The Ecce Homo: A Remedy for Domestic Discord

A wealthy couple, in spite of all their riches, lived in constant discord and daily disputes. The married state was anything but a happy state for them; the wife especially often shed bitter tears.

One day she happened to come across a manuscript book which was entitled “Simple Remedies for the Household.” It was in her grandmother’s handwriting.

As she idly flipped through the pages, to her surprise her eye fell upon the heading: “A household remedy against discontent.”

Intrigued by the entry’s title, she read on:

“Whenever you feel miserable or are out of temper, go to the picture of the ‘Ecce Homo’ and place yourself at its feet. Contemplate it attentively for the space of three minutes, and recite three Our Fathers before you go away: this will restore peace and content to your mind. My confessor advised me to do this. I have tried the remedy for thirty years, and I have never found it to fail.”

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The lady remembered that by a mere chance she had kept the picture in question, which had belonged to her grandmother; it was upstairs in the attic.

She went up at once, dusted it carefully, and placed it in her room.

Whenever she felt that a quarrel was near, she tried the simple remedy her grandmother recommended.

Through gazing at the countenance of Our Lord, so sorrowful and yet so gentle, she became so much more forbearing and complaisant that her husband soon commented on the change.

She answered him with a smile: “I have found an excellent teacher.”

He wanted to know who that teacher was. She told him everything quite frankly.

Before long, her husband also had recourse to this same remedy, when he foresaw some household annoyance was in store for him.

Thus in the course of time, peace and happiness prevailed in that family circle.

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Taken from Anecdotes and Examples Illustrating the Catholic Catechism by Fr. Francis Spirago, pp. 336-337.