8th Visit

The Loving Invitation 

"Rise up, make haste, my friend, my lovely one, and come to me." (Cant. 2). These are the words of the Sacred Spouse in the Canticles. They are spoken also by Jesus to every soul that visits Him in the Most Holy Sacrament.

Rise up: lift yourself above your own poverty. My friend: since you come to visit me, for I am here to make you rich by my favours. Make hast: come very close to me and do not be afraid of my Majesty―my Majesty is humbled in this Sacrament because I wish to take all fear from you and to give you confidence.

My friend, you love me and I love you; you cannot now be an enemy of mine―you are my friend. My lovely one, my grace has made you beautiful. Come to me: come near to me and embrace me, and then with great confidence ask of me all that you want.

St. Teresa tells us: Jesus the mighty King of Glory puts on a disguise in this Sacrament, which is the form of bread; in this way He hides His Majesty so that we will come near to His Sacred Heart with the greatest confidence.

O let us come close then to Jesus―very confident and full of love―and making ourselves one with Him we shall ask for His favors.

O Eternal Word, how great should be my joy! You became Man and are present here in the Blessed Sacrament for me; I know that I stand in your presence and you are my God; your Majesty is infinite, your Goodness is boundless―and it is you, my God, who love me with so mighty a love.

O all you lovers of God wherever you are found, in heaven or on earth, love Him for me also. Mary my Mother, help me to love Him. And you, my Lord and My God, you who are so lovely, today make yourself the one and only object of my love; make yourself complete Master of my will and take full possession of my whole being. To you I consecrate my mind: let its thoughts be always of your goodness. To you I consecrate my body: help me that I may be pleasing to you. To you I consecrate my soul: let it be wholly yours.

O Beloved of my heart, I would that all men knew the marvellous depths of the love you have for them, and then all would spend their lives for this one end―to love you and to give you pleasure; in the way you want them to do, and to the extent that you deserve it.

As for myself, I want to live always in love with your boundless beauty; I want to do everything I can from this day forward with the one aim of giving joy to you.

I am resolved to give up anything at all, whatever it be, if it displeases you; it does not matter what the cost be to myself, for rather than displease you I prefer to lose everything, even my life. My God, my treasure, my love, my all: O how happy will I be if I lose everything to gain possession of you. 

Aspiration - Take everything from me and take me all to yourself, Jesus my God.

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 and the Child

"If you are a little one, then come to me (Prov. 8). Mary calls on every child who has need of a mother to come and seek her because she is of all mothers the most lovely. Nuremberg expresses her love for us in these words: What is the love of all other mothers but a mere shadow beside the love of Mary for each of us. 

 

O Mother, O Mother of my soul, you love me and you long for my salvation so intensely that only God longs for it more than you do. O Mary, prove yourself a Mother to me. 

 

Aspiration - O Mother, you are mine; let me ever remember you.

7th Visit

NEW JERSEY, 1953

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

 

THE HOME WHERE JESUS LIVES

"Be assured, I am with you all days, to the very end of time." (St. Matt. 28).

Jesus the Good Shepherd, full of love, has given His life for us His sheep: but even in death He could not bear to be separated from us. Therefore He says: my cherished flock, you whom I so love, see―I am with you still. I have found a way to remain with you. So long as you wish it, here you will be able to find me in this Sacrament always. Here you will get help; you will find consolation in my presence. Until the end of the world I will not leave you; never, so long as you remain upon this earth.

St. Peter of Alcantara says: Jesus, going far away, would not leave the one He loved lonely and without an intimate friend. So in the Blessed Sacrament He left the best of all possible friends―no other than Himself.

O my Most Gentle Lord, My Savior most lovely, I have come to visit you and I am here before you now at this altar. You return my visit with still greater love, when in Holy Communion you enter the house of my soul; for at that time you are not only present before me but you become my own food, forming with me a complete union and making yourself my perfect gift. Thus at such a time I can truly say: My Jesus, now you belong to me entirely. When you give yourself so completely to me, it is only right that I make a complete gift of myself to you. What a poor insignificant thing I am; and you are my God. O God of love, O love of my heart, when will it be that I shall be yours―all yours―not in word only but in reality? It is you who can bring this about.

