O Heart of Mary, I offer, etc., etc.
Twenty-seventh Day.
We must admire in Mary her wonderful steadfastness in her terrible sorrows. She might have allowed herself to be so overwhelmed with grief and despair that she would break out into shrieks and lamentations to relieve her heart; but she was a silent, kind, sweet sufferer. The saints have always loved the Passion of Our Lord, and have become familiar with it. Mary was familiar with it; she had suffered just this very torture, long before receiving the body of her beloved Son in her arms after the crucifixion. She knew it was the will of God, and that was the only thing she regarded. She was resigned to its operations. We too must think of the Passion of Our Lord, and meditate upon it until we grow as familiar with it, and love it, as did the saints. Why should we do so? Because we have sinned, and by sin have caused all these sufferings to Our Lord and to His blessed Mother, Mary. She was innocent of the sufferings of her Son; she had never committed a fault. We, who are guilty of sin, ought to do penance, ought to suffer, and be resigned to both.
Prayer.
O Heart of Mary, I offer, etc., etc.
Twenty-eighth Day.
The burial of Our Lord was the source of the seventh sorrow of Mary. When the tomb had been prepared, the sheets spread out, and the ointments placed, Joseph, Nicodemus, John, Magdalen, and Mary, the Mother, in the depth of the night wended their way slowly from the height of Calvary, to the burial place of Joseph, which was just outside the walls of the city. Everything at the burial proceeded with great care and caution and in silence, the scene lit up by the dim light of a solitary torch. There lay the body, pale in death; the eyes closed, the lips set. All bent down in adoration before that adorable body. Joseph, then, with the help of the others, rolled the stone to the mouth of the tomb, and silently went to the city. Mary and John again visited the place of crucifixion, and gathered up the nails and crown of thorns; they also, that Friday night, went into the city of Jerusalem. The guard of soldiers sent by Pilate were already at the tomb, and sealed the stone so that the least interference might be detected.
Prayer.