Visita XIII
The Prisoner of Love
The author reflects on Christ's perpetual presence in the Eucharist as a sign of his sacrificial, prisoner-like love for humanity.
My eyes and my heart will be there all the days. 3 Kings.1 19.2 Look: Jesus has kept this beautiful promise for us in the Sacrament of the altar, where he has remained with us night and day.3 My Lord, it could have been enough for you to remain in this Sacrament only by day, when you can have adorers of your presence to keep you company; but what good was it for you to remain there the whole night as well, when people shut the churches completely and withdraw into their homes, leaving you entirely alone? But I already understand you: love has made you our prisoner; the passionate love you bear us has bound you to earth in such a way that, night and day, it never lets you leave us. Ah, most lovable Savior, this single delicacy of love alone should bind all people to keep you company always in the sacred ciboria until they are driven away by force; and as they leave, they should all leave at the foot of the altars all their hearts and all their affections toward a God made man who remains alone and shut in a tabernacle, all eyes to watch over and provide for our needs, and all heart, remaining there to love us, and waiting for the next day to be visited by his beloved souls.4
Union Through Holy Communion
The author invites the soul to surrender its will to Christ and seek union with him through the reception of the Eucharist.
Yes, my Jesus, I want to please you; I consecrate my whole will and all my affections to you. O infinite majesty of a God, you have left yourself in this divine Sacrament not only to be present and near to us, but primarily to give yourself in Communion to your beloved souls.5 But, Lord, who would dare approach to feed on your flesh? But who, on the other hand, could turn away from you? For this reason you hide yourself under the consecrated host, so that you may enter within us and take possession of our hearts. You burn with desire to be received by us, and you delight in remaining united with us. Come then, my Jesus, come: I long to receive you within me, so that you may be the God of my heart and of my will. As far as it depends on me, my dear Redeemer, let everything yield to your love: comforts, pleasures, and self-will—let all yield to you.6 O Love, O God of love, reign and triumph over all of me; destroy and sacrifice within me everything that is mine and is not Yours. Do not allow, my Love, that my soul, filled with the majesty of a God, having received You in Holy Communion, should then cling to creatures. I love You, my God, I love You; and I want to love You always, and You alone. Aspiration.7 Draw me with the bonds of Your love. Spiritual Communion.
Seeking Grace Through Mary
The author turns to the Blessed Virgin Mary, invoking her as the treasury of grace and the surest path to her Son.
To Mary. Saint Bernard urges us: Let’s seek grace, and let’s seek it through Mary. She is, says Saint Peter Damian, the treasury of divine graces.8 She can enrich us, and she wants to enrich us. So she invites us and calls to us: If anyone is little, let him come to me (Prov. 9:4). Most lovable Lady, most exalted Lady, most gracious Lady, look upon a poor sinner who entrusts himself to you and places all his trust in you. Ejaculation.9 We take refuge under your protection, holy Mother of God. A prayer by Saint Ildephonsus. O my sovereign Lady, most humble handmaid of your Son, I prostrate myself before You and humble myself; O only Mother of my Lord, I beg You to obtain for me the forgiveness of my sins, and to order that I be purified of every fault of my life.10 I beg you to grant me the grace to be joined in affection to God and to you; that I may serve your Son and you—your Son as God, you as the Mother of my God; your Son as my Redeemer, you as a cause of my redemption—because if he has paid the price of my ransom, he paid it with the flesh he took from you.11 Aspiration.12 O my Mother, give me confidence in You, and make me always have recourse to You.
Read the original Latin
Erunt oculi mei et cor meum ibi cunctis diebus. III Reg. XIX. Ecco Gesù che ci ha attesa questa bella promessa nel Sacramento dell'altare, dove si è restato con noi notte e giorno. Signor mio, poteva bastare di restarvi in questo Sacramento solo il giorno, in cui potete avere adoratori della vostra presenza che vi tenessero compagnia; ma che serviva restarvi anche tutta la notte, in cui gli uomini chiudono affatto le chiese e si ritirano nelle case lasciandovi affatto solo? Ma già v'intendo: l'amore vi ha renduto nostro prigioniero; l'amore appassionato che ci portate vi ha ligato in terra in tal modo che notte e giorno non vi fa partire mai da noi. Ah Salvatore amabilissimo, questa sola finezza d'amore dovrebbe obbligare tutti gli uomini ad assistervi sempre ne' sacri cibori sino ad esserne cacciati per forza: e partendosi dovrebbero tutti lasciare a' piedi degli altari tutt'i loro cuori e tutt'i loro affetti verso un Dio umanato che se ne resta solo e chiuso in un tabernacolo, tutt'occhi per mirare e provvedere alle nostre necessità: e tutto cuore, restandosi ad amarci, ed aspettando il giorno appresso per essere visitato dall'anime sue dilette.
