Good Friday reflection

A beautiful prayer by Isaac of Nineveh:

Lord Jesus, our God, who wept for Lazarus, and shed for him tears of grief and compassion, accept the tears of my bitterness. By thy sufferings assuage my suffering. By thy wounds heal my wounds. By thy blood cleanse my blood. Pour out on my body the perfume of thy life-giving body. For the gall that thou was given to drink changes the bitterness of my soul into sweetness. May thy body stretched on the wood of the cross draw to thee my spirit crushed by the demons. May thy sacred hands pierced with the nails snatch me from the pit of damnation and bring me back to thee, as thou hast promised. May thy face which suffered blows and spittle enlighten my face that is defiled by my wrongdoing. May thy soul which on the cross thou didst give back to thy Father lead me by thy grace to thee. I have no broken heart to start me on the quest for thee, no penitence, no tenderness. I have no tears with which to pray to thee. My spirit is in darkness. My heart is cold. I know not how to make it warm again by tears of love for thee. But thou, Lord Jesus Christ, my God, do thou give me complete repentance, the breaking of my hearts, that with my whole soul I may set out in quest of thee. Without thee I should be without all reality. May the Father who in his womb begot thee in eternity renew in me thine image. I have forsaken thee. Do not thou forsake me. I have wandered far from thee. Do thou set out in quest of me. Lead me back to thy pastures with the sheep of thy flock. Feed me together with them on the fresh grazing of thy mysteries where the pure heart dwells, the heart that bears in it the splendour of thy revelations. May we be worthy of such splendour through thy grace and by thy love for humankind, O Jesus Christ our Saviour, for ever and ever. Amen.