Chapter 51: Of the transcendent virtues of the Blessed Virgin, and of her grief and tears

I BLESS you, and I praise and glorify you, O Virgin Mary, holy Mother of God, for all the good gifts abundantly bestowed upon you by God; for your virtues without number; and for the very great privileges of grace, by which you were so remarkably distinguished above all the Saints upon earth, in being thought worthy to become the Mother of God, to hold in your lap, to clasp in your blessed arms, to lift and to carry about, the Word of God, Who of your substance had taken Flesh.

I bless, and praise, and honour you, O chosen Mother, and lowly handmaid, of God, for all the loving service, and all the needed help, which you did render to Christ, your Son according to the flesh; for all the persecution and want, and for all the toil and fatigue, which you did so uncomplainingly undergo for Him. I bless, and praise, and venerate you, O illustrious Mary, Mother and daughter of the Everlasting King, for all the sweet converse which you so often had with Jesus; for all the Divine words to which, as they fell from His Lips, you did so discreetly listen, treasuring them up in your chaste breast, and sweetly meditating upon them in your heart. I venerate you for the splendid consolations which you did so often receive from Him; for the very great joy and rejoicing of heart which you did, so long, and so wistfully, experience from His presence, and from the grace breathed forth upon you by the Holy Spirit of God.

I bless you, and I praise and magnify you, my adorable Lady, Holy Mary, for that most pure and holy life, so pleasing to God and to His Angels, which you did so long time live with Jesus in retirement, and in great poverty; in which you were tried by many afflictions and distresses; by which you did leave to all faithful servants of Christ an example to be by them devoutly imitated; and by which you will have very greatly profited the universal Church, in the difficulties which she must encounter so long as the world shall last.

I bless you, and praise and celebrate you, O Mary, most kind and most devoted Mother of God, for all your devout exercises and sacred meditations on the law of God by day and by night; for your most fervent prayers, and tears and fastings, offered with such great earnestness before the Throne of God, for the conversion of sinners and the perseverance of the just; for your profound compassion for the poor and infirm, for those tempted and in anguish of soul; and for your consuming thirst for the salvation of the human race, the price of which you knew to be the cruel death of your Son. And although you did love your only Son with love unspeakable, yet did you not hold Him back from ascending the dreadful Cross, but did with all your heart submit yourself, together with your Son, to what had been ordained of God. You were ever forward in condoling with Him in all His pain and anguish, and did bravely follow Him to the foot of the shameful Cross, taking no heed of the flight of His disciples, nor fearing the savagery of the Jews, preferring to go to death with Him, to deserting your Son at a time of such anguish and distress.

I bless you, I praise and extol you, most faithful and loving Mother of God, heavenly Mary, for that constancy in firm faith and perfect love, which you did show, when, on the flight of some of the apostles from fear, and when others only followed their Lord, as if ashamed of Him, you alone, in the Passion of your Son, did never cease to keep burning the unquenchable light of faith; nothing doubting that in three days your Son would rise again, as He, with His Own Lips, had very clearly foretold. For, when all the friends of Jesus had forsaken Him and fled, you, O most sorrowful Mother, passing through the raging, surging mob, did, with a humble following of women, hasten to the Hill of Calvary; that so you might be as near as could be to your Son, about to die upon the Cross; and might once more behold alive Him, from Whom, before His death, you were about to hear the words of loving committal to Saint John.

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

Do you, then, O my soul, mourn also with the sorrowing Virgin, the weeping Mother, the loving Mary. If you love Mary, you ought to share her sorrow, that so she may come to help you in your 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 you, then, here a while, and let that Virgin Mother, whose bitter tears cannot fail to stir the inmost recesses of your heart, teach you what mourning means. She who is now standing at the Cross's foot, pierced through with grievous sorrow, was only a few short years ago standing by a manger's side, her ears ringing with the music of the heavenly choir; she who is now tormented by the shrieking of the Jews, was but a short while since being comforted by the voices of Angels; she who is now clothed in a garment of mourning was not long ago being venerated by the Holy Kings. The lifeblood of that Son, Whose snow-white cheek was once pressed so fondly to her own, is now falling upon her drop by drop; she beholds, hanging between two thieves, Him Whom she has so often seen working mighty wonders in the midst of the people. She sees, made like to a leper by the loathsomeness of His Wounds, Him by the touch of Whose Hand she has seen full many a leper cleansed. She has before her eyes, racked with pain of every kind. Him, Who used to heal of every disease those who were sick. She beholds, given over to death, that Son at Whose word dead Lazarus came back to life. All that was pleasant in Him is now turned to sadness, all that was sweet in Him is now turned to bitterness. With such a tempest of evils is the bright-shining Star of the Sea surrounded; but a mind fixed steadfastly upon God is not to be overcome by the wickedness of men. She stands therefore at the Cross's foot, constant, and faithful, patient, and loving; not heeding those who threaten her with death; not shrinking from the insults of those who heap curses upon her. She bears it all calmly, and strives to follow the example of her Son's humility in making no answer to her cruel enemies. Not a harsh word does she speak, not an indignant gesture does she use; but she heaves many a sigh, she weeps bitterly, she is bowed down with sorrow, she suffers with each pang of her dying Son, her affliction is more than she can bear. And yet she is not angry with those who are crucifying her Son, she prays for those who are using Him so despitefully, she is sorry for those who are mocking Him, she pities the blasphemers of Christ. It was thus that the Mother of Jesus, bathed in tears, stood at the foot of the Cross, bringing comfort to all who are in trouble or distress by the example of her meekness and her patience.