Sì, mio Gesù, io vi voglio contentare, io vi consacro tutta la mia volontà e tutti gli affetti miei. O maestà infinita di un Dio, voi vi siete lasciata in questo divin Sacramento non solo per essere a noi presente e vicina, ma principalmente per comunicarvi alle anime vostre dilette. Ma, Signore, chi ardirà d'avvicinarsi a cibarsi delle vostre carni? Ma chi all'incontro potrà allontanarsi da voi? voi a questo fine vi nascondete sotto l'ostia consacrata per entrare dentro di noi e per possedere i nostri cuori. Voi ardete di desiderio di essere ricevuto da noi, e godete starvi unito con noi. Venite dunque, mio Gesù, venite: io desidero di ricevervi dentro di me, acciocché siate il Dio del mio cuore e della mia volontà. Quanto è in me, Redentor mio caro, ceda al vostro amore: soddisfazioni, piaceri, volontà propria, tutto ceda a voi.
O amore, o Dio d'amore, regnate, trionfate di tutto me; distruggete e sacrificate in me tutto quello che è mio e non è vostro. Non permettete, amor mio, che l'anima mia piena della maestà di un Dio, avendovi ricevuto nella santa comunione, abbia poi d'attaccarsi alle creature. V'amo, Dio mio, v'amo; e sempre e voi solo voglio amare. Giac. Trahe me vinculis amoris tui. La comunione spirituale.
A Maria. Ci esorta S. Bernardo: Quaeramus gratiam, et per Mariam quaeramus. Ella è, dice S. Pietro Damiano, Thesaurus divinarum gratiarum. Ella può arricchirci e vuole arricchirci. Perciò c'invita e ci chiama Si quis est parvulus, veniat ad me (Prov. IX, 4). Signora amabilissima, signora sublimissima, signora cortesissima, guardate un povero peccatore che si raccomanda a voi e tutto confida in voi. Giac.
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix.
Orazione dello stesso S. Ildefonso. O mia sovrana Padrona, umilissima ancella del vostro Figliuolo, mi prostro avanti a Voi, e mi umilio, o sola Madre del mio Signore, Vi supplico, che mi ottenghiate il perdono de' miei peccati, ed ordinate, ch'io sia purificato da tutte le colpe della mia vita. Vi prego ad accordarmi la grazia, ch'io mi unisca coll'affetto a Dio ed a Voi; serva al vostro Figliuolo ed a Voi; al vostro Figliuolo come a Dio, a Voi come Madre del mio Dio; a vostro Figliuolo come mio Redentore, a Voi come a causa della mia redenzione; perché se egli ha pagato il prezzo del mio riscatto, l'ha pagato colla carne che da Voi ha presa. Giac. O Madre mia, datemi confidenza in Voi, e fate ch'io sempre a Voi ricorra.
Notes
- 1 ↩Vulgate book label III Reg. = 3 Kings (modern 1 Kings).
- 2 ↩Printed chapter number XIX does not match the usual locus of the quoted Latin (III Reg. 9:3).
- 3 ↩Italian 'ci ha attesa questa bella promessa' taken as 'has kept/fulfilled this promise for us' (attendere una promessa), not mere waiting.
- 4 ↩'finezza d'amore' rendered as 'delicacy of love' (tender courtesy of love), not mere refinement of style.
- 5 ↩Italian 'comunicarvi alle anime' is Eucharistic: Christ communicating / giving himself to souls in Communion, not merely 'speaking' or 'being near.'
- 6 ↩'soddisfazioni' can mean satisfactions/comforts or self-pleasing gratifications; rendered as 'comforts' in a list with pleasures and self-will.
- 7 ↩Italian abbreviation Giac. for giaculatoria: a brief ejaculatory prayer or aspiration. Rendered as the section heading Aspiration.
- 8 ↩Latin Thesaurus divinarum gratiarum rendered as 'treasury of divine graces' (Mary as storehouse/channel of grace).
- 9 ↩Italian heading abbreviation Giac. for Giaculatoria (a brief aspirational prayer).
- 10 ↩Italian 'umilissima ancella del vostro Figliuolo' can be read as the speaker's self-description before Mary, or as an apposition to Mary herself; rendered as the petitioner's self-designation, which best fits the first-person verbs that follow.
- 11 ↩'causa della mia redenzione' is kept as 'a cause of my redemption' (instrumental/remote cause through the flesh Christ took from Mary), not as if Mary were the primary Redeemer.
- 12 ↩Source is the bare abbreviation 'Giac.', almost certainly for Italian 'Giaculatoria' (ejaculatory prayer / aspiration) as a heading before the short prayer that follows.
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