SR
Chapter 30VisiteSS.1.30

Visita XXX

The Hidden Majesty of Love

The hidden presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not a cause for fear, but a profound invitation to confidence and love.

Why do you hide your face? (Job 13:24). It filled Job with fear to see that God was hiding his face; but to understand that Jesus Christ hides his majesty in the Most Holy Sacrament should not bring us fear, but greater confidence and love; for he, precisely to increase our confidence and to show us his love more fully, places himself on the altars hidden under the species of bread.1 While God hides his face in this Sacrament, he reveals his love. Novarino.2 And who would ever dare draw near to him with confidence and open their desires to him, if this King of heaven made the splendors of his glory appear on the altars?

A Heart Consumed by Love

A prayerful meditation on the loving invention of the Eucharist and a personal surrender to the Heart of Jesus.

Ah, my Jesus, and what loving invention has this ever been of the Most Holy Sacrament: that You would hide Yourself under the appearance of bread, so that You might be loved and found on earth by those who desire You? The prophet was right to say that people should speak and cry out through all the world, to make known to everyone how far the inventions of the love this good God of ours has for us will go: Make known among the peoples His inventions (Is.3 12:4). O most loving Heart of my Jesus, worthy to possess every heart of every creature, Heart wholly full and always full of flames of purest love: O consuming fire, consume me entirely and give me a new life of love and of grace. Unite me so completely to You that I may never again be parted from You. O Heart opened to be the refuge of souls, receive me. O Heart so sorrowful on the cross for the sins of the world, give me true sorrow for my sins. I know that in this divine Sacrament you hold the same feelings of love you had for me when you were dying on Calvary, and so you have a great desire to unite me completely to yourself. And is it still possible that I continue to resist giving myself entirely to your love and to your desire? Ah, by your merits, my beloved Jesus, wound me yourself; bind me, hold me close, and unite me wholly to your Heart.4 I resolve today, by your grace, to give you every pleasure I can by putting under my feet every human regard, every inclination, every reluctance, and all my own tastes and comforts that could keep me from pleasing you completely.5 Make it happen, my Lord, so that I carry this out in such a way that from this day forward all my works, my feelings, and my affections may be entirely in accord with your good pleasure.6 O love of God, drive every other love from my heart. O Mary, my hope, you can do all things with this God; obtain for me the grace to be a faithful servant of the pure love of Jesus until death.7 Amen, amen. That is my hope, and may it be so, in time and in eternity. Ejaculation.8 Who will separate me from the love of Christ? Spiritual Communion.

The Mother of Orphans

Turning to Mary as the powerful and compassionate refuge for the soul in its spiritual combat and struggle against sin.

To Mary. St. Bernard attests that Mary's charity toward us couldn't be greater or more powerful than it already is; she always abounds in compassion for us through her affection and comes to our aid with her power: "The most powerful and most tender charity of the Mother of God abounds both in the affection of compassion and of coming to our aid; she is equally rich in both."910 So, my most pure Queen, you are rich in power and rich in compassion: you both can and desire to save everyone.11 Therefore, I will pray to you today and always in the words of the devout Blosius: "O Lady, protect me when I am fighting; strengthen me when I am wavering." O most holy Mary, in this great battle where I find myself fighting against hell, always come to my aid; but when you see me wavering and about to fall, ah, my Lady, stretch out your hand all the more quickly and hold me up with greater strength. O God, how many temptations I still have left to overcome until death! Ah, do not allow it, my hope, my refuge, my fortress, Mary—that I should ever lose the grace of God—while I resolve always and at once to turn to you in every temptation, saying: Help me, Mary; Mary, help me. O most lovable Lady, you are, as Saint Bonaventure tells me, the Mother of orphans.12 The orphans are the wretched sinners who have lost God, their Father. So I turn to you, O Mother of mercy: I have lost the Father by losing his grace through my sin; but in such a great misfortune as mine, you who are my Mother—you are the one who must help me. Innocent III gives me courage when he says to me: Who has ever called upon her and not been heard by her?13 And who has ever prayed to you and not been heard by you? Who has ever been lost who turned to you? Only the one who doesn't turn to you is lost. So I turn to you, O my Mother: have pity on me, help me, and don't abandon me. Mother of God, give me confidence in you.

