Visit XXVIII

Since God has given us his own Son, says St. Paul, what good can we fear that he will ever deny us? Quoniam non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? (Rom. VIII). We know already that the Eternal Father has given everything he has to Jesus Christ: Omnia dedit ei Pater in manus (Io. XIII, 3). Let us always, then, thank the goodness, the mercy, the generosity of our most loving God, who has willed to make us rich in every good and in every grace by giving us Jesus in the Sacrament of the altar: In omnibus divites facti estis in illo... ita ut nihil vobis desit in ulla gratia (I Cor. I, 5, 7).

So then, O Savior of the world, O Incarnate Word, can I think that you are mine and entirely mine if I wish it? But can I say at the same time that I am entirely yours, you who desire me? Ah, my Lord, remedy this disorder and this ingratitude: do not let it be seen in the world that I should fail to be yours when you desire me!

Ah, may it never be. If this has been the case in the past, let it be so no longer in the future. Today I resolutely consecrate myself entirely to you. I consecrate to you in time and in eternity my life, my will, my thoughts, my actions, my sufferings. Here I am, entirely yours. As a victim consecrated to you, I take leave of creatures and offer myself entirely to you. Consume me with the flames of your divine love. I no longer wish creatures to have any share in my heart. The signs you have shown me of the love you bore me when I did not love you give me hope that you will certainly accept me now that I love you and give myself to you out of love.

Eternal Father, I offer you today all the virtues, the acts, the affections of the Heart of your dear Jesus. Accept them for me, and through his merits, which are all mine since he has given them to me, grant me those graces that Jesus asks of you for me. With these merits I thank you for so many mercies shown me. With these I make satisfaction for what I owe you for my sins. Through these I hope for every grace from you: pardon, perseverance, paradise, and above all the supreme gift of your pure love. I see that it is I myself who place the only obstacle; but do you remedy this also. I beg you for the love of Jesus Christ, who has promised: Si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, dabit vobis (Io. XVI, 23). Therefore you cannot refuse me. Lord, I wish for nothing but to love you, to give myself to you entirely, and to see myself no longer ungrateful as I have been until now. Look upon me and hear me. Grant that today may be the day on which I turn myself entirely to you, never again to cease loving you. I love you, my God; I love you, O infinite goodness; I love you, my love, my paradise, my good, my life, my all. -- My Jesus, entirely mine; you desire me, I desire you.

Spiritual Communion.

To Mary

How uplifted I feel in my miseries, how consoled in my tribulations, what comfort I experience in temptations, when I remember you and call upon you for help, O my sweetest and most holy Mother Mary! Yes, you saints are right to call my Lady the harbor of the afflicted: Portus vexatorum, as St. Ephrem; the restoration of our calamities: Restauratio calamitatum nostrarum; the comfort of the wretched: Solatium miserorum, St. Bonaventure; the repose of our sighs: Requies gemituum nostrorum, St. Germanus. My Mary, console me; I see myself full of sins and surrounded by enemies, without virtue, cold in love toward God. Console me, console me, and let the consolation be to make me begin a new life: a life that truly pleases your Son and you. -- Change me, Mary my Mother, change me; you can do it.

O Mary, how pleasing to me is that beautiful name by which your lovers call you: Mater amabilis. Yes, my Lady, you are all too lovable. Your beauty and goodness have enamored your very God of you: Concupivit rex speciem tuam. He it is who says to you: Quam pulchra es, amica mea, quam pulchra es! And elsewhere: Tota pulchra es..., et macula non est in te. If, then, you are so loved by God, it is necessary that I, a wretched sinner so greatly benefited by you, should also love you. I love you, O my most lovable Queen, and I desire to be one of the greatest of your lovers. Accept, O Lady, this desire of mine, and obtain for me from God this love that I ask of you, since the love that is given to you is so pleasing to God.

O my most lovable Mother, grant that I may love you greatly.