by Joseph and Nicodemus, and laid in the bosom of his weeping mother. Consider the sighs and tears of the Virgin Mother; with what pangs she embraced the bleeding remains of her beloved Son. Here unite your tears with those of this disconsolate mother. Reflect that your Saviour would not descend from the cross, until he consummated the work of redemption. Hence learn constancy in your pious resolutions; cleave to the standard of the cross. Consider with what purity that soul should be adorned, which receives, in the blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ’s most sacred body and blood.
PRAYER.
AT length, O blessed Virgin, Mother of sorrows, you are permitted to embrace your beloved Son. But alas! the fruit of your immaculate womb is mangled. From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, there is no soundness in him. Yes, the infernal fury of the Jews has at length triumphed; yet we renew their barbarity, crucify him by our sins, inflicting new wounds. Most afflicted Mother of my Redeemer, I conjure you, by the pains and torments you suffered in the common cause of salvation, to obtain for me, by your powerful intercession, the pardon of my sins, and grace to deplore, with a sympathizing feeling, your and your Son’s sufferings. As often as I appear at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, let me embrace thee, O my Jesus, in the interior of my heart. May I worthily receive thee as the sacred pledge of my salvation. Amen.
Our Father, etc. Hail Mary, etc. Glory be to the Father, etc.
V. Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us.
R. Have mercy on us: O Lord, have mercy on us.
