honour and raiment; 4. Your power then seemed overcome; 5. They
mine, and Your loving heart inflame mine with fervour.
Sweet Lord! 1. First in Your mortal agony You were mocked with scornful words; 2. And with contemptuous gestures; 3. You were utterly annihilated in their hearts; 4. You continued under it steadfast; 5. And prayed to Your Father for them lovingly; 6. You, the innocent Lamb, were numbered with the guilty; 7. You were condemned and reviled by the thief on Your left; 8. But were invoked by him on the right; 9. You forgave the latter all his sins; 10. You unlocked for him the gates of paradise.
Beloved Lord! teach me, Your servant, to bear with firmness every ignominious word, every scornful gesture, and all sorts of contempt for Your sake, and lovingly to excuse my enemies before You. Ah, You infinite good, behold, this day I offer up, before the eyes of Your heavenly Father, Your innocent death for my guilty life. Lord, with the thief I cry out to You: Remember me when You come into Your kingdom! Condemn me not for my evil deeds, forgive all my sins, undo for me the gates of the heavenly paradise!
ON WEDNESDAY, OR AT SEXT.
Tender Lord! 1. At that hour You were forsaken for my sake of all men; 2. Your friends had renounced You; 3. You stood naked and robbed of all honour and raiment; 4. Your power then seemed overcome; 5. They treated You without mercy, and You bore it all in meekness and silence; 6. Alas, for Your gentle heart, You who alone knew at that time the depth of Your Mother's sorrow of heart; 7. And saw her deplorable state; 8. And heard her lamentable words; 9. And at Your mortal separation commended her to the filial piety of Your disciple; 10. And the disciple to her maternal love.
Oh therefore, You pattern of all virtues, take away from me all pernicious love of men, and all inordinate affection of friends; strip me of all impatience; give me steadfastness against all evil spirits, and meekness against all violent men. Give me, gentle Lord, Your bitter death in the bottom of my heart, in my prayers, and in the practice of good works. O tender Lord, I commend myself this day to the true fidelity and
care of Your pure Mother and Your beloved disciple.
O pure and tender Mother, I shall remind you to-day of the infinite sorrow of heart which you endured. - 1. At the first aspect of your dear Child when you saw Him suspended in agony; 2. You could not then come to Hiss assistance; 3. You gazed in anguish of heart at your beloved Son expiring before thine eyes; 4. You lamented over Him with great lamentation; 5. And He comforted you very kindly; 6. His divine words pierced your heart; 7. Your lamentable gestures softened the hard hearts of the Jews; 8. Your maternal arms and hands were most reverentially lifted up; 9. But your sick body sank exhausted on the ground; 10. Where your tender mouth affectionately kissed His fallen blood.
Oh, then Mother of all graces, watch over me like a mother for my whole life, and graciously shield me in the hour of my death. O gentle Lady! behold, that is the hour for the sake of which I desire to be your servant all my days. That is the dreadful hour which frightens my heart and soul, for then there will be an end to prayer and supplication. Then shall I, poor wretch, not know to whom to turn. Therefore, you unfathomable abyss of divine compassion, I fall at your feet this day with the fervent sighs of my heart, that I may then be found worthy of your joyous presence. How should he ever despond, or what can injure him whom here, O purest Mother, you protect? Ah, you only consolation, defend me against the terrible looks of the wicked spirits, lend me aid and protection against the hands of the enemy! Hearken consolingly to my wretched sighs, look kindly with the eyes of your compassion on my ghastly and enfeebled frame. Reach me your beneficent hands. Receive my poor soul. With your radiant countenance present it before the severe Judge, and install it in everlasting bliss!
ON THURSDAY, OR AT NONE.
O You most intimate delight of the Heavenly Father! 1. How You were abandoned at that hour on the cross to every pang of bitter death exteriorly, and robbed of all sweetness and solace interiorly! 2. You uttered a cry of misery to Your Father; 3. Your will You united wholly to His; 4. You thirsted bodily by reason of great dryness! 5. You thirsted
spiritually by reason of great love; 6. Your thirst was bitterly quenched; 7. And when all things were fulfilled You exclaimed: It is finished? 8. You were obedient unto Your Father, even unto death; 9. And You commended Your Spirit into His Fatherly hands; 10. And then Your noble soul separated from Your body.
Ah, You loving Lord, in this Your love I desire that You would open Your Fatherly ears at all times to my call, and give me in all things a will united to Thine. Lord, quench in me all thirst after bodily things; make me thirst after spiritual goods. Sweet Lord, let Your bitter drink change all my afflictions into sweetness. Grant me to persevere in perfect thoughts and in good works until death, and that I may never swerve from Your obedience. Eternal Wisdom, let my spirit be transferred from this day forth into Your hands, so that at its final departure it may be joyfully received by You. Lord, grant me a life pleasing in Your sight; a death well prepared for; an end made sure by You. Lord, let Your bitter death make amends for, and complete my insufficient works, so that at my last hours, guilt and punishment may be wholly effaced.
ON FRIDAY, OR AT VESPERS
Ah, my Lord, remember, 1. How the sharp spear was thrust into Your divine side; 2. How the purple blood ran out; 3. How the living water gushed forth; 4. And with what bitter toil You garnered me up; 5. And how generously You ransomed me; Loving Lord! may Your deep wounds shelter me from all my enemies; Your living water cleanse me from all my sins; Your rose-coloured blood adorn me with all graces and virtues. Tender Lord! May the prize You so bitterly won bind me to You! The ransom You so freely paid unite me eternally with You. Oh, you chosen consolation of all sinners, oh, you sweet Queen, remember to-day. 1. How you stood under the cross, and how, as your Son hung dead above you, you cast on Him many a look of misery; 2. How affectionately His arms were received by you; 3. With what fidelity pressed to your blood-stained face; 4. His bleeding wounds, His dead and ghastly features, were by you kissed again and again; 5. How many a death-wound your heart then received; 6. How many a fervent unfathomable sigh burst from you; 7. How many scalding tears you shed; 8. Your miserable words were so full