16th Visit

JESUITS IN AMERICA - 1953

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

 

THE HEALER AND THE REMEDY

It is certain that men would not be as unhappy as they are, if in all their trials and troubles they went to the Most Holy Sacrament to find a remedy there. 

Jeremias asks: "In Galaad is there no healing balm? Or is there no physician there? (Jer. 8). Venerable Bede comments: Galaad is a mountain in Arabia, rich in sweet smelling spices. This mountain is a figure of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for there He keeps ever ready for us all the remedies needed for the sickness of our souls. 

Jesus Our Saviour, says to us: "Poor children of Adam, why do you complain of the sicknesses that afflict you. Here in the Blessed Sacrament you have the Physician, and the remedy too for every sickness of your soul: "Come to Me, all of you, and I will give you refreshment." 

With the sisters of Lazarus I shall say, "Look on the one you love, for he is sick. " My Master, I am the one, the unhappy one, whom you love; see how wounded my soul is―wounded by my sins. Come to me, my Divine Physician, and heal me; I know that you can heal me and that you will heal me: "O heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." 

O Jesus, my most sweet love, draw me wholly to you; for this make use of the most beautiful attractions of your love. I prefer to be bound in the bonds of your love rather than to be lord and ruler of the whole earth. I do not want anything in this world except your love. It is but little that I have to give in return: but if I could be the owner of all the kingdoms of the world, I would like to own them for this reason―to renounce them for the love of you. 

As it is, I renounce all that I have―my ease and comfort, my pleasures, even spiritual consolations. My liberty and my will I renounce for you―I want to give you everything that I value. You alone I love, O Boundless Goodness; I love you more than my life and I hope to love you through all eternity. 

ASPIRATION - My Jesus, I give you all; in your kindness accept my gift. 

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 MERCY 

My Lady, this is what you once said to St. Brigid: "If anybody comes back to me with a sincere will to change his life, it does not matter how great his sins are. I am ready to receive him at once on his return. I do not ask how great his sins have been, but only about his good will as he returns. I do not refuse to stoop over him, to pour oil on his wounds and to heal him. I am called the Mother of Mercy and so I truly am." 

If you have power to heal me, and you also want to heal me―look, I am coming to you. O Physician from Heaven, heal the wounds of my soul. Say only the word to your Son and I shall be healed. 

ASPIRATION - O Mary, have pity on me.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

15th Visit

DEATH OF A POPE - 1958

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE FURNACE

"I have come to cast fire on the earth, and what do I wish for except that it be set aflame." (S. Luke 12:49).

The Venerable Father Francis Olimpio, a Theatine, tells us that in the whole world there is nothing that makes the fire of Divine Love burn more intensely in the hearts of men than the Sacrament of the Altar.

Our Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament showed himself to St. Catherine of Sienna; He was like a furnace of love from which there poured torrents of flame, and these spread themselves over the whole world.

The Saint was astounded that so many men could continue to live without being set on fire in the very midst of these flames of love that God poured out upon them.

My Jesus, set me on fire with love of you. Do not let me breathe, nor think of anything, nor seek for anything, nor wish for anything: but only for the love of you. I would be truly happy if this holy fire of yours would utterly consume me―and as the years of my life pass on, it would completely purge from my heart all unruly love of the things of earth.

O my Jesus, Divine Word of God, I see you upon the altar completely sacrificed: brought to nothing, destroyed, for love of me. You have become a sacrifice, a Victim for my love; there is only one right thing for me to do―to make an offering of my whole being to you.

Yes, my God, to you who are the Lord and Ruler of all, this day I make a sacrifice of all my soul: my intellect, my will―everything in my life. This sacrifice of mine is a poor one indeed, but I unite it to the priceless sacrifice that Jesus Christ, your Son and my Saviour, offered to you the Eternal Father―that sacrifice which He made on the Cross when He was on earth, and which He renews every day on the altar in so many places.

Receive this sacrifice of mine through the merits of Jesus; give me grace to repeat it every day of my life, and to die making a complete sacrifice of myself to your glory. I want to lay down my life for you―this was the great grace given to so many martyrs. But if I am not worthy of a grace so great as this; at least let me sacrifice my life by accepting that death which you will send me.

This, then, is the grace that I wish for, O my God―I want to die with the intention of giving glory to you and of pleasing you. I offer to you the sacrifice of my life; and of my death, whatever it be, and whenever it may come.

