Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/227

 by using  the  tender  name  of  Mother. He recommends to her  care  His  disciple  St.  John,  and  in  him  all  Christians,  in  order  that  she,  who  is  so  powerful  before  God, might be  a  Mother  to  us  all. She accepts  the  charge willingly, and  hence  she  is  deservedly  styled  by  the Saints, "  the  Mother  of  the  living." Recommend yourself, therefore,  to  her,  and  say  with  the  Church,  "  Show thyself  a  mother."

III. " Behold  your  mother." He wishes  you  to  have recourse to  her,  as  a  child  has  to  his  mother,  and  to  love and respect  her  as  your  own  parent. By this  expression He also  teaches  you  to  love,  respect,  and  assist  your parents to  their  last  breath. Observe how  He  recommends the  virgin  John  to  His  virgin  Mother. Be therefore a  lover  of  chastity,  if  you  wish  to  be  ranked  among the sons  of  Mary. Imitate St.  John  in  devotion  to  your sacred Mother. " From  that  hour  the  disciple  took  her to  His  own." (John xix.  27.)

"Behold, thy  King  cometh  to  thee,  meek." (Matt. xxi.  5.)

I. "Behold,  thy  King  cometh  to  thee,  meek." " Thou art  thyself,  my  King  and  my  God,  who  commandest  the saving  of  Jacob." (Ps. xliii.  5.)  Upon  other  occasions He displays  Himself  to  us  as  the  King  of  majesty,  a powerful  King,  or  the  King  of  terrors;  but  in  His  passion He assumes  the  character  of  a  mild  King,  who,  "when He  suffered,  He  threatened  not." (1 Pet.  ii.  23.)  The same being  is,  therefore,  to-day  represented  seated  on an  ass,  who  on  other  occasions  "sitteth  on  the  Cherubim, and  walketh  on  the  wings  of  the  winds." (Ps. xcviii. 1  and  ciii.  3.)   In  this  character  of  mildness  He  will