Every good action has its proper effect towards God and towards ourselves; it makes compensation for our bad deeds, and it obtains favours from God in reward; it is satisfactory and it is meritorious. The human acts of Jesus Christ had all the conditions which give that character to our actions.
1. He placed Himself in our present stage of trial and preparation for the next life.
2. He possessed human liberty.
3. He was in the state of grace.
4. He had received that which makes merit possible for us, viz., the divine promise of reward.
"If He shall lay down His life for sin He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand" (Isa. liii. 10). The divine actions of Our Lord could not remain sterile, but produced an adequate effect. Those actions proceeded from an infinite and most holy Person; they were wrought in a human nature which had been assumed and sanctified by the Divinity; each action received its character and value, not from its visible importance in the mundane order of things, but from the source that produced it, and the intensity of the motives and sentiments that acted through it. And thus a single drop of the Precious Blood, a single action, prayer, or thought of Christ was of infinite value, both satisfactory and meritorious, and was capable of expiating the sins of mankind, and purchasing grace and glory for the whole world. Admire the infinite treasures of Our Lord's life, and thank Him for placing them at your disposal.
