[Meditationes seu Contemplationes devotissimae]

O what gratuitous, and thus proven, affection! O what unexpected condescension! O what stupendous sweetness, for the King of Glory to be crucified for a most despised servant—nay, a worm! Scarcely for a just man does one die, and he died for enemies and the unjust. Look back, faithful soul, with the eye of the mind to how great a debt of remuneration you are bound to the suffering Lord. Recall the bloody sweat, the alapa slap/blow, the contumely, the insistence of the scourges, the crown of thorns, the anguish of the cross, the hanging on the gallows, the inclined head, the languishing eyes, the pierced hands, the wounded feet, the perforated side, the food mixed with gall, the acidic drinks, the service of the sponge, reed, and hyssop, the mockeries of spittle, the blows of the reed, the standing thieves, the bowing of knees, the mocking, the famous title, the lots cast, the divisions of the garments. What more? The vilest punishment of death and the most wicked disgraces. O what hard and harsh things you suffered for men, good Jesus! Hard words, harder blows, and the hardest and most horrible torments of the cross. Therefore, let all the faithful praise and adore him, who through your passion and death have been called from darkness to light, from death to life, from corruption to incorruption, from exile to the homeland, from mourning to joy.

Concerning the passion of the most glorious Virgin Mary and the lamentation of the passion and most bitter death of her most beloved son

Let it not pass you by, faithful soul, to contemplate, and while contemplating, to feel sympathy for the glorious Virgin, whose soul the sword of his passion pierced most bitterly. Think how, when she had seen her son struck with fists, beaten with stones, crowned with thorns, all her bowels were moved, and her spirit failed, and there was no man nor sense. Remember, moreover, devout soul, how, with the herald shouting and Pilate commanding, when her son was carrying his cross to the punishment and dragging it, what a gathering of the crowds was made after him, some of whom were mocking and laughing, and others were throwing mud and dung and other filth upon his head. With how much pain she followed, with his most sad mother and with the women who had followed him from Galilee, ministering to him, by whom she was held as if dead and was supported. When some of the splendid, terrible predator had touched them, the impious and tartarean legions, terrified and trembling, began to inquire, saying: