dole with Thy most sorrowful Mother, to whom all Thy anguish was as if it had been her own; who wept over each wound of Thine, as if it had been inflicted upon herself; and whose heart was racked with fresh pain as often as, with a mother's eye, she saw blood flowing from Thy Body, or heard Thy voice as Thou spakest to her from the Cross.
I laud and magnify Thee for those most gracious words, few in number though they were, which Thou didst at length speak to Thy disconsolate Mother, when Thou didst commend her to Thy well-beloved disciple John, as to a most faithful steward, and didst bring together in an indissoluble bond of love the Virgin and him who was vowed to chastity, saying to her: " Woman, behold thy son, " and then to Thy disciple: "Behold thy mother."
O happy union, and pleasing commendation, shared and consecrated by virgin purity ! For in these words Thou didst on the one hand show forth Thy loving care for Thy Mother's honour, by giving her the protection of Thy chaste disciple, and on the other hand Thou didst, as it were, supply Thy place to her, by assigning to her another son, who, by the chastity of his life was suited to give her a home, and who might be depended on to provide her with the necessaries of life. What Thou didst was what Thy feeling as a son prompted Thee to do, that so the spotless Virgin, who was Thy holy Mother, might always have a faithful attendant; and when deprived of Thy most sweet presence, might never feel as if she were left alone in the world, and as a stranger among the Jews.
May this sacred arrangement, this most fitting commendation by thy Son, be pleasing to thee, O loving Mother of God: welcome thankfully the disciple whom thy Son Jesus has assigned to thee.
