Preface

These pages, treating in a simple meditative manner of the sufferings of our Blessed Saviour, have already appeared in The Messenger of the Sacred Heart. They are now published in permanent form with the hope of increasing a love for the Sacred Passion. Spiritual writers tell us that the ordinary food of the fervent soul is a devotion to our Lord's sufferings; while the author of "The Following of Christ" says that there are more lovers of our Lord in His glory on Mount Thabor than in His agony and humiliation on Mount Calvary. In any case we can rest assured that in moments of pain and anguish, and truly there are many such in all lives, nothing can be more helpful, nothing more consoling, than to know and remember that our Blessed Master endured pain and sorrow for our sake; and that pain and sorrow bravely and patiently borne make us more and more like unto Him.

My sincere thanks are due to my dear friends, Father Joseph H. Smith, S. J., and Father John Corbett, S. J., who revised these pages and saw them through the press.

- Father John O'Rourke, S.J.
Feast of the Seven Sorrows, 1921
Kohlmann Hall, N. Y.