Tractatus Alter, Pars Altera, Cap. 2. De apparitione angelomm in albis

Tractatus Alter, Pars Altera, Cap. 2. De apparitione angelomm in albis

Amen. I praise you, sweetest Jesus Christ, and I give you thanks devotedly on this holy day, because after your departure from the apostles and your entrance with the angels into heaven, you sent two angels, messengers of the heavenly court, clothed in white robes, to comfort your orphans who were gazing up at you in heaven, but unable to follow; and they said to them: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?" Why are you amazed at this astonishing miracle that you've never seen before? God can do all things; God, made man, ascends in joy, as it was prophesied about him in the psalm. Therefore, you must proclaim and testify to others what you have heard and seen, just as you were commanded. So, Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come again in the same way you saw him go into heaven. He will come then with great power and glory to judge the living and the dead, who appeared to you in the humble and gentle form while on earth, to lead the humble who follow him to the heavenly kingdoms. Remember now, I beg you, my poor soul, dear Jesus, in your glory. Remember and have mercy on me, a poor exile and pilgrim, abandoned in this valley of tears, groaning and crying out amid various temptations and troubles of this present life, my heart being often drawn away from heavenly goods. Draw me after you, most blessed Jesus, so that I may follow you with the steps of holy desire and fervent love, since I cannot follow you with the feet of my body. I will follow you along the path of your humility and humanity, for I am not worthy or fit to approach you in the height of your divine majesty. O blessed vision, to see God clearly in Himself, as He is seen by the angels and all the saints now perfectly in heaven. And now I truly know that my whole desire can never be satisfied or find peace in any earthly good, unless I am united to you, my God, in heaven and freed from all evil. Therefore, you have gone before me to the Father, preparing the way and a place to remain with you, and obtaining for me forgiveness of sins through the scars of your wounds, so that I may have great confidence now and in the future before you regarding the multitude of your mercies and the greatness of your merits, along with the prayers of all the saints and angels. Ah, good Jesus, don’t leave me. You are my love and the desire of my soul, my Savior and Redeemer, my hope since my youth, my expectation and all my trust even to old age, who have done great wonders in your strength. I will love you and praise you above all things, along with all your holy ones, in gratitude for all your good gifts, as long as I am a pilgrim and an exile in this land of my journey. Amen. Come now, my soul, return with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his apostles from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, seeking peace for your heart and quiet from all the cares of this world. Then ascend with them to the great upper room, where the old Passover was completed and the new was instituted through the venerable Sacrament of the Body of Christ, given and entrusted to the apostles. So gather yourself seriously, remaining in silence and solitude, dedicating time to God in prayer and sacred meditation, and prepare yourself for the upcoming feast of Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit with the apostles in greater fervor, who, having left behind all earthly comfort, awaited in secret the new joy from Christ from heaven. Remember, then, the benefits of God from the beginning of the world until now, especially in relation to the blessed Virgin Mary regarding the incarnation of Christ, all the words and works of Jesus, His Son, described in the Gospels from the day of His birth until the present day of His glorious ascension to the Father, without abandoning His beloved mother, whom He specially left for the comfort of the sick, to strengthen the apostles and the other faithful, because they might more fully and certainly know all the deeds and miracles that Jesus performed on earth.