Give me greater confidence, through the merits of your Precious Blood, that for a certainty I may obtain from you this grace: before I die to see myself unreservedly yours, and my own in nothing any longer. My God, the prayers of everybody are heard by you. Today hear the prayer of one who wishes to love you in all reality: for I wish to love you with all my strength; I wish to be obedient to your smallest wish without any interest of my own, without any form of consolation, and without any reward; for love alone I wish to serve you, solely to give you pleasure; solely to give joy to your Heart which burns with such an intense fire for me. My reward―my only reward―will be to love you. O Son, loved of the Eternal Father, rob me of my liberty; rob me of my will; rob me of everything―rob me of myself―and then give yourself to me. I love you; I seek you; I sigh for you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

ASPIRATION - O My Jesus, make me wholly 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 

HAIL MARY, OUR HOPE 

O Lady―Our Lady―You are of all the most lovely, the entire Church calls you and greets you, "Our Hope." You therefore who are the Hope of All, be my Hope too. It is St. Bernard who calls you, "The whole reason of my hope;" and he says of you, "Even the one whose need is desperate can hope in you." In like manner I too can say: O Mary, you are mine―you can save those who are in desperate need. In you I put all my hope.

ASPIRATION - Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus 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.

6th Visit

NUNS STORY, 1962

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE TREASURE

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be," (St. Luke 12:34).

Jesus Christ tells us that where we think our treasure is, it is there also we place our affections.

The Saints valued and loved One Treasure only―and their Treasure was Jesus Christ; hence their hearts and all their love went out to the Most Holy Sacrament.

O Holy Sacrament, Most Lovable Jesus, for the love of me you remain night and day a Prisoner in the Tabernacle. I entreat you to attract my heart to you: so that I may think of nothing but you; so that I may love nothing, and seek for nothing, and aspire to nothing―but you. Do this through the merits of your Passion through which I seek and hope for this great grace.

Yes, O Divine Lover, be for me a Sacrament of Redemption. How loving and how kind are the means your love has directed to this one end―to conquer the love of souls for yourself. O Eternal Word made Man, you were not content to die for us only; over and above all this you have given us the Blessed Sacrament to keep us company, to be our Food, and to be our Pledge of Paradise.

You appear among us as a Babe in a Manger; as a poor workman laboring in a cabin; as a criminal upon a gibbet―and now as bread on an altar. Tell me, is there anything further that could possibly be thought of to make us love you? O loveliness without any bounds, will the time ever come when I shall begin in all sincerity to correspond with love of such an exalted kind? O Supreme Lord and Master, I wish to live no longer unless it be in loving you only. And indeed of what benefit is life to me if it be not to use it up solely in loving you and in pleasing you, my Beloved Redeemer―you, whose whole life was spent for me.

If it be not you, what else is there for me to love; seeing that you are Beauty Unbounded, Kindness without limit, infinitely good, infinitely loving, and infinitely worthy to be loved? O let my life be consumed in loving you only; let my heart melt with love at the very thought of the love you have for me; at the very mention of the words―Crib, and Cross, and Sacrament. Let me wear out my life in my intense desire to do great things for you, O my Jesus: for you have done and suffered for me things which were very great indeed.

ASPIRATION - Before I die, O my Lord, let me accomplish something for you.
 

SPITITUAL 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 BEAUTIFUL OLIVE TREE

"She is like a beautiful olive tree in the meadow."

Mary tells us: I am the lovely olive tree from which the soothing oil is ever flowing. I stand in the midst of the meadows so that all can see me and everybody can come to me.

Let us speak to her with St. Bernard: "O Most Loving Mother, keep it in mind that since the beginning of time nobody has heard it said that you ever cast off one that came to you for protection." O Most Gentle Queen, nobody has ever heard of such a thing that a client who went to you for help was left forsaken. So it is not likely that I will be the only poor unfortunate one that came to you and was left an outcast.

ASPIRATION - O Mary, this is the grace I seek―always to come to you for help.


PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

5th Visit

SAN ANTONIO, 1945

 

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

LORD, ABIDE WITH ME

"The sparrow finds for itself a shelter, and the turtle dove finds for itself a nest and there they place their young. But thy place of rest is the altar, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God." (Psal. 83).

David tells us the sparrow finds its place of dwelling among the houses; the turtle dove in its nest. But that you, my King and my God, have found your shelter and the place of your rest on earth upon our altars. It is there you are found; and it is there you dwell together with us.

O Lord, is there any need for us to say that you are too much in love with men: it seems that you do not know anything more that you can attempt, to make yourself loved by them. But yes, O Most Lovable Jesus, you can do yet one more thing: set our hearts on fire with a greater love for you. It is surely not right that we should be cold in the love that we have for that God who loves us with such an intense love. With the sweet bonds of your love draw us more closely to you: yes, my Jesus, give us a deep knowledge of all those beautiful qualities of yours which will so inspire our love.