ASPIRATION - My Jesus, may I die for the love of 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  

EVERYTHING THROUGH MARY 

O Most Sweet Lady, with your own St. Bernard once more let me call you "The whole reason of my hope." And with St. John Damascene let me say, "In you I have put all my hope." The pardon of my sins, perseverance until death, and finally liberation from Purgatory―all these you will obtain for me. All that work out their salvation obtain salvation through you. Your office then O Mary, is to save me. This is what St. Bonaventure says "The one you wish to be saved will be saved." Will then to save me and I shall be saved." Since you save everyone who calls on you, look down on me, O Mother, as I call on you and say

ASPIRATION - "Salvation of those who call upon you, save me." (St. Bonaventure).

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

14th Day

CONVENT LIFE 1962

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE SACRAMENT OF REST 

O Most Loving Jesus, I hear you speaking to me from the Tabernacle where you dwell, "This is my resting place for ever and ever. Here I shall dwell for it is the place that I have chosen." (Psal. 131).

If you have chosen your dwelling place on our altars remaining here in the Most Holy Sacrament, and if the love you have for us makes you find your rest here; then here too my heart and my love should find a dwelling place always with you―here I shall find my rest and every joy.

O loving souls, you who cannot find any sweeter rest in the whole world than being close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, blessed is your lot indeed; and happy shall I be, my dear Master, if from today forward I cannot find any sweeter joy than to rest in your presence and to think always of you―of you who remain ever present here, and who think only of me and of my good.

Why, my dear Master, have I lost so many years in which I have not loved you? Unhappy years of my life, I mourn over you; and I bless you, unlimited patience of my God for bearing with me so long, ungrateful as I have been to your love. In spite of great ingratitude on my part you have waited for me: and why? For this one reason only―that one day at last, conquered by your love, I should give myself all to you.

O Lord, I will resist no longer; I will not be ungrateful any more. There is only one right thing for me to do now―to consecrate to you all the time of my life that remains to me, be it long, or be it short. I look for help, O my Jesus,―for the help that I need to be entirely yours. When I fled from you and when I despised you, you loved me: and you showed your love for me in many wonderful ways. My hope is great that you will favor me now; for now I am looking for you, and I am longing to love you.

Give me the grace to love you, O my God; for you are worthy of unbounded love. I love you with all my heart; I love you above all things; I love you more than myself―more than my life. I am sorry that I have offended you because you are Infinite Goodness. Pardon me, my Jesus, and when you give me your pardon, give me also the grace to love you with an exceeding great love―to love you in life, to love you in death, and to love you in the next life for all eternity.

O God of almighty power, let the world see this mighty prodigy―that a poor ungrateful sinner, such as I have been, should now become one of your greatest lovers. Do it, my Jesus, and do it by virtue of your own merits: this is the one thing I long for, for the rest of my life; this is the one thing I am resolved to do. You have inspired me with this desire: you must give me the strength to fulfill it.

ASPIRATION - My Jesus, I thank you for having waited for me until now.

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 

CHANNEL OF DIVINE GRACE

 

 

St. Germanus addresses the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in these words, "No one can be saved but through you; no one can be freed from evil things but through you; no one can receive gifts but through you." My Lady, it is clear that if you do not help me I am lost, and I will never be able to come to Heaven to sing your praises. But all the Saints tell me that you do not forsake those who seek your help. He is lost, and he only, who does not call on you. Poor as I am, I seek your help and in you I put all my trust.

ASPIRATION OF ST. BERNARD - She is all my confidence, she is the total cause of my hope.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

13th Visit

ATCHISON KS, 1955

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

 

THE PRISONER

"My eyes and my heart shall be there all days." (3 Kings, 19).

In the Sacrament of the Altar Jesus has made this beautiful promise a reality; there He remains with us night and day.

If you had remained here, Jesus my Master, in the day time only, it surely would have been enough. People would be there to adore you and to keep you company; but you remain there even during the nights at a time when the church is closed and all retire to their homes―and so you are left quite alone.

Jesus, I know your reason―it is love. Love has caused you to become a prisoner for us; the strong love you have for us has bound you here on earth; and you cannot leave us any more, either night or day. This all-powerful love of yours, Jesus my Saviour, should be in itself capable of binding all men to you, and keeping them near you in the Blessed Sacrament always until they are forced to depart: and when they do at length go away, they should leave their hearts at the foot of the altar. All their affections should turn to God, who has become Man for them: to God, who remains alone, shut up in the Tabernacle; all eyes, watching out from there to provide for our every need; all heart, thirsting for our love; anxious, waiting the long night through, until He will again be visited by the ones He loves.

My Jesus, I wish to please you; I consecrate to you all my love. O God of boundless Majesty! Yes, it is you yourself! You remain in this Divine Sacrament to be present and close beside us, but chiefly to give yourself in Holy Communion to the ones you love.

