without inflaming it with thy love; and they who love thee cannot think of thee without feeling themselves animated to love thee move and more, and putting all their confidence in thee. O Mary, O my Mother, thou seest my trouble, look upon me with an eye of pity; thou art the consolation of all who call upon thee in affliction, be thou, then, mine. Hearken to the sighs, graciously hear the prayers of my poor heart; forsake me not, but support me in affliction, and strengthen me in danger. Thou art the heavenly dew that sweetenest our sorrows; O Mother of consolation, I pray thee, sweeten mine; give peace to my soul, grant me all that thou knowest I desire of thee; obtain for me, from thy divine Son, the pardon of all my sins, the grace to sin no more, the blessedness to imitate thy virtues all the rest of my life, and finally a holy and a happy death. At that tremendous hour, be thou my protectress and my consolation, I beseech thee; O my tender Mother, come and receive my soul, to present it at the tribunal of the sovereign Judge, and to obtain for me a favourable sentence. I deserve not this at thy hands; but I am thy child. I love thee, and I desire to make thee loved by all hearts. Amen.
An Act of Reparation to the Holy Virgin.
How great is my grief, O most holy Virgin Mary, when I consider the injuries which thou receivest every day on the part of men! How can there be found hearts so hard and impious as to despise thee, who art worthy of the respect and love of angels and men ! And among the very children of the Church, thine own children, there are some, alas, who feel nothing but coldness and indifference for thee; who take no pains to testify their gratitude and devotion towards thee; who never honour thee, or invoke thy intercession, or seek to gain thy protection. And how many times have I myself plunged into thy heart the two-edged sword! O Mother of mercy, I should never dare to lift up my eyes to thee, wert thou not the advocate of sinners. Oppressed with the burden of my infidelities, I come to ask forgiveness at thy feet, for myself and for all mankind. I acknowledge thy glory to be above that of all creatures; I honour, with the Church, thy immaculate Conception and thy glorious Assumption; I believe thy power and all they perfections to be
