upon thy sore and bloody shoulders; thus didst thou humbly bear thy own cross, whose weight pained thee excessively, and coming to the place all weary and breathless, thou refusedst not to taste wine mingled with gall and myrrh, which was the only relief there given thee
13. O good and gracious Jesus! being come to Mount Calvary, thou wast again stripped naked, when thy wounds were renewed by the violent pulling off of thy clothes. What bitter pains didst thou suffer, when thou wast fastened to the cross with rough nails, and the joints of thy limbs stretched as on a rack! Oh, with what love and sweetness of charity didst thou suffer thy hands and feet to be pierced through, whence, as from a fountain, thy precious blood gushed out.
14. O good and gracious Jesus! who, hanging on the cross between two thieves, wast assailed with blasphemies, and after so long a continuance of thy tortures, prayedst to thy Father to forgive them: and even when their fury was at the highest, didst exercise the greatest bounty, promising Paradise to the repenting thief, and bequeathing thy dearly beloved Mother (who, pierced with sorrow, stood by the cross,) to thy beloved disciple John, and in him to us all; and after thou hadst suffered for three long hours intolerable pains and extreme thirst, they gave thee vinegar to drink, which when thou hadst tasted, bowing down thy venerable head, thou yieldedst up thy spirit
15. O good and gracious Jesus? O good Shepherd! thus thou bestowedst thy life for thy sheep, and even after death still thou wouldest suffer for us, the sacred side of thy dead body being opened with a spear, out of which flowed water and blood. Thus at last ended all thy sufferings; and thy enemies having slacked their thirst for thy blood, and being gone away, thy disciples came and took thy immaculate body down from the cross, reposed it on the knees of thy blessed Mother, and after all imaginable expressions of piety, reverence, and love, wrapped it up in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre.
