23rd Day

CUBAN MISSAL CRISIS, 1962

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

JESUS HIMSELF IS HERE!

 

Great are the fatigues, many are the dangers that multitudes of Christians have faced to visit the places in the Holy Land―those places where Our Most Loving Saviour was born, where He suffered, and where He died.
 
For us there is no need to make a long voyage―no need to face great dangers: this same Lord of Glory is our neighbor. He dwells in the church which is only a few steps away from our own house. St. Paulinus tells us that pilgrims who brought away a little dust from the Crib, or from the Holy Sepulchre in which Jesus was buried, thought that this was a very wonderful thing. With what burning love then should we visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament when we can do this without any fatigue and without any danger. There this same Jesus awaits us in person.

A nun to whom God gave a special love of the Blessed Sacrament wrote a letter and among other thoughts expressed in it are the following: "I have come to see that all the good things that are mine have come to me from the Most Holy Sacrament; to Jesus in this Sacrament I have given and consecrated myself completely. I see numberless graces that were never given because this Divine Sacrament was not approached; I see that Our Savior in this Sacrament has an intense desire to distribute His graces. O Holy Mystery! O Sacred Victim! Where else does God give us such a deep knowledge of His power if it is not in this Host? Surely this Host contains in itself everything that God has ever done for us. There is no need for us to envy the Blessed who are in Heaven: on earth we have the very same Lord; but here the marvels of His love are greater. Do what you can to persuade others to devote themselves completely to the Most Holy Sacrament. I am overwhelmed at the thought of what this Sacrament means and that is why I speak in this way: of the Most Holy Sacrament I can never cease to speak―its claims on our love are so great. For the sake of Jesus in this Sacrament I know not what I can do." It is thus the letter ends.

O Seraphim, you who burn with such sweet flames of love before that God who is both yours and mine―though it is not for your love but for mine that this King of Glory lingers here―O Angels of Love, let me burn too. Inflame me with your fiery darts so that, in His presence, the flames of your love and of mine may ascend together.

O my Jesus, give me to understand what a tremendous thing is your love for men; so that in the presence of this great love, my longing to love you more and to give joy to you will always grow more ardent. O God of Boundless Love, I want to love you always; I want to please you only.


ASPIRATION - My Jesus, I believe in you, I hope in you, I love you; I love you and I give myself to you.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY

THE MOTHER OF ORPHANS

 

 

O Virgin most loving, you are named by St. Bonaventure "The Mother of Orphans." St. Ephram proclaims you "The Receiver of Orphans," that is, the one who welcomes the orphan. Who are these unhappy orphans? They are non others than poor sinners who have lost God, their Father. Most holy Mother, I have lost my Father; you are my Mother. I come to you and you will welcome me. In my great misfortune I call on you for help and you will aid me. 

Will you leave me in my grief? No; for this is what Innocent III says to me about you, "Who has ever called on her and did not receive her kindly help?" And indeed who ever prayed to you without being both heard and helped? Was anybody ever lost after pleading with you? The only one that is lost is the one that does not go to you. My Queen, if you wish to save me, then help me to invoke you and to confide in you always.
 

ASPIRATION - O most holy Mary, give me confidence in you.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT
 

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

22nd Visit

DIONNE QUINTUPLETS, 1940

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

 

THE LOVELIEST OF SANCTUARIES 

The Spouse in the Canticles went forth looking everywhere for him whom she loved, and when she could not find him she kept on asking, "Have you seen him who is the beloved of my soul?" (Cant. 3).


Jesus was not on earth at that time. But if a soul that loves Jesus now goes forth looking for Him she can find Him always in the Most Holy Sacrament.


Of all the holy places that can most attract our love, the Venerable Fr. Master Avila tells us that he knew of none, and he wished for none, more lovely than a church where Jesus dwells in the Most Holy Sacrament.


O love of my God, love that is boundless, love worthy to be returned by a boundless love! My Jesus, how has it come to this! You stoop so low, you humble yourself, you hide yourself under the form of bread, to live among men and have a union of hearts between them and yourself.