Read the original Latin

Cur faciem tuam abscondis? (Iob. XIII, 24). Dava timore a Giobbe il vedere che Dio nascondeva la sua faccia; ma l'intendere che Gesù Cristo nasconde la sua maestà nel SS. Sacramento, a noi non dee apportare timore, ma più confidenza ed amore; mentr'egli appunto per accrescere la nostra confidenza e per più manifestarci il suo amore si mette sugli altari nascosto sotto le specie di pane. Dum Deus in hoc Sacramento faciem suam abscondit amorem suum detegit. Il Novarino. E chi mai avrebbe ardire d'accostarsegli con confidenza, di palesargli i suoi desideri se questo Re del cielo facesse sugli altari comparire gli splendori della sua gloria?

Ah mio Gesù, e quale invenzione amorosa è stata mai questa del SS. Sacramento, di nascondervi sotto l'apparenza di pane per farvi amare e trovare in terra da chi vi desidera? Avea ragione il profeta di dire che parlassero gli uomini e gridassero per tutto il mondo, per far sapere a tutti dove giungono l'invenzioni dell'amore che ha per noi questo nostro buon Dio: Notas facite in populis adinventiones eius (Is. XII, 4). O Cuore amantissimo del mio Gesù, degno di possedere tutt'i cuori delle creature, Cuore tutto pieno e sempre pieno di fiamme di purissimo amore: o fuoco consumatore, consumatemi tutto e datemi una vita novella di amore e di grazia. Unitemi talmente a voi, che io non mai più abbia a dividermi da voi. O Cuore aperto per essere il rifugio delle anime, ricevetemi. O Cuore sopra la croce così addolorato per li peccati del mondo, datemi un vero dolore de' peccati miei.

Io so che in questo divin Sacramento voi conservate gli stessi sentimenti d'amore che avevate per me morendo nel Calvario, e perciò avete un gran desiderio di unirmi tutto a voi. E sarà possibile ch'io più resista a rendermi tutto al vostro amore ed al vostro desiderio? Deh per li meriti vostri, amato mio Gesù, feritemi voi, ligatemi, stringetemi, unitemi tutto al vostro Cuore. Io risolvo oggi colla grazia vostra di darvi ogni gusto possibile, con mettermi sotto i piedi tutti i rispetti, le inclinazioni, le ripugnanze, tutt'i miei gusti, i miei comodi, che mi possono impedire di contentarvi intieramente. Fate voi, Signor mio, ch'io l'eseguisca in modo che da oggi avanti tutte l'opere mie, i miei sentimenti e gli affetti sieno in tutto uniformi al vostro beneplacito. O amore di Dio, cacciate dal cuor mio tutti gli altri amori. O Maria, speranza mia, voi tutto potete appresso questo Dio, ottenetemi la grazia di essere io servo fedele sino alla morte del puro amore di Gesù. Amen, amen.

Così spero, così sia, nel tempo e nell'eternità. Giac. Quis me separabit a caritate Christi? La comunione spirituale.

