Visita XIV
Resting in the Eucharistic Presence
The soul finds its true rest and delight in the presence of Jesus dwelling in the Most Holy Sacrament.
Most lovable Jesus, I hear you saying in this tabernacle where you dwell: "This is my rest forever; here I will dwell, for I have chosen it" (Ps. 132:14). CXXXI, 15).1 If, then, you have chosen your dwelling among us on the altars, remaining there in the Most Holy Sacrament, and there the love you bear us makes you find your rest, it is right as well that our hearts should always dwell with you in affection and there find every delight and rest. O blessed are you, loving souls, who find no finer rest in the world than staying near your Jesus in the Sacrament! And blessed am I, my Lord, if from this day on I find no greater delight than always being present to you, or always thinking of you who dwell in the Most Holy Sacrament, always thinking of me and of my good!
A Resolution of Love and Gratitude
The soul repents for past ingratitude and resolves to consecrate its remaining life to loving Jesus.
Ah, my Lord, why have I wasted so many years in which I did not love you? Unhappy years of mine, I curse you; and I bless you, O infinite patience of my God, who for so many years have borne with me, so ungrateful to your love. And yet, ungrateful as I am, you still wait for me: why, my God, why? So that one day, overcome by your mercies and by your love, I may give myself entirely to you. Lord, I don't want to resist any longer; I don't want to be ungrateful to you anymore. It is only right that I should consecrate to you at least this time that remains of my life, whether little or much. I hope, my Jesus, for your help so that I may be entirely yours. You favored me so much when I was fleeing from you and despising your love; how much more I hope you will favor me now that I seek you and long to love you. So give me the grace to love you, O God worthy of infinite love. I love you with all my heart; I love you above everything; I love you more than myself, more than my own life.✦ I repent of having offended you, infinite Goodness; forgive me, and along with forgiveness, grant me the grace to love you deeply until death in this life and for all eternity in the next. By your power, O almighty God, let this wonder appear in the world: that a soul as ungrateful as mine becomes one of those who love you most.2 Do this through your merits, my Jesus. This is what I desire; this is what I resolve to do all my life. You who inspire this desire in me—give me the strength.3 James.4 My Jesus, I thank you for having waited for me until now.
Spiritual Communion
A brief invitation to unite the soul with Christ through spiritual communion.
Spiritual Communion.
Confidence in Mary's Intercession
The soul turns to the Blessed Virgin Mary, trusting in her powerful intercession and mercy for salvation.
To Mary. "There is no one who is saved except through you," said St. Germanus speaking with most holy Mary: "no one who is set free from evils except through you; no one to whom a gift is granted except through you." So then, my Lady and my hope, if you don't help me, I'm lost, and I won't be able to come and bless you in paradise. But I hear, Lady, from the saints, who all say that you don't abandon anyone who turns to you: only the one who doesn't turn to you is lost. Miserable as I am, I turn to you, and in you I place all my hope. — Giac.5 with St. Bernard.6 This is all my confidence; this is the whole ground of my hope. A prayer of St. Anselm. We beg you, most holy Lady, by that grace God gave you in raising you so high, and in making all things possible for you with him, to ensure that the fullness of grace you have merited may make us partakers of your glory.7 Exert yourself, most merciful Lady, to obtain that good for which God was pleased to become man in your pure womb.8 Do not turn a deaf ear to us. If you deign to pray to your Son, he will answer you at once. It is enough that you will our salvation; then we cannot fail to be saved. And who could restrain the depths of your mercy?9 If you have no compassion for us, you who are the Mother of mercy, what will become of us when your Son comes to judge us? Ejaculation.10 O Mary, look upon the danger we are in, and have pity on us.
Read the original Latin
Amabilissimo Gesù, io vi sento dir in questo ciborio dove state: Haec requies mea in saeculum saeculi: hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam (Ps. CXXXI, 15). Se voi dunque vi avete eletta la vostra abitazione fra di noi negli altari standovene nel SS. Sacramento, ed ivi l'amor che ci portate vi fa trovare il vostro riposo, è ragione ancora che i nostri cuori abitino sempre con voi coll'affetto ed ivi trovino ogni delizia e riposo. O beate voi, anime amanti, che non trovate nel mondo più bel riposo che in starvene vicino al vostro Gesù sacramentato! E beato me, Signor mio, se non trovassi da oggi avanti maggior delizia che starvi sempre presente o sempre pensando a voi che state nel SS. Sacramento sempre pensando a me ed al mio bene!
