the crucified orator 730 overflowing from a contrite heart. For, unless you act most promptly and generously, fear the eternal thirst. For the time is coming, in which this thirsty Deer will be transformed into the most severe Judge. Then He will condemn finally those wicked men who had contempt for His most ardent thirst and their own salvation: “I was thirsty and you gave me no drink […] Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire” (Mt 25:42, 41). O sinner! So that you will not burn for eternity, refresh Christ who burns with thirst for your conversion. THE SIXTH WORD OF THE CRUCIFIED ORATOR “It is finished.” (Jn 19:30) Penance Is Most Perfect When It Is Consummated with Life Itself. Commencing any human work, but not completing it successfully, never brings glory; it is always ridiculed. Often, this results in a detriment and not a profit. What glory is there in beginning many things beautifully and then finishing badly or abandoning them undone? It is not commencement but completion that brings glory. Hence, God, the Creator of the Universe, after He commended the works of the other five days, did not give His solemn approval — “God saw that it was good” — to the second day’s work. The good God recognized all other works as good, [and] only the Firmament — as if unfinished —He did not praise. Why is this so? To this question, Rupert responds: “This is because the firmament — although a thing unique and beautiful to see — nevertheless, according to the intention of the One who made it,
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