O all you who pass along the Way of Calvary turn your eyes upon Holy Mary as she stands there in her grief Look to the right of the Cross, and mark there Mary the Mother of Christ, and say was ever sorrow like her sorrow, was ever in the world a mother who suffered with her son in loving anguish such as hers; for in all the tortured limbs of Jesus she was herself tortured in soul, and she became a martyr every time she looked upon the bleeding wounds of her Son.

See to it then, O faithful soul, that you lay up in the recesses of your heart all these things. Be brave and meek when tribulation comes upon you. Be not disquieted, nor fall into despair, if that which you do value most is taken from you; or if that which you think to be needful for you is refused you; for it is those friends of Jesus, who are most dear to Him, who are wont to be tried the most. If God spared not His Own Son; but delivered Him up for us all to sufferings so grievous, how can you in this life seek for happiness? If Christ sought not Himself, but became obedient, and ready to undergo all that was most vile and painful, why do you shrink, as you do, from toil and distress, and do not rather, for the love of the Crucified, cling to things that are hard and displeasing? If He allowed His Own most Holy Mother to be grievously afflicted in this world; if He allowed her to be often in tribulation, to endure great anguish of soul, and to shed many tears, how can you expect to live in this world free of worries? And if you call to mind all the men who were the friends of God, you will not find one who passed through the waves of this troublesome world without being severely tried. Take then to yourself from Him Who was Crucified for you, and from His Blessed Mother, an example of unwearied patience; and in return for the infinite yearning of Jesus for your Salvation, shrink not from enduring some small affliction; that so, when His Glory shall be revealed, you may have the perpetual joy of His Countenance. The most gracious Mother of Jesus knows how to suffer lovingly with those that suffer. From what she herself suffered, she has learnt to be kind and pitiful to those in distress, and she will not forget her poor ones; she will listen to their prayers; she will in due time help those who call upon her; she will show favour to all those who are devoted to her.

O most merciful Lord Jesus, sweet Son of Mary, shed down upon me, I beseech You, the grace of holy tears, and pierce my heart with a wound of very deep compassion, such as I know that to have been with which Your loving Mother's heart was pierced. Look upon me with those Eyes full of pity, with which You did behold Your Mother and Your disciple standing in tears at the foot of the Cross, what time You did commend the one to the other, and did bid them farewell in those touching words: " Behold your son: behold your Mother." Visit me, I beseech You, with Your salvation before my death, and make me to hear those words which blessed John heard You speak to him from the Cross: " Behold your mother "; that so, by hearing those words, my soul may be kept safe from fear of the enemy, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking to devour it.

Holy Mary, my most gentle Mistress, most faithful Advocate of all Christians, by all those excellent merits, which made you so well-pleasing to God; by each of all those motherly services which you did so willingly render to your Son according to the flesh; and by all those bitter tears, which you did shed when witnessing His Passion, I beseech you, to vouchsafe to have pity upon me, your poor suppliant; to take me, with your wonted tenderness, into your motherly care; and to number me among those of your servants who are the objects of your special love.

O glorious Virgin Mary, my only hope, come to me, I pray you; show me your face when the hour of my departure is at hand; and gently and sweetly turn upon me those pitying eyes of yours, with which you did so often look joyously upon the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus, and which at His Passion were wet with so many tears. Stand then by my side, O most holy Mother of Jesus, with your sweet virgin train, and the blessed company of all the saints, even as you did faithfully persevere to the end in standing by the Cross of your dearly-loved Son, when He was about to die; for after your only Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, I know no other who is so powerful, or so ready to help, as you, most gracious mother of all who are in need of comfort.