the suffering christ 782 from the first one, it had the taste of blood. Water from the second had the taste of milk, and from the third the water had its very own individual taste. Moreover, sacred history testifies that when the sacred head of the Prince of the Church (St. Paul) was cut off at that place, falling to the ground three times, it skipped three times and immediately there came forth three springs of blood, milk, and very clean delicious water. The color is the same today, but the taste, as I related, surprised me as being entirely different. Also, it is not without great mystery, because the fount of blood signifies the most impetuous zeal of the Apostle in preaching, loving, and confessing Christ up to the point of giving his blood, according to words of Christ about him: “He is a chosen instrument of [M]ine to carry [M]y name before the Gentiles and kings and sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of [M]y name” (Acts 9:15-16). Howmuch (must he suffer)? Hear the Apostle himself, as he gives evidence, enumerating how much [this] servant of Christ was tried more than the others: “Far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleeples night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Cor 1:2328). And finally, his neck (was) placed under the sword. These are the characteristics of the fount of blood. To the fount of milk is connected the idea of maternal tenderness with which he brought forth children to Christ, brought them up with such wonderful, admirable sweetness, that becoming everything for everyone, he seemed to be all milk. And he did not deny this, speaking in this way to the Corinthians: “As infants
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==