_Prayer._--Help us, O Mother full of mercy, and do not allow the multitude of our sins to weaken your love for us. Remember that our adorable Saviour deigned to take from you a mortal body, not to condemn but to save sinners. If it were for your own personal glory alone that you were chosen to be the Mother of God, it might be said that our eternal salvation, or damnation, matters but little to you; but it was for the salvation of all men that your Divine Son clothed Himself with our flesh. What advantage would accrue to us from your happiness and power if you did not make use of your power to render us partakers of your happiness? You know the need we have of your assistance; and therefore we recommend ourselves earnestly to you. Help us, that we may not have the misfortune to lose our souls, but may eternally love and serve your Divine Son with you in His kingdom of glory. Amen. _Ejaculation._--Obtain for us, O Mary, by your powerful intercession, the grace not to lose the place which Our Saviour has prepared for us in Paradise. _Practice._--Ask Mary to obtain for you from God all the graces you are in need of to-day. TWENTIETH DAY. THE PETITION OF MARY AT THE MARRIAGE OF CANA WAS FULL OF CONFIDENCE. LET us endeavour, by the Divine assistance, to discover all the lessons contained in the petition of Mary and in the answer of Jesus. Mary turns to Jesus, and says to Him: _Vinum non habent_--'They have no wine;' and He replies: _Quid mihi, et tibi est, mulier? Nondum venit hora mea_--'Woman, what is there in common between Me and thee? My hour is not yet come.' This reply at first sight seems harsh, and it surprises us, coming from such a Son and addressed to such a Mother. Is it possible that so respectful a Son should reject with asperity a prayer made with so much reverence and humility by the most loving and the most loved of Mothers? Has the creature no part with her Creator from Whom she receives her being and her life? Has the Mother nothing to do with her Son, nor the Son with the Mother, from whom He received His Body and His Blood? These words seem, as I have said, somewhat strange, and are difficult to understand; indeed, they have been misinterpreted by some who, having kept merely to the letter, have unhappily originated several forms of heresy. However, the reply was most loving, and the Holy Virgin, who well understood its genuine sense, considered herself the happiest of Mothers. This she expressed, with a heart full of confidence, in her answer to the waiters. 'You have heard,' she said, 'the reply my Son has made me, and perhaps, not understanding the language of love, you fear that He is indignant at my petition; but it is not so, fear not; whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye'-- _Quaecumque dixerit vobis, facite._