Eternal Word made Flesh, you have come to the deepest depths of humiliation, because you act from the deepest depths of love. How can I not love you with my whole heart, when I know all that you have done to take all my love captive? I love you with an exceeding great love; and therefore, whatever gives you joy is far more important than any interest of mine, and than any comfort of mine. My joy is to give you joy, my God, my Love, my All. Stir up within me a consuming desire―a longing to be with you always in this Holy Sacrament; to recieve you, and to enjoy your company. I would be very ungrateful indeed, if I were to refuse such an invitation coming from you: an invitation so full of grace and consolation. Dear Master, put an end to any unruly love of created things that still lingers in my heart. You are my Creator, and you have made me so that all my longings, all my love, should find their rest in you. Boundless Goodness of my God that surpasses everything in its loveliness, I love you. From you I ask for nothing but yourself. I do not want any selfish joys; your happiness is enough for me. Set me on fire with a nightly longing to love only you; aid me with your powerful grace, so that I, once the unhappy slave of sin, may from this day forward be the happy servant of your love.

ASPIRATION - Jesus, my Good above all good, I love you.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY

THE AGENT OF RECONCILIATION

My Mother Mary, most sweet Lady, I have been an unhappy rebel for I have sinned against your great Son. But now in repentance I seek your gentle mercy that you may obtain me pardon. You cannot tell me that you are powerless to help me; I hear St. Bernard calling you "God's agent of reconciliation," and St. Ephrem "The support of those who are in peril." My Lady, who is in greater peril than I? This is certain―I have lost God and I have been condemned to lose Him for ever. But I am uncertain as to whether He has yet pardoned me; and if He has I am quite capable of losing Him again. You can obtain everything from Him: so from you I hope for every good―pardon, perseverance and paradise. This is my hope, dear Mary―that I will be one of those in the Kingdom of the Blessed who will praise your mercy most, for you will save me by your intercession.

ASPIRATION - I will sing the mercies of Mary forever; I will sing them forever. Amen.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

21st Visit

SAN ANTONIO, 1945 

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE FOUNTAIN OF PARADISE 

"Where the body is, there the eagles gather,"
(Luke 17).

The general interpretation of the Saints is that this body represents Jesus Christ and the eagles are souls detached from earthly things. Like eagles they rise high above the earth. They fly up to Heaven to which their thoughts and their love always aspire and there they find their everlasting rest.

But even while still on earth these eagles find their Heaven wherever they find Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. This is so true that they seem to be unable to tear themselves away from His presence.

Thus St. Jerome comments: If eagles on getting the scent of a body set out from a distance to find it, so all the more should we be drawn to run and to fly to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; for He is the Food that best satisfies the hunger of our hearts.

Even as the thirsty stag runs with speed to the water springs; so the Saints in this valley of tears have thirsted for this fountain of Paradise.

In no matter what work Father Baltasar of the Society of Jesus was engaged, he often turned his gaze towards the place where he knew the Blessed Sacrament was kept; he made visits to it frequently, and sometimes he remained there the whole night long. He was saddened to see the palaces of the great full of people courting a man from whom they hoped for some contemptible favour, while the churches were left empty―the churches where the Supreme Ruler of the World dwells with us on earth; in which seated on a throne of love He is rich in favours and blessings that are tremendous and everlasting.

He considered the lot of Religious an extremely happy one because in their own homes they could visit their Divine Master both night and day; and people in the world could not do this.

Most loving Master, in your great kindness you invite me to come close to your side, even though I am of so little worth and so ungrateful to your love; therefore, I will not be discouraged because of my miseries. Look down upon me, for I am coming close beside you. Change me and expel from my heart all love that is not for you―take from me every thought that does not please you, and every wish that does not aspire to you. You alone, I wish to please, Jesus my Love, my Treasure; alone, you are deserving of all my love; alone, with all my heart I want to love you. Detach me from everything else, my loving Master, and bind me to you alone―but I want you to bind me in such a way that never again, in this life or the next, will I be able to separate myself from you any more.

ASPIRATION - My sweetest Jesus, never let me be separated from you.

SPIRTUAL COMMUNION

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY

OUR ADVOCATE

"The advocate of all the wicked who seek her help"―This is what the Blessed Virgin Mary was called by Dionisius, the Carthusian. 

O great Mother of God, it is your office to defend the cause of those who are most guilty, if they appeal for your help. Look down on me, prostrate at your feet. To you I appeal. I address you in the words of St. Thomas of Villanova, "You are our advocate; then do your appointed work." Fulfil your office by undertaking my defense. I am guilty, it is true: I have offended my God deeply; and after He has been so good in bestowing His favours and graces on me. But it will be enough if you tell Him that you are my protector. Then will I be forgiven and I will be saved. The wrong has been already done by me; but you can save me still.

