May 20th
Chapter Seventeen of the Imitation of Mary, by Thomas a Kempis
The Bitterness of Mary

She remained alone at the foot of the Cross, she stood alone, Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the apostle tells us in his divine account.  After the memory of the cross of Jesus, the most beautiful memory is that of Mary, His Mother, who alone had the courage to remain standing near her Son dying on the cross, dying to save the world from death....

No mother in this world in giving birth to a beloved child felt a happiness equal to that of Mary, who alone had for a Son the same Son as God.  No mother experienced a sorrow equal to that of Mary, at the death of her Son.  Mary had to suffer in her compassion all the sorrows of her Son in the Passion.  Indeed she stood near the cross in tears, her heart feeling at every grief the pain of a sword which transpierced it with bitterness.  It was truly a marvel that she was able to support in her virginal body a like suffering; for her soul experienced at each torture, a torture equal to that of her Son.  O ineffable martyrdom, ineffable grief of a mother, more cruelly agonized in her heart at the sight of her dying Son, than a martyr in his body overwhelmed by torment.

O Mother, I know that I am not worthy to lift my eyes to to your admirable face, to this holy face haloed by glory, which the angels of heaven wonder at on their knees.  You appear to me, O Mother, as adorned with deep-hued roses and foliage of gold, and I remain frightened by my impurity.  However, O Mary, because of your goodness I retain in spite of everything, the assured hope of obtaining once more the grace of pardon if you deign to intercede again for me.  What may I wish, expect, or desire to obtain from the most indulgent of mothers, as from the most compassionate of virgins, if it is not pardon and consolation in the calmness and joy of a sincere repentance?