thy soul, when thy Beloved, thine, only one, came to bid thee farewell, and to ask thy maternal blessing, ere he went forth to death. Remember, O Mother most afflicted, how thy heart was wrung when thy most tender and only Son, thy delight, so lovingly embraced thee for the last time, and with plaintive voice and tearful eyes bade thee farewell. Remember now your sighs and tears, when the hearts so joined together by the strongest ties of love were thus torn asunder, and pierced through with the keenest wound of sorrow. By that mournful going away of thy Son, and by all the bitter tears thou didst shed, I beseech thee, O Mary, be with me at the last, when all my friends turn away from my lifeless body, and protect me with thy maternal blessing from all the snares of the enemy. Amen.
THE SECOND SWORD.
O Most afflicted Virgin Mary, I recall to thy mind now that keen sword of sorrow which pierced thy soul, when the blessed John came to tell thee that thy Son had been betrayed by Judas, seized by the Jews, dragged before Annas and Caiphas, and there blasphemed and mocked, spit upon, buffeted, and overwhelmed with contumely and rude reproach. Remember, O thou most afflicted one, how these mournful tidings pierced thy heart. Oh, remember now the moans and wailing plaints with