ASPIRATION - My dear Mother, you must save me.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

 

20th Visit

LOURDES, 1958
TRAIN TO LOURDES

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

 

 

 

THE FOUNTAIN OF MERCY

"In that day," says the Prophet Zacharias, "for the house of David and to the dwellers in Jerusalem there will be an open fountain where the sinner may be cleansed." (Chap. 13). This fountain foretold by the Prophet is the Blessed Sacrament. We can go to it as often as we wish to do so. There we can wash the stains of our daily faults from our souls. After committing a fault the best remedy we have is―to go at once to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

My Jesus, I will always do this. I know that the waters from this Fountain of yours will make me clean; but more than this―they give me light, they give me strength not to fall again, they impart to me that joy which is my support in the midst of trials, and above all they inflame me with your love.

For these reasons, I know you expect me to come to you when I have fallen; and you reward such visits, made by those who love you, with wonderful graces.

My Jesus, come to me now and wash me from all the faults that I have committed this day. I repent of them because they have displeased you. Give me strength not to fall again; set my heart on fire with the intense longing to love you with a great love.

It would be well for us if we could imitate the faithful servant of Jesus, Mary Diaz, in her love for the Most Holy Sacrament. She was a contemporary of St. Teresa, and the Bishop of Avila gave her permission to live in a small apartment attached to the church; she referred to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament as her neighbor, and her time was spent almost always with Him; the only occasions that she left this place were when she wanted to go to Confession and Holy Communion.

It is related of the Venerable Brother Francis of the Child Jesus, a Discalced Carmelite, that as often as he passed by a church he could not resist entering it to visit Our Lord, if he knew the Blessed Sacrament was reserved there; he said that it was not becoming to pass by the door of a friend without entering, at least to greet him and exchange a few words. But he was not satisfied with a few words: he always remained in the presence of his loved Master as long as he could.

Jesus, I understand that you have instituted this Sacrament to remain on the altar to be loved by me―and you are my only Good, my Good that knows no limit and no end. The heart that you have given me is a heart that is capable of an exceeding great love. How then can it be that I have not loved you, or that I love you so little. How can I be so ungrateful? It is not right that Goodness, all―lovely as you are, should be loved so little. Besides, the great love that you have lavished on me deserves a very different love from that which I have hitherto given you: you are the Infinite God, and I am only a poor creature of no account. If I died for you, if I wore myself out in your service, it would be but a little thing: for you have died for me; and every day, for my love, you make a complete sacrifice of yourself on the altar.

You deserve to be loved with an exceeding great love and I wish to love you exceedingly. Help me to love you, my Jesus: help me to do that which you so long for me to do and that which gives you so much pleasure.

ASPIRATION - My Beloved to me and I to Him.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION 

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY 

ACCEPT ME AS YOUR SERVANT

My Queen, most sweet, most kind, most lovely, when I go to you for protection how beautiful is the confidence St. Bernard gives me! For he tells me that you make no enquiry into the merits of those who appeal to your love, but you offer to help everybody that prays to you: "Mary does not concern herself with our merits, but she helps everyone that appeals to her." Always gentle and kind, you help me if I pray. Then listen to what I am going to ask you for: I am a poor sinner that has deserved to be lost a thousand times over; but I want to change my life―I want to love that God whom I have offended so grievously. I consecrate myself to you as your servant; poor and unworthy as I am I give myself to you. And now I can plead with you―save what is your own. My Lady, you understand me; I am confident that you do understand, and that you have kindly granted my request.

ASPIRATION - O Mary, I am yours, save me.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

19th Day

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS, 1952

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE FAITHFUL FRIEND

The company of a dear friend is sweet indeed. In this valley of tears is there anything sweeter to us than the company of Jesus, the best friend we have. He wants to do us good in every way, and for this He dwells with us always. It is in this place that we can speak with Jesus at our pleasure; here we can open our hearts to Him; we can lay bare our wants; we can ask Him for His grace―in a word, it is here that we speak face to face with the King of Heaven: all barriers fall away and we speak to Him with confidence.