O Majesty which is Infinite, O Goodness which is Boundless―it is you who love men with so great love; it is you who have done so much in order to be loved by men.

And yet how does it come about that there are so few who love you in return? But I at least do not wish to be any longer―as I once was―among the number of these unhappy and ungrateful ones. I am resolved to love you as much as I can and to love no other than you. You deserve all my love; you command and insist that I love you; and for me, my only wish is to satisfy your longing.

Bring it about, O God of my soul, that I may be able to satisfy you fully; this favor I beg of you through the merits of your Passion, and this is what I hope for.

As to the goods of this world, give them to those who want them; but for me, my only wish, and my one petition, is for the great treasure of your love.

O my Jesus, O Goodness that is Boundless, I love you; I love you. You are my whole Treasure; you are my whole Happiness; you are all my Love.

ASPIRATION - My Jesus, you have given your whole self to me; I give my whole self 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

ROBBER OF HEARTS

My Lady, St. Bernard says you are the Ravisher of Hearts. With your beauty and your goodness you go around stealing hearts. O I pray you, steal this heart of mine also, together with my will; I make a complete gift of it to you; unite it with your own and offer it to God.

ASPIRATION - O Mother Most Lovable, pray for me.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

 

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

4th Visit

SAN ANTONIO, 1945

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

MY FRIEND, JESUS

"There is not bitterness in his conversation, and there is no weariness when in his company." (Wisd. 8:16).

There are friends who are so happy when they meet that entire days pass quickly by in the company of each other: but there are those who become weary when with Jesus in this Sacrament and it is because they do not love Him. As for the Saints―it was in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament that they found their paradise on earth.

After her death, St. Teresa speaking from Heaven said to one of her nuns: "The Blessed in Heaven and those who still dwell on the earth should be alike in the purity of their lives and in their love. We are in the possession of joys: you are in the midst of trials. What the Beatific Vision is to us in Heaven, the Blessed Sacrament should be to you who are exiled on earth." Here then is our Paradise on earth―it is found in the Most Holy Sacrament.

O spotless Lamb, you were sacrificed for me on the Cross; be mindful that I am one of the souls that you redeemed with so great pain and with your death. Since you have given yourself to me―and you continue to give yourself to me every day by sacrificing yourself for love of me on the altar―bring it about that you may really be mine and that I may never lose you: and let me also be entirely yours.

I give myself all to you that you may do with me just as you please. I give you my will; bind it to yourself with the sweet bonds of your love, so that for ever it may remain the faithful servant of your most holy will.

I want to live, not to satisfy my own wishes any more, but to make you happy because you are so good. If there is anything in me that does not please you take it away, and in its place give me this one grace―to have no thought for anything except to make you happy; to have no wish for anything except for your good-pleasure. My dearest Redeemer, with all my heart I love you; and the reason why I love you is because you are so deserving of love. It grieves me to know that I cannot love you as much as you deserve. Would that I could die for love of you! Jesus, my Lord, accept my intense desire and give me the grace to love you more.

Amen; so may it be.

ASPIRATION - My God, I make a complete sacrifice of myself to your good-pleasure.

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 BEAUTIFUL LOVE

"I am the Mother of beautiful love"―I am the Mother of the love that makes beautiful. This is what Mary says; and it means―Of the love that gives beauty to the soul. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi saw Our Lady going from place to place; she who is full of Holiness was distributing a sweet liquid and the Liquid was Divine Love. This precious gift comes to us only through her; let us ask her for it.

ASPIRATION - My Mother, my Hope, make me belong all to Jesus.


PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

3rd Visit

CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 1959

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

 LIVING IN THE PALACE OF THE KING

 

"My delights are to be with the children of men.
(Prov. 8).

See our loving Jesus: He has died on the Cross for love of us; but this is not enough. In the Most Holy Sacrament He will continue with us even after His death; and He assures us that it is with us men He finds His deepest joys.

"O men," exclaims St. Teresa, "how can it possibly be that you will continue to offend that God, who tells you that it is in you that He finds His deepest joys!" Jesus delights to be with us. Can it be possible that we do not delight to be with Jesus. And, most of all, we―yes, we―who are so honored as to live in His palace.

