Visit IX

St. John says that he saw the Lord with a golden band girded about his breast, supporting his breasts: Vidi... praecinctum ad mamillas zona aurea (Apoc. I, 13). So does Jesus stand in the Sacrament of the altar, with breasts full of milk, that is, of graces that he wishes to bestow on us out of his mercy; and as a mother whose breast is full goes seeking children to nurse and to relieve her of the burden, so he says to us: Ad ubera portabimini (Is. LXVI, 12).

Ven. Fr. Alvarez saw Jesus in the Sacrament with his hands full of graces, seeking someone to whom to dispense them. St. Catherine of Siena, when she approached the Blessed Sacrament, is said to have approached with the same loving eagerness with which a baby approaches its mother's breast.

O most beloved Only-Begotten of the Eternal Father, I know that you are the object most worthy of being loved. I desire to love you as much as you deserve; at least as much as any soul can ever desire to love you. I well understand that I, traitor and so great a rebel against your love, do not deserve to love you, do not deserve to be near you as I am in this church; but I know that you still seek my love; I hear you say to me: Fili mi, praebe cor tuum mihi (Prov. XXIII, 26). Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo (Deut. VI, 5). I understand that it is for this you have preserved me in life and have not sent me to hell, so that I might turn entirely to loving you. Since, then, you wish to be loved even by me, yes, here I am, my God; I surrender myself to you, I give myself to you. I love you, O God who are all goodness, all love. I choose you as the only king and lord of my poor heart. You desire it; I wish to give it to you. It is cold, it is wretched; but if you accept it, you will change it. Change me, my Lord, change me. I cannot bear to live as in the past, so ungrateful and so little loving toward your infinite goodness, which loves me so greatly and deserves an infinite love. Grant that from this day forward I may make up for all the love I have failed to give you in the past. -- My God, my God, I wish to love you, I wish to love you, I wish to love you.

Spiritual Communion.

To Mary

Entirely like her Son Jesus is his Mother Mary, who, being the Mother of mercy, rejoices whenever she succors and consoles the wretched. So great is this Mother's desire to bestow graces on all, that Bernardine de Bustis says: Plus enim desiderat ipsa facere tibi bonum et largiri gratiam, quam tu accipere concupiscas. -- Spes nostra, salve.

Prayer of St. John Damascene:

I greet you, O Mary; you are the hope of Christians. Receive the prayer of a sinner who loves you tenderly, who honors you in a special way, and who places in you all the hope of his salvation. From you I hold my life; you restore me to the grace of your Son. You are the sure pledge of my salvation. I beseech you, then, to deliver me from the burden of my sins. Destroy the darkness of my mind; drive away the evil affections from my heart; repress the temptations of my enemies; and so govern my life that through your help and under your guidance I may come to the eternal happiness of paradise.

My Mother, grant that I may always remember you.