Ah mio Signore, e perché ho perduti tanti anni ne' quali non vi ho amato? Anni miei infelici, io vi maledico; e vi benedico, o pazienza infinita del mio Dio, che tanti anni mi avete sopportato così ingrato al vostro amore. Ma pure così ingrato voi m'aspettate: perché, Dio mio, perché? acciocché un giorno io vinto dalle vostre misericordie e dal vostro amore mi renda tutto a voi. Signore, non voglio resistere più, non voglio esservi più ingrato. È ragione ch'io vi consacri almeno questo tempo che o poco o molto mi resta di vita. Spero, Gesù mio, da voi l'aiuto per esser tutto vostro. Voi mi avete così favorito quando io vi fuggiva e disprezzava il vostro amore: quanto più spero che mi favorirete quando io vi cerco e desidero d'amarvi.
Datemi dunque la grazia d'amarvi, o Dio degno d'infinito amore. Io v'amo con tutto il mio cuore, v'amo sopra ogni cosa, v'amo più di me stesso, più della vita mia. Mi pento d'avervi offeso, bontà infinita; perdonatemi, ed insieme col perdono concedetemi la grazia d'amarvi assai sino alla morte in questa vita e per tutta l'eternità nell'altra. Fate vedere colla vostra potenza, o Dio onnipotente, questo prodigio nel mondo che un'anima così ingrata come la mia diventi una delle più vostre amanti. Fatelo per gli meriti vostri, Gesù mio. Io così desidero, così propongo di far in tutta la mia vita; voi che me ne ispirate desiderio, datemi le forze. Giac. Gesù mio, vi ringrazio d'avermi aspettato finora.
La comunione spirituale.
A Maria. Nullus est, disse S. Germano parlando con Maria santissima, qui salvus fiat nisi per te: nemo qui liberetur a malis nisi per te: nemo cui donum concedatur nisi per te. Dunque, Signora mia e speranza mia, se voi non mi aiutate, io son perduto e non potrò venire a benedirvi in paradiso. Ma io sento, Signora, dai santi che dicono tutti che voi non abbandonate chi ricorre a voi: solo si perde chi a voi non ricorre. Io miserabile a voi ricorro ed in voi metto tutte le mie speranze. - Giac. con S. Bern. Haec tota mea fiducia: haec tota ratio spei meae.
Orazione di S. Anselmo. Vi preghiamo, o santissima Signora, per quella grazia che Dio vi ha fatta di così inalzarvi, e di rendervi con essolui tutte le cose possibili, di fare in modo che la pienezza della grazia, che Voi avete meritata, ci renda partecipi di vostra gloria. Affaticatevi, o misericordissima Signora, a procurarvi il bene, per cui Dio si è contentato di farsi uomo nelle vostre caste viscere. Non vi rendete difficile in ascoltarci. Se Voi degnate di pregare il vostro Figliuolo, egli subito vi esaudirà. Basta, che Voi ci vogliate salvi, che allora non potremo non esser salvi. Or chi potrà restringere le viscere di vostra misericordia? Se non avete compassione di noi, Voi che siete la Madre della misericordia, che ne sarà di noi, quando il vostro Figliuolo verrà a giudicarci?
Giac. O Maria, guardate il pericolo in cui stiamo, ed abbiate pietà di noi.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Deut.6.5;Matt.22.37 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Matt.22.37 — And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
Notes
- 1 ↩Citation preserved as printed (Ps CXXX1, 15). The quoted Latin usually maps to Vulgate Ps 131:14 / Hebrew 132:14; verse numbering may need Moses-stage resolution.
- 2 ↩«una delle più vostre amanti» rendered as 'one of those who love you most' (devotional 'lovers of God'), avoiding romantic overtone while keeping superlative force.
- 3 ↩Italian «ne» in «me ne ispirate desiderio» is partitive ('of it/this'), not negative-purpose; rendered as 'this desire'.
- 4 ↩Source is only the abbreviation «Giac.»—standard Italian short form for Giacomo (James). No chapter/verse is supplied; treated as a bare citation label.
- 5 ↩Abbreviated attribution "Giac." is opaque in isolation (possibly Giacomo/James or another cited authority); left as in the source.
- 6 ↩Expanded "S. Bern." to St. Bernard; likely a citation tag paired with the following Latin sentence and the preceding "Giac." fragment.
- 7 ↩Italian 'essolui' is archaic for 'esso lui' (him, i.e. God); rendered as 'with him'.
- 8 ↩'procurarvi' with formal 'voi' can read as 'procure for yourself/yourselves'; in this petition the intended force is Mary's labor to secure the salvific good of the Incarnation for us. 'caste viscere' is traditional Marian diction for the pure womb.
- 9 ↩'viscere di... misericordia' echoes the biblical idiom of the 'bowels/depths of mercy' (viscera misericordiae); rendered as 'depths of your mercy' for modern readability while keeping the interior, maternal force.
- 10 ↩Italian 'Giac.' is the conventional abbreviation for Giaculatoria (a short ejaculatory prayer/aspiration), fitting the shift from the longer Anselm prayer in the previous section to this brief Marian petition.
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