_Prayer._--Oh! most desolate of Mothers! what a sword has pierced your Heart! All the blows which wounded your Son Jesus fell upon you. By His pains you were tortured, by His wounds you were torn. His last adieu renewed all your sorrows; but when He breathed His last sigh with what anguish was your heart oppressed, O Mother of love and of sorrow! Obtain, I beg of you, that I may follow your example in loving and suffering! Yes, Queen of Martyrs, let me share your martyrdom. Love gave you the Cross, let the Cross fill my heart with love; and if, to enable me to love, it be necessary that I suffer and die, obtain for me this grace, that I may love all that comes to me from God, whether it be sorrows, afflictions, or death. Amen. _Ejaculation._--Pray for me, O Queen of Martyrs! _Practice._--When you are tempted to complain, or to be impatient under opposition, reflect upon Mary at the foot of the Cross. TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. MARY AFTER THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. GOD placed two beautiful luminaries in the heavens on the fourth day of the Creation; one called the _greater_, the other the _lesser light_; the former to rule over the day, the latter, over the night. Although God decreed that darkness should succeed the day, He, the increated Light, would not allow the night to be entirely deprived of light. When, in His Providence, He wished to create the spiritual world in His Church, He placed in it, as in a Divine firmament, two great luminaries. The greatest is Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and Master--an abyss of light, and the source of splendour, the true Sun of Justice; the lesser luminary is the Most Holy Mother of this Divine Saviour; a most glorious Mother, resplendent and beautiful as the moon. The Son of God came down upon earth, like the sun upon our atmosphere, to clothe Himself with our humanity, and formed our light and day; a most longed-for day, which lasted about thirty-three years, during which time He illumined the Church with the splendour of His miracles, His example and His doctrine. But the hour having at last arrived when this precious Sun was to set and cast Its rays over the other hemisphere--that is, heaven--what else could remain on earth but darkness and obscurity? And, in fact, night quickly spread around--the night of the many persecutions raised against the Apostles. But that its darkness might be more tolerable, it also had its luminary in the person of the Most Holy Virgin, who remained with the disciples and the faithful, after the Ascension of her Divine Son. This we learn from St. Luke: the Most Holy Mary was with the disciples in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, and persevered with them in communion and prayer.