Tuesday in Holy Week

From The Tree of Life by St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor

O whoever you are,

who at the word of an insistent servant,

that is your flesh,

by will or act

have shamelessly denied Christ,

who suffered for you,

remember the passion of your beloved Master

and go out with Peter

to weep most bitterly over yourself.

When the one

who looked upon the weeping Peter

looks upon you,

you will be inebriated with the wormwood

of a twofold bitterness:

remorse for yourself

and compassion for Christ,

so that having atoned with Peter

for the guilt of your crime,

with Peter

you will be filled

with the spirit of holiness.

St. Bonaventure, The Tree of Life, in Bonaventure

(The Classics of Western Spirituality),
Paulist Press, (c) 1978.

—