On this eve of the liturgical celebration of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, this short meditation is from a seventeenth-century Carthusian named Dom Renatus Hensæus. In 1610 he became Prior of the Charterhouse at Brno, in what is now called the Czech Republic. He made his profession, however, at La Grande Chartreuse.Meditation
‘One of the soldiers with a spear opened his side’. ~ Saint John 19:34
Consider the Wound made in Our Lord's Side, and admire the ruling Providence of God, Who makes use of a soldier's cruelty for the production of this Wound. Enraged that Christ, by dying too quickly, has escaped so soon from the torments and insults of the Jews and executioners, this infuriated man wreaks his blind rage on the dead Body of the Saviour, and ruthlessly drives his spear into the Side with such violence that the Cross is shaken by the blow and nearly thrown down.
First point
God Himself willed that the Side of the second Adam, sleeping on the Cross, should be opened, in order that the Church might be taken from it. This is what Saint John would give us to understand when he so minutely and expressly states, that ‘immediately there came out Blood and Water’ (Saint John 19:34), which are the symbols of our salvation. This Blood and this Water, passing through the Sacraments, as through so many channels, come to us to cleanse and sanctify us. O how great is the charity of our Good Samaritan!
Second point
Moreover, the Lord would have the Side of Jesus opened in order that it might become the Door set in the side of the ark, through which all could enter who wish to escape this world's deluge.
Third point
Finally, Jesus had His Side opened so that by this visible Wound, we might behold the Wound of love which has pierced His Heart.
Conclusion
Enter then through this Gate of Paradise; come to the Fountain and the Tree of Life, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that you may see how He has borne you in that Heart. Enter by this Door into the mystical store-house. The Spouse of souls invites you there when He says: ‘Si quis sitit, veniat ad me, et bibat -- If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink’ (Saint John 7:37).
