Lord." For this bed is none other than the sweet
consolation of the Creator. Of this consolation he speaks himself by
the Prophet Isaiah: "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I
comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem." O