A subject is honored indeed when the King asks him to live in the palace. But here are we, living with Jesus Christ in this house which is His own palace. Let us learn to be grateful to Him. Let us learn to put its true value on this familiar intercourse with Jesus Christ.

Yes here I am, my Lord and my God before this altar, the place where you rest night and day for love of me. You are the spring from which every good thing flows; you are the doctor that heals every sickness; you are the treasure that makes rich every man who is poor. Here I am at your feet today―a sinner; the poorest of all, the weakest of all; and here I seek your mercy. Have pity on me.

No. I will not allow my unhappy state to make me lose courage, because I know well that you have come down from Heaven to earth in this Sacrament for this one and only reason―to do me good.

I will praise you; I will thank you; I will love you; if you want me to ask you for a gift, here is my petition―O listen to me―I want never again any more to offend you. I want you to give me the light and grace to love you with all my power.

O my God, I love you; I love you with all my soul; I love you with all my affections. O see to it that when I say this I say it truly. Let me say it in this life. Let me say it in eternity.

And I call you to help me―Mary Most Holy, my Patron Saints, all you Saints and Angels of Heaven. Help me to love my God because He is most beautiful and lovely.

ASPIRATION - O Jesus Good Shepherd, O Jesus True Bread, have mercy on us. Feed us, and protect us, and show us good things in the land of the living. 

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 GENTLE CHAIN OF LOVE

"Her bonds are bonds that bring redemption (Eccl. 6:3).

Pelbart, a devoted servant of Mary, tells us that devotion to her is a chain; but the chain is not one of bondage. It is a succession of graces that surely ends in Heaven. Let us ask Our lady and she will bind us; but she will bind us ever more closely with the bonds of love, and of confidence in her protection.

ASPIRATION - O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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

2nd Visit

QUEBEC, 1942

PRAYER BEFORE VISIT

THE BREAD OF THE STRONG

 

Father Nieremberg says: Bread may be eaten at once for nourishment, or it may be kept for use in the future. For this reason Jesus chose it in giving the Eucharist. By being received He unites Himself to the souls of those who love Him; by remaining in the Tabernacle He is always present with them. This is the method He employs to keep the thought of His love always in our mind.

St. Paul says, "He made Himself nothing and took the form of a servant." (Phil. 2:7). But what should we say when we see Him "take the form of bread"?

St. Peter of Alcantara assures us that the greatness of the love of Jesus for a soul in the state of grace is beyond the power of words to describe.

Our most loving Lord wished to make certain that when he left this earth He would not be forgotten because of His absence. Some pledge He could leave as a proof of His love; but no pledge, whatever it be, was sufficient. The only thing that could satisfy Him would be to remain with us Himself; this He did by means of the Blessed Sacrament. Nothing but His own presence would do to keep alive His memory between these two―Jesus and the soul He loved.

Since you are here within this Tabernacle, my Jesus, to listen to the prayers of those who are in need, and who come to speak with you; listen now to the petition of the poor sinner who of all men living has been the most ungrateful.

I have come to your feet repentant, for I know the wrong that I did when I displeased you; so my first wish is that you will forgive me all the wrong I have done. O my God, how I wish that I had not ever caused displeasure to you; from this you will know what I long for now. Since I have learned to know how supremely lovable you are I have become filled with love of you, and I feel an intense longing to love you more and to give you pleasure; but unless you yourself help me, I have not the power to do this. O Great and Almighty Lord, let the whole of Paradise see the greatness of your power and your boundless kindness; bring about a change in me, so that from obstinately resisting you I may become a great lover of you. You are able to do it. You wish to do it. Supply everything that is wanting in me. Do this yourself; so it will come to pass that I will love you exceedingly―at least let me love you as much as I once offended you.

O my Jesus, I love you; I love you above everything; I love you more than my own life―my God, my Love, my All.

ASPIRATION - "My God and my All."

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 THRONE OF GRACE

 

Clearing the grass and weeds from around a roadside shrine. Note the Blessed Virgin's image on the Cross.
Quebec, Canada - 1942

"Let us confidently approach the Throne of Grace where we will receive mercy and timely help" (Hebr. 4:16). St. Antoninus tells us that this Throne is Mary. Through her God distributes all graces.

O Queen most lovely, if you wish so much to help poor sinners, here before you is a great sinner who seeks your help. Let your help to me be powerful. Let your help to me be prompt.

ASPIRATION - Sole refuge of sinners, have pity on me.
(St. Augustine).

PRAYER AFTER VISIT

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