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•      We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
  Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world

     At length He has arrived at the place of sacrifice, and they begin to prepare Him for the Cross. His garments are torn from His bleeding body, and He, the Holy of Holiest, stands exposed to the gaze of the coarse and scoffing multitude.

     You who in Your Passion was stripped of all Your clothes, and held up to the curiosity and mockery of the rabble, strip me of myself here and now, that in the Last Day I come not to
 
shame before men and Angels. You did endure the shame on Calvary, that I might be spared the shame of the Judgment. You had nothing to be ashamed of personally, and the shame which You did feel was because You had taken on Yourself man's nature. When they took Your garments from You, those innocent limbs of Yours were but objects of humble and loving adoration to the highest Seraphim. They stood around in speechless awe, wondering at Your beauty, and they trembled at Your infinite self-abasement. But I, O Lord, how shall I appear if You should hold me up hereafter to be gazed upon, stripped of that robe of grace which is Yours, and seen in my own personal life and nature? O how hideous I am in myself, even in my best estate. Even when I am cleansed from my mortal sins, what disease and corruption is seen even in my venial sins. How shall I be fit for the society of Angels, how for Your presence, until You burn this foul leprosy away in the fire of Purgatory?