Nowhere in the Old Testament, do we approach God more closely than in the book of Job, where we see the great prophet of God enduring so patiently the many sufferings that God has permitted; and nowhere do we recognize Him as the great Father good and kind to His children as in the same book. Job was a figure of Christ. There is something very holy in suffering endured in compliance to the will of God. To‐day, then, we are to begin to think of Mary’s sorrowful heart, and we will contemplate how the mysterious ways of Providence, the love of God, His mercy and kindness, inflicts chastisements on the Mother of His much loved Son. In the silence of the thirty years of Christ on earth, in the silence of the hours of agony on the cross, and in the silence of Mary underneath the cross, we will see the silence of a heart filled with sorrow, which God is imposing on His children for the good of mankind. The Church sets before our minds the seven sorrows of Mary, telling us the principal causes of her great grief in the life of Jesus. Prayer. O heart of Mary, I offer, I consecrate to thee my heart! Thou shalt be the object of my veneration, love and confidence; I will pay thee my devotions every day; I will celebrate thy feasts with joy; I will proclaim thy greatness and thy goodness without ceasing. I will neglect no means of obtaining for thee the honor and the homage which are due unto thee. I will bring all the thoughts and affections of my heart into conformity with thine, and I will make it my duty to imitate thy virtues, especially thy purity and thy humility. Vouchsafe, O Mary, to open thy heart and receive me therein. Amen. Second Day. Mary’s sole enjoyment in this world was the presence of her divine Son. One never reads of her enjoying what the world calls recreation. The life of Mary was full of deep love and holy virtue, and when trials came she patiently and sweetly endured them for the love of God. It was meet, she knew, that she should suffer, for her intimate connection with the Son of God made suffering necessary. The first sword of sorrow which pierced her heart were the words of Simeon in the Temple. When the days of her purification were passed, Mary, according to the Law of Moses, came to the Temple, bearing in her arms the Infant Jesus. The spirit of God manifested in Jesus and Mary was a spirit of obedience to the Law of the time in which they lived. In comparison to Mary, the angels’ purity became dim, and still she subjected herself to the ceremony of purification. The law presupposed impurity, but in Mary we know that there was not the least stain of sin or imperfection. Humbly she carried the Lord to the Temple; and humbly, too, Joseph walked by her side, bearing the two turtle doves for a sacrifice and a ransom for the Child Jesus, which was also according to the Law. Prayer. O Heart of Mary, I offer, etc., etc. Third Day.