Joseph was a happy man indeed, greatly favored by God, when God came down into his prison to bring him consolation. We are told in the Holy Scriptures: "He came down into the prison cell with him, and he did not forsake him in his bonds." (Sap. 10). But our good fortune is greater than Joseph's; because we have Jesus, God made Man, with us in this land of exile. Not a day of our lives passes, but He is with us to give us His help―always loving and full of pity. It is a great comfort to a poor man in prison when a dear friend comes to visit him―to talk to him; to raise his hopes, to assist him: these kind attentions help to lighten his afflictions.

Jesus, our best of friends, is here in this Sacrament and His presence gives us courage. He says to us "Here I am with you all days"―I am here expressly for your sake, I have come from Heaven into your prison, to console you, to help you, to set you free. Give me a welcome. Make me welcome always. Embrace me and you will not feel your unhappy state; later on you will come with me to my Kingdom, and then I shall make you happy and your joy will be full.

O Jesus, your love passes all understanding: you have stooped so low to show us your kindness; you have come down in abject humility on our altars to be close to us. Here and now I resolve to visit you often; I will make every effort I can so that I may have the full benefit of the surpassing joy of your sweet presence―your presence is the joy of the Saints in Heaven. I would that I could be with you always―adoring you and telling you how I love you. I beg of you to stir me from my apathy when I neglect to visit you because I have grown cold, or have become too much engrossed with the things of this world. Stir up within me an intense longing to keep close to you always in this Sacrament.

Ah! My Jesus, how deep is my regret that I have not always loved you; how deep is my regret that I have not always been pleasing to you. But this consolation remains to me―I still have time and I can love you now; I can love you not only in the next life but in this life too. My highest Good, my Love, my Treasure, my All―I want to do this. I want to love you in very deed; with all my power I want to love you. 

 
ASPIRATION - My God, help me to love you.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION 

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY 

TO KNOW YOU IS GOD'S GIFT 

 

 

Thus speaks the devoted Bernardine de Bustis, "Do not be discouraged, poor sinner, for if you go to this Lady with trust you will find her; and in her hands you will find the fullness of mercy and bounty." Poor sinner, do not lose courage, whoever you are. Go to this Lady with the certainty that you will be helped: you will find her, and her hands will be filled with mercy and with favors. Be quite certain that the longing of this gentle Queen to do you good is much greater than the wish you have to be helped by her. "She wishes more to do you good than you wish to receive her gifts."

To know you, my Lady―this itself is God's gift to me and I am very grateful to Him for it. If I did not know you or if I forgot you, what a calamity it would be for me! Then the chance of my salvation would be poor indeed. But I do know you, my dear Mother. I bless you, I love you and I have full confidence in you. In your hands I place my whole life.

ASPIRATION - Blessed is he who knows you, O Mary, and who trusts in you.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

18th Day

NUN'S STORY, 1962

Prayer Before Visit

 

THE THRONE OF LOVE

There will come a day when in the Valley of Josaphat Jesus will be seated on His throne in majesty. But now in the Most Holy Sacrament He is seated on His throne in love.

Suppose a King came to dwell in the town where a poor shepherd lived in order to prove how much he loved him. What would you think of the ingratitude of this same uncouth fellow if he would not so much as go out of his way to visit the King, even though he knew that the King had a great desire to see him, and that this was the very reason why he had come to that place?

O my Jesus, how well I know it! It is for the love of me that you have come to stay here in the Blessed Sacrament; if it were possible for me to do so, I would like to stay in your presence both night and day. My Lord and my God―there is never a moment that the angels of Heaven are not present with you―they stand amazed at the love you have for us. How right it is that I should be there too giving you joy by praising your boundless goodness to me, because you are on this altar for my sake, not theirs: "In the sight of the angels I will praise you; I will adore at your holy altar, and for your mercy and your truth I will praise your name." (Psalm 137).

I love You, Jesus my God, here in this Sacrament: Bread of Angels and Food Divine. But with my love neither you nor I am satisfied. I love you truly but altogether too little is my love. O Jesus, see to it, that I may begin to understand the Beauty, the Boundless Goodness, that is the object of my love. See to it, yourself, that my heart may be made free from all earthly loves and that all the space that is in it may be filled with your Divine Love.

Every day you come down from Heaven to fill me with your love and to bring about the closest union between us: what else is left for me to do, after all this, but to concentrate my whole being on loving and adoring you and giving you pleasure.

