Visita XXVII
The Wonder of His Presence
The Church celebrates the unique mystery of God's abiding presence among his people in the Eucharist.
The Holy Church sings in the office of the Most Holy1 Sacrament: There is no other nation so great that has gods drawing near to it as our God is present with us.✦ The Gentiles, hearing of our God's works of love, would end up saying: Oh, what a good God this God of the Christians is! And in fact, even though the Gentiles invented gods after their own whims, still, read the histories and you will see that among all the fables and all the gods they made up, not one ever managed to invent a god so in love with human beings as our true God is—who, to show his love to those who worship him and to enrich them with graces, has worked such a wonder of love: remaining our hidden companion day and night on our altars, as if he could not bear to be parted from us even for a moment. He has made a memorial of his wonders (Ps.2 CX, 4).3
A Plea for Constant Love
The author laments human ingratitude toward the Blessed Sacrament and prays for a heart that finds joy in Christ's presence.
So then, my dearest Jesus, you chose to work the greatest of your miracles to satisfy the overwhelming desire you have to stay with us always, near and present? And why, then, do people flee from your presence? And how can they live so long far from you, or come to visit you so rarely? And if they do stay with you for a quarter of an hour, does it feel like a century to them because of the boredom they find there? O patience of my Jesus, how great you are! Yes, I understand you, my Lord: it is great, because the love you bear for human beings is great, and that is what binds you to remain continually among so many ungrateful people. Ah my God—since you are infinite in your perfections, you are also infinite in loving—do not allow me still to be numbered among these ungrateful ones in the future, as I have been in the past. Grant me a love equal to your worth and to what I owe you.4 I too once found your presence tedious, because I did not love you, or loved you too little; but if by your grace I come to love you deeply, I certainly will no longer find it tedious to remain days and nights at your feet, you who are present in the Sacrament.56 O Eternal Father, I offer you your own Son; accept him for me, and through his merits grant me a love so ardent and tender for the Most Holy7 Sacrament, that whenever I turn toward a church where he is present in the Sacrament, I may think of him there and long with eagerness for the time to go and stay in his presence.8 Aspiration.9 My God, for the love of Jesus, give me a great love for the Most Holy10 Sacrament.11 Spiritual Communion.
Mary, Our Stronghold
The author invokes Mary as the Tower of David and a fortified bulwark against the spiritual assaults of the enemy.
To Mary. Mary is the tower of David that the Holy Spirit describes in the Song of Songs: "It is built with battlements; a thousand shields hang from it, all the armor of the strong." It is a tower built with a thousand fortifications, holding a thousand defenses and weapons for the benefit of those who turn to her.12 So you are, most holy Mary, as Saint Ignatius the Martyr calls you: "a most fortified bulwark for those engaged in battle" — the strongest defense for those who stand in the fight.13 Oh, what continual assaults my enemies keep making on me, to rob me of God's grace and of your protection, my dearest Lady! But you are my fortress. You do not disdain to fight for those who trust in you, while Saint Ephrem named you: "Defender of those who put their confidence in you."14 So defend me and fight for me, for I place so much trust and hope in you. — Aspiration.15 Mary, your name is my defense.
The Mother of Mercy
Reflecting on Mary's promise to St. Bridget, the author seeks her healing intercession for the wounds of the soul.
My Lady, you said to St. Bridget: No matter how much a person sins, if he has turned back to me with true amendment, I am ready at once to receive the one who returns; I do not look at how much he has sinned, but with what will he comes. For I do not disdain to anoint and heal his wounds, because I am called, and truly am, the Mother of Mercy. So then, O Mary, if you do not scorn any sinner who returns to you with a will to amend, and you can and want to heal him—look, I turn to you, O heavenly Physician: heal so many wounds of my soul.16 Your Son refuses you nothing; ask him to forgive me and to grant me his holy love. Ejaculation.17 O Mary, my hope, from you I hope for every good.
Read the original Latin
Canta la S. Chiesa nell'officio del SS. Sacramento: Non est alia natio tam grandis, quae habeat Deos appropinquantes sibi, sicut Deus noster adest nobis. I Gentili sentendo l'opere d'amore del nostro Dio, giungevano a dire: Oh che buon Dio è questo Dio dei Cristiani! Ed in fatti, con tuttoché i Gentili si fingevano i Dei secondo i loro capricci, pure leggete l'Istorie e vedrete che in tante favole ed in tanti dei che inventavano, niuno è arrivato a fingersi mai un Dio così innamorato degli uomini, com'è il nostro vero Dio, che per dimostrare il suo amore a' suoi adoratori e per arricchirli di grazie ha fatto un tale prodigio d'amore, di starsene fatto nostro perpetuo compagno nascosto di giorno e di notte dentro de' nostri altari, parendo ch'egli non sapesse neppure per un momento separarsi da noi. Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum (Ps. CX, 4).
Dunque voi, dolcissimo Gesù mio, avete voluto fare il più grande dei vostri miracoli per soddisfare al desiderio eccessivo che avete di stare con noi sempre vicino e presente? E perché gli uomini poi fuggono dalla vostra presenza? E come posson vivere tanto tempo lontani da voi, o vengono a visitarvi così di rado? E se vi stanno un quarto d'ora, loro sembra un secolo per lo tedio che vi trovano? O pazienza del mio Gesù, quanto sei grande! Sì, v'intendo, Signor mio, è grande, perch'è grande l'amore che portate agli uomini, e questo è quello che v'obbliga a trattenervi continuamente fra tanti ingrati.
