By St. Theophan the Recluse
The Lord goes to a voluntary passion.
We must accompany Him. This is the duty of anyone who
confesses that by the power of Christ’s passion he
has become who he is now, and of anyone who hopes to
receive something which is so great and glorious, that it
could not even enter one’s mind. How must one
accompany Him? Through reflection and sympathy. Follow the
suffering Lord in thought; and in your reflection extract
such impressions as could strike your heart and bring it
to feel the sufferings which were borne by the Lord. In
order to better accomplish this, you must make yourself
suffer through perceptible lessening of food and sleep,
and an increase in the labor of standing and kneeling. Fulfill all that the Holy Church does, and you will be a
good fellow-traveller of the Lord to His
sufferings.
