Many Saints have practised this devotion with fruit, and a great number of the devoted servants of Mary have made use of it to honour their august Mother. _Prayer of St. Alfonso Maria di Liguori._--Mary! I acknowledge that you are the most beautiful, the most holy, and most amiable of all creatures. Ah! would that all knew you, O Holy Virgin, and loved you as you deserve. I rejoice that you are so revered by all the Blessed in heaven, and by so many faithful souls on earth, but especially that you are so much loved by God. Most amiable Queen! I also love you, miserable sinner that I am, and I desire to love you more; obtain for me, then, this love, O my dear Mother, because it is a sign of predestination. I know that you will help me, and by your help I shall conquer, if I cease not to recommend myself to you. But I fear that I may not always invoke you in occasions of danger; succour me then always, O Mary, my good Mother, and never permit me to offend my God. Amen. _Ejaculation._--In your love do I wish to live and die, my Blessed Mother! _Practice._--Offer an act of mortification to God, through the Blessed Virgin, for those who are to die this day. THIRTIETH DAY. THE DEATH OF MARY WAS SWEET AND TRANQUIL. As the peaceful morning dawns, not by fits and starts, but steadily and gradually, so that its progress is scarcely perceptible, so did Divine love increase in the heart of Our Lady, the glorious Virgin Mary. Her progress in charity was tranquil, uniform and uninterrupted, so that she continually pursued her course towards the Divinity Whom she loved. Consider that love is, in its nature, calm, tranquil, and full of sweetness, and becomes violent only when it meets with some opposition. But if its dominion in a soul be undisputed, and if nothing oppose its progress, then it works steadily and gains its victories with ease. We may understand, then, how the heart of the Mother of pure Love experienced all its power, without any impetuous movement, for in her there was no resistance to overcome. Observe the course of great rivers: when the bed is not level and the current is encumbered with masses of rock, the waters splash and foam, and roll back again with a great noise; but when the bed is smooth the waters flow on placidly and without effort. Such is the case with holy love, when it meets with obstacles,--and where does it not find them? It is constrained to struggle with a kind of violence against the human inclinations that oppose it; to use force, and make great efforts in order to bend the will, to remove impediments, and to open a passage for itself to the heart it seeks to possess. In the Blessed Virgin, however, everything favoured and seconded the attractions of grace and of Divine love, and although her love was incomparably greater than that of any other creature, it continually went on increasing with the greatest calm and sweetness.