Ah mio Dio, ch'essendo infinito nelle perfezioni siete anche infinito nell'amare, non permettete che io ancora abbia da essere per l'avvenire tra il numero di questi ingrati, come sono stato per lo passato. Concedetemi un amore pari al vostro merito e all'obbligo mio. Trovai un tempo anch'io tedio alla vostra presenza perché non vi amava o vi amava troppo poco; ma se giungo colla grazia vostra ad amarvi assai, no che non avrò più tedio a trattenermi i giorni e le notti a' piedi di voi sacramentato. O Padre Eterno, io vi offerisco il vostro medesimo Figlio, accettatelo per me e per gli meriti suoi donatemi un amore talmente ardente e tenero al SS. Sacramento, che sempre io rivolto a qualche chiesa, dove egli sta nel Sacramento, ivi pensi e desideri con ansia il tempo di andare a trattenermi alla sua presenza. Giac. Dio mio, per amore di Gesù datemi un grande amore al SS. Sacramento.
La comunione spirituale.
A Maria. Maria è quella torre di Davide di cui dice lo Spirito Santo ne' sacri Cantici: Aedificata est cum propugnaculis, mille clypei pendent ex ea, omnis armatura fortium: torre ch'è stata edificata con mille fortezze e che tiene mille difese ed armi a beneficio di coloro che a lei ricorrono. Voi siete dunque, o Maria Santissima, come vi chiama S. Ignazio martire: Propugnaculum munitissimum in bello versantibus: la difesa fortissima per coloro che stanno nella battaglia. Oh che assalti continuamente mi stanno dando i miei nemici, per privarmi della grazia di Dio e della protezione vostra, Signora mia carissima! Ma voi siete la mia fortezza. Voi già non isdegnate di combattere per coloro che in voi confidano, mentre S. Efrem vi nominava: Propugnatrix confidentium in te. Voi dunque difendetemi e combattete per me, che in voi tanto confido e spero. - Giac.
Maria, il nome tuo è la difesa mia.
Signora mia, Voi diceste a S. Brigida: Quantumcumque homo peccet, si ex vera emendatione ad me reversus fuerit, statim parata sum recipere revertentem; nec attendo, quantum peccaverit, sed cum quali voluntate venit. Nam non dedignor eius plagas ungere e sanare, quia vocor et vere sum mater misericordiae. Se dunque, o Maria, Voi non isdegnate qualunque peccatore che a Voi ritorna con volontà d'emendarsi, e Voi potete e volete sanarlo, ecco a voi ricorro, o Medica celeste, sanate tante piaghe dell'anima mia. Il vostro Figlio niente vi nega, pregatelo, che mi perdoni e mi conceda il suo santo amore. Giac. O Maria, speranza mia, da Voi spero ogni bene.
Scripture echoes
- ↩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 ↩Sentence is cut mid-phrase before 'Sacramento' (s2); together they introduce the office of the Most Holy Sacrament.
- 2 ↩Citation is split across s5–s6; full reference is Ps. CX, 4 (Vulgate).
- 3 ↩Closes the psalm citation begun in s5: Vulgate Psalm 110 (Hebrew 111), verse 4.
- 4 ↩merito rendered as 'worth' (what Christ deserves); obbligo as 'what I owe you' rather than bare 'obligation'.
- 5 ↩voi sacramentato rendered as 'you who are present in the Sacrament' to keep Eucharistic specificity without archaic 'sacramented'.
- 6 ↩no che non is emphatic Italian denial ('certainly not'); rendered as 'I certainly will no longer'.
- 7 ↩Sentence ends mid-phrase at 'SS.'; continuation is VisiteSS.1.27.3.s5 ('Sacramento...'). Printed split preserved per output contract.
- 8 ↩Continues s4 after 'SS.' Full sense: a love so ardent for the Most Holy Sacrament that the soul always turns toward a church where Christ dwells in the Sacrament and longs to remain there.
- 9 ↩Giac. is the standard abbreviation for Giaculatoria (short aspiratory prayer) in Visits-to-the-Blessed-Sacrament rubrics; rendered as 'Aspiration.'
- 10 ↩Ends at 'SS.'; completed by s8 'Sacramento.'
- 11 ↩Completes s7: 'give me a great love for the Most Holy Sacrament.'
- 12 ↩Source embeds Latin from the Song of Songs (Aedificata est cum propugnaculis, mille clypei pendent ex ea, omnis armatura fortium) and then paraphrases it in Italian; the Latin is rendered in English for the modern-readable register, with the Italian paraphrase kept in parallel sense.
- 13 ↩Latin title Propugnaculum munitissimum in bello versantibus is rendered in English after the colon; the Italian gloss that follows (la difesa fortissima...) is kept as the clarifying apposition.
- 14 ↩Source isdegnate is the older form of disdegnate; rendered as do not disdain. Latin title Propugnatrix confidentium in te is given in English after the colon.
- 15 ↩Source appears to be a truncated citation or attribution tag (- Giac.), not a full sentence; left as an abbreviated label rather than expanded without evidence.
- 16 ↩Italian 'Medica celeste' is the feminine form of physician/healer; rendered 'heavenly Physician' to keep the medical image of healing the soul's wounds.
- 17 ↩Source abbreviation 'Giac.' almost certainly stands for Italian 'Giaculatoria' (brief ejaculatory prayer), the usual heading for the short closing prayer in these visits.
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