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| Anonymous | The Sodalist’s Hymnal (1887) |
|---|---|
| 1. Thy life, O Lord, is ebbing fast, Thine eyes are growing dim at last; How near to death Thou art! I hear Thou heave one heavy sigh: It is the last, the loudest cry That broke Thy Sacred Heart, That broke Thy Sacred Heart. |
2. The scene, the dreadful scene is o’er– The wicked men can do no more, Thy head is on Thy breast; The thorns, the nails Thou dost not fear, The cruel scoff, the bitter jeer– Thy Heart is now at rest, Thy Heart is now at rest. |
| 3. Thy voice, that made the demons flee, That waked the dead and calmed the sea, Itself in death is hushed; But O, we have this comfort sweet, Our foes lie prostrate at Thy feet, The serpent’s head is crushed, The serpent’s head is crushed. |
4. Thy corpse is hanging on the tree, While mocking crowds in impious glee The murd’rous act applaud; But quiv’ring earth and darkened skies, The crumbling rocks, the dead that rise, Proclaim Thee to be God, Proclaim Thee to be God. |
| 5. Yes, Jesus, bruised and marked with blood, And fastened to the dripping wood, To me Thou art the same, As throned on Thabor’s shining mount, Or in the heav’ns, of bliss the Fount, In glory and in shame, In glory and in shame. |
6. O, may Thy last, Thy piercing cry, The Blood that pleaded loud on high, For me be not in vain! O, make me treat the world as dross, And glory only in the Cross, On which Thou wouldst be slain, On which Thou wouldst be slain! Amen. |
O Jesus, my Savior! I see You now dead on this cross. You speak no more; You breathe no more; because You have life no longer, having willed to lose it to give life to our souls. You have no longer any blood; for you have shed it all, by dint of torments, to wash away our sins. In one word, You have abandoned Yourself to death through Your love for us. He has loved us, and delivered Himself for us. – Ephesians 5:2. “Let us consider,” writes St. Francis de Sales, “this divine Savior stretched upon the cross, as upon His altar of honor, where He is dying of love for us; but a love more painful than that very death. Ah, why, then, do we not in spirit throw ourselves upon Him to die upon the cross with Him, Who has willed to die there for love of us? ‘I will hold Him’, we ought to say, ‘and will never let Him go. I will die with Him, and be burned up in the flames of His love. One and the same fire shall consume this divine Creator and His miserable creature. My Jesus is all mine, and I am all His. I will live and die upon his breast; neither death nor life shall ever separate him from me.'” – St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Passion of Jesus Christ. 2. “The death of Jesus”.