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.