My Lord and God, who shall dare to come so near to you and to nourish himself with your flesh? But who on the other hand will dare to keep away from you, because it is for this very reason you hide in the Consecrated Host―to enter into our inmost being and to take possession of our hearts.

It is you who burn with desire to be received by us. It is you who are filled with joy when you are united with us. Oh! Come, my Jesus. Come, I am longing to receive you within myself, so that you may be the God of my heart and of my will.

Whatever I have, O my dear Redeemer, satisfactions, pleasures, self-will―everything I make over to you. O Love, O God of love, reign, triumph over my whole self; if there is anything in me that is not yours, destroy and sacrifice it. O my God do not permit that my soul, full of God's majesty―since it has received you in Holy Communion―should ever again become attached to created things.

My God, I love you; my God, I will love you always; my God, I will love you only.

ASPIRATION - Draw me close to you with the strong bonds of your love. 

 

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

TREASURE OF GRACES

St. Bernard urges us: "Let us ask for grace and let us ask through Mary." St. Peter Damian tells us she is "The Treasure Store of Divine Graces." She is able to make us rich. She wants us to be rich. So she earnestly presses us to accept her kind invitation, "If you are a little one, then come to me." (Prov. 9).

O Lady Most Lovely, O Lady Most Sublime, O Lady Most Kind, look down upon me a poor sinner who comes to you for support and puts all his confidence in you. 

 
ASPIRATION - We fly to you for protection, O Holy Mother of God.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

12th Visit

BETHLEHEM CT, 1948

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE SACRAMENT OF LOVE 

"God is love. He that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him." He that loves Jesus lives in Jesus, and Jesus lives in him: "If any man love Me, he will be loved of My Father, and We will come to him and We will make our dwelling within him."

St. Philip Neri was about to receive Our Lord in the Viaticum; as the Most Holy Sacrament entered the room he exclaimed, "See, here is my love; here is my love." "See, here is my Love; here is the object of all my love in this life and in eternity"―this should be the cry of every one of us when we find ourselves in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

In the Gospel, Jesus, My Lord and My God, you tell me that if I love you, I will be loved in return by you; and that you will come to me and dwell in me, so that you and I will never more be parted. Jesus, I do love you more than anything: Oh! Love me too. I value being loved by you above all the kingdoms of the whole world. Come, and make yourself a lasting dwelling in this poor house of my soul; and in such a way that never again will you go away from me. Or rather―to speak more correctly―so that I may never again send you away; for you do not go unless you are driven out. But as such a thing has already happened: so it is possible for it to happen again. O do not let such a dreadful thing ever again take place in this world―such a repetition of disloyalty and ingratitude, as that I should act in this way―I, who have been singled out by you for special proofs of love, and given such special favors; that I should drive you again from my soul!―And yet it could happen. O my God, I want to die if it please you; so that united to you in death, I may live united to you for ever. Yes, my Jesus, this is my hope. I embrace you; I press you to my poor heart―O let me ever love you and ever be loved by you. My Savior, my most lovely one, I will love you always: you will love me always. My hope is that without ceasing, O God of my soul, we will love one another, and love one another for all eternity. So let it be.

ASPIRATION - My Jesus, always I wish to love you:  always I wish to be loved by 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 REWARD OF FIDELITY 

"Those who work in me shall not sin." (Eccl. 24). Those who are employed in my worship, says Mary, will remain ever faithful: "Those who make me known will have eternal life;" and those who are employed in making me known and loved by others are destined for heaven. Promise that when you can you will always speak, both in public and in private, of Mary's glories and of devotion to her.

ASPIRATION - O Sacred Virgin, make me worthy to tell your praises.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

11th Visit

NUNS STORY, 1962

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE GOOD SHEPHERD 

 
St. Teresa gives us this counsel: "Let us take care never to wander far from our dear Shepherd, Jesus, and never to be out of His sight; because the sheep which keep close to their shepherd always receive more caresses and are better fed; with them he shares special dainties from the food that he himself is eating; if the shepherd should fall asleep the lamb does not go away until he wakes again―it will even awaken him itself. Then he will caress it again and give it another choice morsel from his own supply of food.

My Redeemer, here I am close to you in this Holy Sacrament. The only food, that I want you to give me, is fervor and perseverance in your love.

O Holy Faith, how grateful I am to you because it is you who make known to me―and give me certainty―that in this Divine Sacrament of the altar and in this Heavenly Bread, there is no longer any bread; but in its place is my Lord Jesus Christ and He is there for my love.

O my God―my All―I believe you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. You are hidden from our bodily eyes in the Consecrated Host; but my Holy Faith reveals you to me as the Mighty Ruler of Heaven and Earth, and the Saviour of the world.

