The Five Graces

TO ALL THOSE FAITHFUL WHO SHALL RECITE FOR 3 YEARS, EACH DAY, 2 PATERS, GLORIAS AND AVES, IN HONOR OF THE DROPS OF BLOOD I LOST, I WILL CONCEDE THE FOLLOWING FIVE GRACES:

1. The plenary indulgence and remittance of your sins.
2. You will be free from the pains of Purgatory.
3. If you should die before completing the said 3 years,
for you it will be the same as if you had completed them.
4. It will be upon your death the same as if you had shed all your blood for the Holy Faith.
5. I will descend from Heaven to take your soul and that of your relatives, until the fourth generation.

Be it known that the number of armed soldiers were 150; those who trailed me while I was bound were 23. The executioners of justice were 83; the blows received on my head were 150; those on my stomach, 108; kicks on my shoulders, 80. I was led, bound with cords by the hair, 24 times; spits in the face were 180; I was beaten on the body 6666 times; beaten on the head 110 times; I was roughly pushed, and at 12 o' clock I was lifted up by the hair; pricked with thorns and pulled by the beard 23 times; received 20 wounds on the head; thorns of marine junks, 72; pricks of thorns in the head, 110; mortal thorns in the forehead, 3. I was afterwards flogged and dressed as a mocked king; wounds in the body, 1000. The soldiers who led Me to the Calvary were 608; those who watched Me were 3, and those who mocked Me were 1008; the drops of blood which I lost were 28,430.

BENEDETTA DA SS., POPE LEO XIII, IN ROMA 5 APRILE 1890

Your Cross

The everlasting God has in His wisdom
forseen from eternity that cross that He now
presents to you as a gift from His all-knowing
eyes, understood with His Divine mind, tested
with His wise justice, warmed with loving
arms and weighed with His won hands to see
that it be not one inch too large and not one
ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it
with His Holy Name, anointed it with His
grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken
one last glance at you and your courage, and
then sent it to you from Heaven, a special
greeting from God to you, an alms of the
all-merciful love of God.