I love you with all my heart, my Jesus; I love you with all my heart. If you are looking for a way to return my love―then give me more love. Give me a love that will burn with ardent flames: a love that will consume me with longing desire always to give greater joy to you.

ASPIRATION - Jesus, give me more love.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION 

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY 

THE REFUGE 

People who are poor can find shelter when they are sick, but only in the public hospitals, because all others forsake them on account of their poverty. In the same way the most wretched of sinners are received by the Mercy of Mary, even when everybody else would abandon them on account of their miserable condition.

Mary's mercy was given to the world by God to be for sinners, like the public hospital, a refuge for the abandoned and forsaken. St. Basil tells us this: "God has established a public hospital for sinners." St. Ephrem tells us that Mary is a place of refuge where the sinner finds a welcome.

Mary, my Queen, God had made you great so that you might give shelter to those whose condition is most wretched. So you cannot cast me away when I come to you, even though I have committed so many sins. The greater my misery is, the greater also is my right to be taken under your protection. To you I come; under your mantle I take shelter. You are the refuge of sinners, so you are my refuge―the hope of my salvation. If you cast me out where will I go?

ASPIRATION - Mary, my refuge, save me.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

17th Day

GREAT FALLS MT, 1954 

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

CENTER OF ALL HEARTS

 


A true lover experiences exceeding great joy when he finds himself in the company of the one he loves. If we have a great love for Jesus that joy is ours now. See, we are in His presence; Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is watching us; He is listening to us: are we going to say nothing to Him?

O let us abound with consolation at the thought of His company. Let us rejoice in the glory and the love He receives from that multitude of souls who are on fire with love of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us be filled with a great longing that all men would love Jesus in this Sacrament of love, and would consecrate their hearts to Him; at the very least, let us consecrate to Him all the love that is ours: let Him be the one object of our love and the one object to whom all the longing of our soul turns.

Even to speak of the Most Holy Sacrament gave great joy and consolation to Father Salesius of the Society of Jesus; he never tired of repeating his visits―of looking for opportunities to go into the company of the Master whom he loved. He found such opportunities when he was on his way to the door of the monastery; or when he was returning to his room; or when he was going from one part of the house to another. Those with whom he lived could not help noticing that he repeated these visits almost every hour of the day. He ended his life by dying at the hands of heretics while defending the doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament―this was a fitting reward for his great devotion.

O Jesus, my most loving Master, how happy I would be if I could die for so beautiful a cause―defending your Real Presence in this Sacrament, in which you show us so clearly how tender is your love for us.

My dear Master, you have already worked many miracles in this Sacrament; so now work this one miracle more―draw me, bind me all to you. This is your wish already, and how well you deserve that I should be all yours! Give me strength to love you with all the love of my heart. Give worldly goods to others if you please; I renounce them utterly here and now; but I do sigh after and I long for your love―and it alone. Yes, your love alone: this I seek for now, this I will seek for always. O, I love you, my Jesus: make me love you always. There is nothing more that I ask.

ASPIRATION - Jesus, when shall I truly love you?

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION 

Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.

A VISIT TO MARY 

MOTHER MOST LOVABLE 

My most sweet Queen, how pleasant to me is that beautiful name used by those who are devoted to you, "Mater Amabilis," Mother Most Lovable. Yes, how true it is, O my Lady, that you are exceedingly lovable, for your beauty has won the love of God Himself: "The King has greatly desired your loveliness."

St. Bonaventure tells us that to your lovers even your name is so lovely, that when they pronounce it, or hear it pronounced, they are set on fire; and an intense longing wells up within them to love you still more: "O sweet, O kind, O most lovable Mary―your name cannot be pronounced without setting us aflame; nor can it strike upon our hearing without stirring the affections of those who love you."

O how fitting it is then, most lovely Mother, that I should love you. But I shall not be satisfied with merely loving you: I want to be, after God, the first of your lovers on earth; and later on, the first of your lovers in Heaven. If this desire is too bold your loveliness alone is responsible, together with the particular love that you have given me; if you were less lovable then my longing to love you would be less.

Come, O my Lady, and accept this intense desire of mine. In proof that you have accepted it, you must yourself obtain for me from God the love I seek. I seek to love you more because the love I have for you gives great joy to God Himself.

ASPIRATION -  love you exceedingly, O most lovely Mother.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. AMEN.