Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/551

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mercy to myself, pardon to the living, rest to the departed, peace to thy Church, and life with eternal glory to all sinners. Who livest and reignest.

The Prayers of St. Bridget

Equalled in devotion by none,

ON THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

PRAYER I.

O Jesus Christ! eternal Sweetness of them that love thee, delight that exceedest all joy and all desire, Saviour and lover of sinners, who hast declared that thy delight is to be with the sons of men, for man’s sake becoming man in the end of times. Remember all thy premeditation and inward grief, which in thy human body thou enduredst as the time of thy most saving Passion drew near, that was preordained in thy divine heart.

Remember the sadness and bitterness which, by thy own testimony, thou hadst in thy soul, when at the last Supper thou gavest to thy disciples thy own Body and Blood, washedst their feet, and, in sweetly consoling them, foretoldest thy impending Passion.

Remember all the fear, anguish, and sorrow which thou sufferedst in thy tender Body before thy Passion on the Cross, when, after thy thrice uttered prayer and Bloody Sweat, thou wert betrayed by thy disciple Judas, taken by thy chosen people, accused by false witnesses, judged unjustly by three judges, condemned, though innocent ; in the chosen city, at the paschal season, in the prime of manhood, stripped of thy own garments, and arrayed in the garments of others; wert buffeted, hadst thy Eyes and Face blindfolded, wast struck, bound to a pillar, scourged, crowned with thorns, struck on the Head with a reed, and assailed with numberless other insults. Grant me, I beseech thee, O Lord God, in memory of these thy sufferings that preceded thy Passion on the Cross, true contrition before my death, full confession, meet satisfaction, and the remission of all my sins. Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary.

PRAYER II.

O Jesus! Maker of the world, whom no measure can truly mete, who enclosest the earth in the hollow of thy hand; remember the most bitter grief which thou susstainedst when the Jews first fastened to the Cross thy most