A Maria. Attesta S. Bernardo che la carità di Maria verso di noi non può essere di quello ch'è né più grande né più potente; ond'ella abbonda sempre in compatirci col suo affetto ed in sovvenirci colla sua possanza: Potentissima et piissima caritas Dei matris, et affectu compatiendi et subveniendi abundat affectu: aeque locuples in utroque. Sicché, purissima regina mia, voi siete ricca di potenza, ricca di pietà: potete e desiderate salvare ognuno. Vi pregherò dunque oggi e sempre colle parole del divoto Blosio: O Domina, me pugnantem protege, me vacillantem confirma. O Maria santissima, in questa gran battaglia, in cui mi trovo combattendo coll'inferno, soccorretemi sempre; ma quando poi mi vedete che sto vacillando per cadere, ah Signora mia, stendete allora più presto la vostra mano e sostenetemi con più forza. Oh Dio, quante tentazioni mi restano da superare sino alla morte! Deh non permettete voi, speranza mia, rifugio mio, fortezza mia Maria, ch'io abbia a perdere mai la grazia di Dio; mentre io propongo di ricorrere sempre e subito a voi in tutte le tentazioni, dicendo: Aiutatemi, Maria, Maria, aiutatemi.

O amabilissima Signora, Voi siete, come mi dice S. Bonaventura, Mater orphanorum. Gli orfani sono i miseri peccatori, che han perduto Dio loro Padre. A Voi dunque ricorro, o Madre di misericordia; io ho perduto il Padre, perdendo la sua grazia col mio peccato; ma in tanta mia disgrazia Voi che siete la Madre mia, Voi m'avete da aiutare. Mi fa animo Innocenzo III, con dirmi: Quis invocavit eam et non est exauditus ab ipsa? E chi mai vi ha pregato, e Voi non l'avete esaudito? Chi mai s'è perduto, ch'è a Voi ricorso? Solo si perde, chi a Voi non ricorre. A Voi dunque ricorro o Madre mia, abbiate pietà di me, aiutatemi, non m'abbandonate.

O Madre di Dio, datemi confidenza in Voi.

Scripture echoes

  1. Job.13.24Why do You hide Your face and count me as Your enemy?
  2. Job.13.24Why do You hide Your face and count me as Your enemy?
  3. Job.13.24Why do You hide Your face and count me as Your enemy?
  4. Job.13.24Why do You hide Your face and count me as Your enemy?
  5. Job.13.24Why do You hide Your face and count me as Your enemy?
  6. Rom.8.35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Notes

  1. 1Kept 'species of bread' for the technical Eucharistic sense of specie di pane (sacramental appearances), not ordinary 'kinds' or 'forms' of bread.
  2. 2Source attribution Il Novarino. (likely the Jesuit writer Luigi Novarino); rendered as a bare author credit to match the fragment form of neighboring citations.
  3. 3Italian invenzioni / Latin adinventiones is kept as 'inventions' to preserve Alphonsus's wordplay with the Sacrament as an invenzione amorosa (s1).
  4. 4Deh rendered as Ah (pleading interjection); ligatemi as bind me; stringetemi as hold me close (embrace/draw tight).
  5. 5rispetti rendered as human regard (respect of persons / worldly considerations); gusto/gusti as pleasure/tastes in the spiritual sense of delighting God vs. self-pleasing; comodi as comforts.
  6. 6beneplacito rendered as good pleasure (divine will/pleasure), not bare preference.
  7. 7appresso questo Dio rendered as with this God (before/near God; Marian intercession). Parse of sino alla morte del puro amore di Gesù taken as servant of pure love until death, not death of love.
  8. 8Italian heading abbreviated as «Giac.» expands to «Giaculatoria» (a brief aspiratory prayer). Rendered with the traditional English section label «Ejaculation.»
  9. 9Italian carità rendered as charity (theological love), matching the embedded Latin caritas; affection keeps the force of affetto/affectu without softening it into mere sentiment.
  10. 10The embedded Latin has a slightly awkward doubled affectu (…abundat affectu: aeque…); sense is taken as Bernard’s usual pairing: she abounds in compassion and aid, equally rich in both.
  11. 11pietà here parallels Bernard’s piissima and the compassion/aid pairing above; rendered compassion rather than piety alone.
  12. 12Source keeps the Latin title Mater orphanorum (Mother of orphans); rendered in English for modern-readable register.
  13. 13Embedded Latin citation Quis invocavit eam et non est exauditus ab ipsa? rendered in English; et connective preserved as 'and'.

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