_Prayer._--O Mary! you are truly the valiant woman in whom the Lord found rest, and whom He has chosen to be the depositary of all His treasures. The universe honours you as the most pure sanctuary of the Divinity, the true Temple of the Lord, in which was begun the salvation of the world, and in which took place the grand reconciliation between God and man. You are that privileged field which sin could not enter and devastate; you are that magnificent garden in which Our Lord planted all the flowers that adorn His Church. You, O Mary, are the Paradise of God, whence springs the fountain of living water which waters and fructifies the earth: obtain for me, by your powerful intercession, that, being washed in this most pure water, I may be admitted with you to the nuptials of the Immaculate Lamb. Amen. _Ejaculation._--Most pure Virgin, pray for us. _Practice._--In temptations against holy purity invoke Mary, Virgin and Mother. EIGHTH DAY. THE VISITATION. THOUGH Mary had thus humbled herself before God, she did not stop there, because she knew that humility and charity do not attain their highest degree of perfection until, for God's sake, they are exercised in behalf of our neighbour. True fraternal charity proceeds from the love of God, and in proportion as this increases, the love of our neighbour becomes more intense. The Apostle of Charity teaches us this truth, when he says: _Qui enim non diliget fratrem suum quem vidit, Deum quem non videt, quomodo potest deligere?_--'For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?' If we desire, then, to show our love to God, we must love our neighbour, we must serve him, help him, and relieve him in his necessities according to our power. How profoundly was the Blessed Virgin penetrated with this truth! No sooner had she heard that her cousin had conceived in her old age, than she arose and went with haste (the Gospel says, _cum festinatione_) over the mountains of Judea to the city of Ephrem.