blows, and with blindfolding of Your eyes; 4. Early accused before
ONE HUNDRED MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS, COMPRISED IN FEW WORDS.
ON SUNDAY, OR AT MATINS.
O Eternal Wisdom, my heart reminds You of Your sorrow of soul. 1. When after the Last Supper on the Mount, You were bathed in Your bloody sweat because of the anxiety of Your heart; 2. And when like an enemy You were made prisoner, cruelly bound, and led miserably away; 3. When, Lord, You were sacrilegiously maltreated in the night with hard blows, and with blindfolding of Your eyes; 4. Early accused before Caiaphas and pronounced worthy of death; 5. Seen by Your affectionate mother with unspeakable sorrow of heart; 6. You were ignominiously presented before Pilate, falsely accused, and condemned to die; 7. O Eternal Wisdom, You were mocked as a fool in a white garment before Herod; 8. Your fair body was torn and rent without mercy by the cruel whips of Your scourgers; 9. Your delicate head was pierced with sharp thorns and Your sweet face, in consequence, drenched with blood; 10. Thus condemned You were led miserably and shamefully with Your cross to death.
Alas, my only hope, let me, therefore, remind You to give me Your fatherly aid in all my distresses. Oh, unloose my sinful fetters, guard me against secret vice and open guilt, shelter me from the false councils of the enemy, and from the occasion of all crime, inspire me with a sincere sympathy for Your own sufferings and for those of Your tender mother. Lord, at my last departure, judge me mercifully, teach me to condemn worldly honours, and to serve You wisely. Let all my infirmities be healed in Your wounds. Let my reason be fortified and adorned by the injuries inflicted on Your head, and may Your whole Passion be imitated by me according to my ability. Amen.
Sweet Lord! 1. When on the high branches of the cross Your eyes were extinguished and turned in their sockets; 2. Your divine ears filled with mockery and blasphemy; 3. Your delicate nostrils stopped with rank smells; 4. Your sweet mouth with bitter drink; 5. Your tender feeling
visited with rude blows. Therefore do I beg that You would guard this day my eyes from all dissolute sights, my ears from voluptuous speech. Lord, take away from me all relish of bodily things, make all temporal things unpleasant to me, and rid me of all tenderness for my own body.
ON MONDAY, OR AT PRIME.
Ah, tender Lord! 1. When Your divine head was bowed down by weakness and utter debility; 2. Your fair throat very grievously distended; 3. Your blessed features polluted with spittle and blood; 4. Your clear complexion made livid; 5. All Your beautiful form smitten with death. Grant me, therefore, O Lord, to love bodily pain, and to seek all my rest in You, to endure injuries willingly from others, to desire contempt, to die to my affections and all my lusts.
Sweet Lord! 1. When Your right hand was nailed down; 2. Your left hand struck through; 3. Your right arm extended; 4. Your left stretched out; 5. Your right foot hammered through; 6. Your left made fast; 7. You hung suspended in a swoon; 8. And in great weariness of Your divine limbs; 9. All Your tender joints were immovably strained on the hard bed of the cross; 10. Your body was drenched in many places with Your hot blood. Therefore, O Lord, I beseech that I may be made immovably fast to You in joy and sorrow, that all the powers of my body and soul may be distended on Your cross, and my reason and affections nailed to it. Grant me inability to indulge in bodily pleasure, promptness in seeking Your praise and honour. I crave that no limb of my body may be without a living token of Your death, a spontaneous proof of the image of Your Passion.
ON TUESDAY, OR AT TIERCE.
Tender Lord! 1. Your blooming body pined and withered away on the cross; 2. Your weary and tender back leant uneasily against the hard wood; 3. Your heavy frame painfully gave way; 4. All Your limbs were covered with sores; 5. Your heart endured it lovingly. Lord, be Your withering a re-blooming to me for ever. Your uneasy leaning my spiritual rest. Your giving way, my powerful support. All Your wounds must heal