Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin MaryVisit 24

To the Blessed Sacrament.
My Lord Jesus Christ, etc., page 123.

Verily Thou art a hidden God” In no other work of divine love are these words so fully verified as in this adorable mystery of the Most Holy Sacrament, where our God is entirely hidden. When the Eternal Word took flesh, he hid his divinity, and appeared as a man on earth; but remaining with us in this Sacrament, he hides even his humanity, and, as remarks St. Bernard, appears only under the form of bread, to show thereby the tenderness of the love which he bears us: “The divinity is hid, the humanity is hid; the bowels of charity alone appear.”’ O my Beloved Redeemer, at the sight of the excessive tenderness Thou hast for men, I am beside myself, my Lord, and know not what to say. In this Sacrament Thou goest so far for their love as to hide Thy majesty and lower Thy glory; Thou goest so far as even to consume and annihilate Thy divine life. And whilst Thou art on the altar Thou seemest to have nothing else to do than to love men, and to show them the love which Thou bearest them. And what gratitude do they show Thee in return, O great Son of God?

O Jesus, O too great a lover of men, allow me to say so, for I see that Thou preferrest their advantage to Thine own glory. And didst Thou not know to how much contempt this loving design of Thine would expose Thee? I see, and before me Thou didst see it full well Thyself, that the greater part of men adore Thee not, neither will they acknowledge Thee for what Thou art in this Sacrament. I know that these very men have gone so far as to trample on the consecrated Hosts, that they have thrown them on the ground, into water, and into fire. And I see the greater part even of those who believe in Thee, O God, who, so far from repairing so many outrages by the homage of their devotion, either come to the church to offend Thee still more by their irreverences, or else abandon Thee on Thy altar, and sometimes even leave it unprovided with a lamp or the necessary ornaments!

Oh, could I, my most sweet Saviour, but wash with my tears, or even with my blood, those unhappy places in which, in this Sacrament, Thy love and Thy enamoured heart have been so greatly outraged! But if so much is not granted me, I desire at least, my Lord, and determine, to visit Thee often, in order to adore Thee as I now adore Thee, and this in compensation for the insults which Thou receivest in this most divine mystery. Accept, O Eternal Father, this scanty honor, which I, the most miserable of men, now offer Thee in reparation of the outrages offered to Thy Son in the Most Holy Sacrament; accept it in union with that infinite honor which Jesus Christ gave Thee on the cross, and which he daily gives Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament. O my Sacramental Jesus, would that I could fill all men with love for the Most Blessed Sacrament!

Ejaculatory prayer. O amiable Jesus, make Thyself known, make Thyself loved!

Spiritual Communion, page 124.
Visit to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

My most powerful Lady, in the midst of my misgivings as to my eternal salvation, how great is the confidence which I feel when I have recourse to thee; and when I think that thou, my Mother, art, on the one hand, so rich in graces, that St. John Damascene calls thee “a sea of graces;”³ St. Bonaventure, “the assemblage of graces,”” that is, the source in which all graces are congregated; St. Ephrem, “a fountain of grace and of all consolation;” * and St. Bernard, “the fulness of every good;” ‘—and when, on the other hand, I reflect that thy desire to do us good is so great, that thou esteemest thyself offended, as St. Bonaventure says, by him who does not ask thee for thy graces: “they sin against thee, O Lady,” he says, “who do not ask of thee;” °—O most rich, O most wise, and most merciful Queen, I see that thou knowest far better than I do the wants of my soul, and that thou lovest me far more than I can love thee! Know, then, the grace for which I now ask thee; obtain me the grace which thou knowest to be the most expedient for my soul, Ask this favor from God, and I am satisfied.

Ejaculatory prayer. My God, grant me the graces which Mary asks Thee for me!

{From the Naples Edition.]

Let us go, says St. Paul, to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy in the time of need. Thou, divine Mary, art this throne of grace,” from which God dispenses all his blessings. Most amiable Queen, thy delight is to assist those who are in the wretched state of sin: behold, then, at thy feet a grievous sinner, imploring the aid of thy prayers. Help me to the utmost of thy power, and without delay: the wonders of thy mercy will be enhanced by saving one that has deserved a thousand hells. Thy Son cannot withstand thy intercession. I entreat thee, therefore, by the love which thou entertainest for Jesus, to procure pardon for me for the past, and grace to lead a holy life for the future. O Mary, thou art my strength, and the ground of my hope.⁷

Ejaculatory prayer. O Mary, cast a look of compassion on me.
The usual prayer, page 125.