Now you may consider the seven words pronounced by Our Lord from the Cross.  Of these, the first was: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’.  The second was addressed to the thief: ‘This day thou shalt be with me in paradise’, in the third to His Most Holy Mother: ‘Woman, behold thy Son’.  The fourth: ‘I thirst’.  The fifth: ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’  The sixth: ‘It is consummated’.  The seventh: ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit’.

Consider, O my soul, with what charity He, in these words, commends His enemies to the Father, with what mercy He welcomes the thief who recognized Him, with what immense love He recommends His pious mother to the beloved disciple, with what thirsting zeal He witnesses to His longing for the salvation of man, in what sorrowful tones He pronounces His prayer and lays His griefs before the divine Majesty, how to the end He remains in the most perfect submission to the Father, and how finally He recommends His soul to Him, and resigns Himself completely into His most holy keeping.  –St Peter of Alcantara ‘Treatise on Prayer & Meditation’