Ah, my most sweet Jesus, as you are my Hope, my Salvation, my Strength, and my Consolation; so I wish that you will also be my Love, and the sole object of all my thoughts, my desires, and my affections. I have more pleasure in the supreme happiness which you enjoy―and will enjoy eternally―than in any good that I could ever have both in time and in eternity. My supreme happiness consists in this―that you, my beloved Redeemer, are perfectly happy, and that your happiness is unbounded.

Reign, my Lord, reign over my soul, for it is wholly yours; let it be your possession always. Let my will, my senses, my powers be all the servants of your love, and whilst I am in this life let them serve no other aim but to give you glory. Mary most holy, you were the first lover and the Mother of Jesus, and in this way was your life passed; so help me and pray for me that I may live from this day forward, happy as you were, all for God.

ASPIRATION - My Jesus, make me be all yours then you will be all mine. 

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 GATE OF MARY'S MERCY 

"Blessed is the man who keeps watch at my gates every day and who is watching at my door post." (Prov. 8). As the poor wait at the doors of the rich, so blessed is the man who waits at the gate of Mary's mercy, seeking for alms which come in the form of graces; but even more blessed still is the man who tries to imitate the virtues which he learns from Mary, particularly the virtues of purity and humility.

ASPIRATION - My Hope, help me.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

10th Visit

DANBURY CT, 1950

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE KING 

Poor foolish slaves of the world, says St. Augustine, where do you think that you are going to satisfy your hearts' desires? Come to Jesus, because He alone is able to give you the happiness that you are looking for: "Unhappy people, where are you going? The good you are in search of comes from Him alone."

And what about myself? Am I going to be just as senseless as they are, by acting in the same foolish way as they do? No; I will seek for God alone.

"Seek for that One Good," adds St. Augustine, "in whom you will find every good"; and if you wish to find Him immediately, here He is―close beside you. Tell Him what you want; because that is why He is in the Tabernacle―to give you consolation and to listen to what you have to say.

St. Teresa reminds us that the privilege of speaking with a King is not given to everybody; the best that most can hope for is to make a petition through a third person.

But to speak with you, the King of Glory, we do not need anybody to intervene; you are ready to give audience to all―and at all times―in this Sacrament. Anybody that wishes for it finds you always there―there he speaks to you as friend to friend.

Occasionally, but only after long and difficult routine, someone may be permitted to speak directly to a King; and it is but seldom―maybe a few times a year―that kings grant audience. But in this Sacrament you grant audience both night and day to all without exception, and just as frequently as we wish for it.

O Sacrament of love, whether you give yourself in Holy Communion, or whether you remain upon the altar, you know how to draw many hearts to yourself with those loving attractions of yours; so that, in love with you, they remain lost in the contemplation of your goodness: and ardent in their joy their thoughts are for you alone.

O draw my poor heart to you also, for it wants to love you more and to spend itself as the servant of your love. From today forward I entrust to the care of your goodness all my interests, all my hopes, all my love: my soul and my body. Accept me O Lord, and do with me whatever you please.

I will not complain any more, O my loved Master, of the ways in which you have arranged things for my welfare. All that matters to me is that they come forth from your loving Heart; so love must be their cause and they must be for my good. That you want them so is enough for me: I want them so too both here and in eternity. Do everything you wish to me, and with me. I will work in perfect union with your will; for it alone is holy, it alone is Goodness itself, it alone is all-beautiful; and in it are all perfection and loveliness.

How dear you are to me, O Will of God! Always in the closest union with you I wish both to live and to die: your joy is my joy. My one ambition is that your desires be my desires also. My God, my God, O help me! From today forward make me live for you alone: alone, to do what you wish; alone, to love your Will which is all lovely. O let me die for love of you, for you have died for love of me and you have become the very food of my soul.

O how unhappy were the days in which I clung to my own will and thus offended you! I love you now, O Will of God, in the same way as I love God Himself―because you are God Himself. Yes, even so, with all my heart I love you, and to you I now make this complete gift―the total gift of myself.

ASPIRATION - O Will of God, all my love is yours.

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 TREASURER OF GRACES 

This great Queen tells us, "In my possession are riches . . . so that I can make all who love me rich." (Prov. 8). If we wish to be rich with the graces of God we will love Mary. "Idiota" calls her, "The Treasure Store of Graces." O happy are the people who go to Mary with confidence and love. I hope to become holy through you, for you can make me holy, O Mary, My Hope.

ASPIRATION - O Loving Mother, pray for me.

PRAYER AFTER EACH VISIT

 

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