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 long stand, pierced with the sword of grief, as the prophet Simeon had foretold of thee. I praise and heartily commend thee for the many tears which thou didst at that time so freely shed; for the supreme fidelity, and unswerving constancy, which thou didst show to thy dying Son, in His last need; for the anguish of heart which thou didst so acutely feel at the moment of His death; for thy face running down with tears, when thou didst behold Him hanging before thee dead; for that loving embrace with which thou didst take Him into a Mother's arms, and with a wail of lament didst clasp Him to thy bosom; for thy mournful journey to the place of burial, when, in spite of thy excessive grief, thou didst follow the bearers of the sacred corpse, and didst see It placed in the tomb, and enclosed therein by a great stone; for thy sorrowing return from the tomb, and for thy entrance into thy new abode, where, together with the many faithful ones there assembled, thou didst again bitterly mourn the death of the Son of thy love, and from the eyes of them all didst draw forth tears of sympathy with thy grief.

Do thou, then, O my soul, mourn also with the sorrowing Virgin, the weeping Mother, the loving Mary. If thou lovest Mary, thou oughtest to share her sorrow, that so she may come to help thee in thy time of need, See how the loving Mother bewails her only Son, Mary of Cleophas bewails her dearly loved Nephew, Mary Magdalene bewails the Physician of her soul, John bewails his most sweet Master, all the apostles bewail their Lord taken away from their midst. Who would not shed tears when so many shed tears together? Great indeed was that wailing in Jerusalem. Stand thou, then, here a while, and let that Vir-