Of the conflict in Gethsemane Leo said—“The lower will gave way to the higher, and it was shown to us what may be prayed for by one in distress, and what ought not be granted by the Healer. For since we know not what to pray for as we ought, and it is good for us that what we wish should not for the most part take place, when we seek for what would hurt us, our good and righteous Lord is merciful in refusing it. Therefore, when our Lord had by threefold prayer settled the mode of putting our own wills right, He said to His disciples, ‘Sleep on now and take your rest.’” And the three women—mother, sister, and bride—in the agony of their Gethsemane of dread and longing for their beloved, at Aquileia or in all the perils of their journeys by sea and land, listening to those words of pardon and peace, comforted one another, and went home that night, and prayed Thy will be done, and slept and took their rest. Even for Judas Leo had a word of sympathy, recognizing the yearning of the Master even for the traitor. “From this man,” he said, “was withheld no condescension, lest some vexation should give him the motive for crime; for after the Lord had died for all, perhaps even this man might have found mercy if he had not hurried to his death.” And so the tide of tender, sacred adoration flowed deeper and higher on through the days of the Passion, without a touch of morbid, melodramatic sensation, or of weak introspection. “The Festival of our Lord’s Passion,” as he called it, “suffers us not to be silent amid our exulting bursts of spiritual joy. For since the prophet says, ‘Seek His face evermore,’ no one ought to presume that he has found the whole of what he is seeking, lest by seeking to advance we fail to draw near.” “The lowliness we see in God amazes us more than the power; we find it harder to grasp the emptying of the Divine Majesty than the carrying up on high the form of a servant. “He shed righteous blood which was to be both the ransom and the cup of life (_pretium et poculum_) for the reconciliation of the world. Not a reluctant victim, but a willing sacrifice. For the nature which in us was ever guilty, in Him suffered, innocent and free. “What is inflicted by ferocity is welcomed by free-will, so that the audacity of the crime completes the work of the Eternal will. “He submitted Himself to the impious hands of infuriated men, who were busy with their own wickedness, and were doing the behests of the Redeemer. Even towards those who were killing Him, so strong was His feeling of tenderness, that in His prayer to the Father from the Cross, He asked not that He should be avenged, but that they should be pardoned.