Quod toto corde anima devota Christi unionem in Sacramento affectare debet.

The Soul's Cry for Union with God

The devout soul longs to find God alone, to be wholly united to Him, and to dwell in mutual indwelling with Christ.

Who will give me, Lord, that I may find you alone, that I may open my whole heart to you, that I may enjoy you as my soul desires? And now let no one look down on me, nor let any creature stir me or turn my eyes: but may you alone speak to me, and I to you, just as a beloved one is accustomed to speak to the beloved, and a friend to dine together with a friend. This I pray, this I desire: that I may be wholly united to you, and that I may draw my heart away from all created things; and that through sacred Communion, and through the frequent celebration of heavenly and eternal things, I may learn to taste and savor them. But, Lord God, when will I be wholly united to you and absorbed in you, and totally forgetful of myself? You in me and I in you — grant that we may likewise remain together as one.^✦

Christ Our Beloved and Hidden Peace

The soul addresses Christ as its beloved, its peace, and its hidden God, marveling at the sweetness of the Eucharist and the nearness of God to the faithful.

Truly, truly, you are my beloved, chosen from among thousands, in whom my soul has been pleased to dwell all the days of its life.^✦ Truly you are my peace, in whom is the highest peace and true rest — outside of whom there is only labor, pain, and endless misery.^✦ Truly you are a hidden God, and your counsel is not with the impious, but your word is with the humble and the simple.^✦ O, how sweet is your Spirit, Lord, who, to show your sweetness to the children, deigns to refresh them with the sweetest bread descending from heaven.^✦^✦ Truly there is no other nation so great that has gods drawing near to it as you, our God, are present to all your faithful ones. To them, for daily comfort and a heart to be lifted to heaven, you grant yourself to be eaten and enjoyed.^✦

The Ineffable Grace of the Eucharist

The soul exclaims over the surpassing grace of the Eucharist, asks what can be offered in return, and resolves that the only fitting response is total union of heart with God.

For what other nation is so renowned as the Christian people? Or what creature under heaven is so beloved as the devout soul, into which God enters to feed her with his own glorious flesh? O, ineffable grace! O, admirable dignity! O, immense love, singularly bestowed on man! But what can I repay the Lord for such grace? For such excellent love?¹ There is nothing more pleasing I can give than to offer my heart wholly to God and be intimately joined to him. Then all my inmost depths will exult, when my soul has been perfectly united to God. Then he will say to me: If you wish to be with me, I wish to be with you. And I will answer him: Deign, Lord, to remain with me; I gladly wish to be with you. This is my whole desire: that my heart may be united to you.

Read the original Latin

Quis mihi det, Domine, ut inveniam te solum, ut aperiam tibi totum cor meum, ut fruar te sicut desiderat anima. Et jam nemo me despiciat, nec ulla creatura me moveat vel respiciat: sed tu solus mihi loquaris, et ego tibi, sicut solet dilectus ad dilectum, loqui et amicus cum amico convivari? Hoc oro, hoc desidero, ut tibi totus uniar, et cor meum ab omnibus creatis rebus abstraham; magisque per sacram Communionem, ac frequentem celebrationem cælestia et æterna sapere discam. At, Domine Deus, quando ero tecum totus unitus et absorptus, meique totaliter oblitus? Tu in me et ego in te et sic nos in unum pariter manere concede.

Vere, vere tu es dilectus meus, electus ex millibus, in quo complacuit animæ meæ habitare omnibus diebus vitæ suæ. Vere tu es pacificus meus, in quo pax summa et requies vera, extra quem labor et dolor et infinita miseria. Vere tu es Deus absconditus, et consilium tuum non est cum impiis, sed cum humilibus et simplicibus sermo tuus. O, quam suavis est, Domine, spiritus tuus, qui, ut dulcedinem tuam in filios demonstrares, pane suavissimo de cælo descendente illos reficere dignaris. Vere non est alia natio tam grandis, quæ habeat Deos appropinquantes sibi, sicut tu, Deus noster, ades universis fidelibus tuis: quibus ob quotidianum solatium, et cor erigendum in cælum, te tribuis ad edendum et fruendum.

Quæ est enim alia gens tam inclyta, sicut plebs Christiana? Aut quæ creatura sub cælo tam dilecta ut anima devota, ad quam ingreditur Deus, ut pascat eam carne sua gloriosa? O, ineffabilis gratia. O, admirabilis dignatio. O, amor immensus, homini singulariter impensus. Sed quid retribuam Domino pro gratia ista? pro charitate tam eximia? Non est aliud quod gratius donare queam, quam ut cor meum Deo meo totaliter tribuam, et intime conjungam. Tunc exultabant omnia interiora mea, cum perfecte fuerit unita Deo anima mea. Tunc dicet mihi: Si tu vis esse mecum, ego volo esse tecum. Et ego respondebo illi: Dignare, Domine, manere mecum, ego volo libenter esse tecum. Hoc est totum desiderium meum, ut cor meum tibi sit unitum.

Scripture echoes

↩John.17.23 — I in them and you in me, so that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them just as you loved me.
↩Song.5.10 — My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
↩Eph.2.14 — For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of hostility
↩Isa.45.15 — Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
↩John.6.51 — I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
↩Ps.33.9 — For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
↩Deut.4.7 — For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is whenever we call upon Him?

Notes

1 ↩charitate here renders caritas in its theological-virtue sense (charity as divine love); rendered as 'love' per lexeme policy, with the theological weight carried by context.