Jesus, Mercy Incarnate
dition of Jesus on the Cross; cf. St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), no. 78, p. 146, and Pope John Paul II, Jesus: Son and Savior, A Catechesis on the Creed , (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1996), 472. Besides, if Jesus possessed the light of universal foreknowledge in His human soul at the time of His Passion, then much of what He would have foreseen — all the sins, mistrust, and ingratitude of future generations — surely would have increased rather than mitigated His sorrows; see St. John Eudes, The Sacred Heart (New York: P.J. Kennedy and Sons, 1946), 105.As for the witness of Scripture, it may be possible to reconcile it with the traditional teaching if we bear in mind the distinction between what Jesus had present before His con- scious mind, and all the infused knowledge that He held subconsciously, an habitual knowledge to which He had access only as the needs of His mission and His Father’s will permitted; on this see Karl Adam, The Christ of Faith (New York: Pantheon, 1955), 291-312. On the whole modern theological controversy regarding the scope of the human knowledge of the earthly Jesus, see Most, Consciousness , 148-173, and Bertrand De Margerie, S.J., The Human Knowledge of Christ (Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 1980). 17 This story is recorded in St. Alphonsus, The Passion , 21; cf. St. Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis , I.5. 18 St. Alphonsus, The Passion , 207. 19 We are encouraged to do this especially by St. Paul of the Cross: When alone in your room, take your crucifix in your hands; lovingly kiss the wounds of Jesus, and ask Him to preach to you a little sermon. Listen, then, to the words of eternal life He will speak to your heart. Let His crown of thorns speak to you; the nails; His Precious Blood. Oh! What a sermon they preach to us! Cajetan Reynders, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross; His Spirit and Virtues (Union City, N.J.: Passionist Fathers, 1960), 186. 20 St. Alphonsus, The Passion , 429. 21 Dina Belanger, Autobiography of Dina Belanger (Quebec: Religious of Jesus and Mary, 1984), 262 . 22 Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love (Rockford, IL: TAN, 1981), 244. 23 Ibid ., 246 92 Jesus, Mercy Incarnate
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