SR
Chapter 7VisiteSS.1.7

Visita VII

The Shepherd's Abiding Presence

Jesus remains in the Blessed Sacrament as a constant companion to his people until the end of time.

Look, I am with you always, until the end of the age. Matthew 28:20. This loving Shepherd of ours, who gave his life for his little sheep, didn't want to be separated from us when he died. Here I am, he says, my beloved little sheep, always with you. For your sake, I have remained on earth in this Sacrament; here you find me whenever you wish, to help you and console you with my presence. I will not leave you until the end of the world, for as long as you remain on earth. The Bridegroom wanted, said St. Peter of Alcantara, to leave his Bride some company in this long separation, so that she would not remain alone; and so he left this Sacrament, in which he himself remained—who was the best company he could leave her.

A Total Gift of Self

The soul responds to the gift of the Eucharist by offering its own will and freedom entirely to the Lord.

My most gracious Lord, my most lovable Savior, I am visiting you today at this altar; but you return my visit with a love of another kind when you come into my soul in Holy Communion. You don't just make yourself present to me, but you make yourself my food; you unite yourself entirely to me and give yourself entirely to me—so that I can then say in truth: My Jesus, now you are entirely mine. Since you give yourself entirely to me, it's only right that I give myself entirely to you. I am a worm, and you are God. O God of love! O love of my soul, when will I see myself entirely yours in deeds and not just in words? You can do it: increase my confidence through the merits of your blood, so that I may obtain from you without fail this grace—to see myself, before I die, entirely yours and no longer mine at all. You hear, Lord, the prayers of all; hear today the prayer of a soul that wants to love you truly. I want to love you with all my strength; I want to obey you in everything you ask, without self-interest, without consolations, and without reward. I want to serve you out of love—only to give you pleasure, only to please your Heart, which is so passionately in love with me. My reward will be to love you. O beloved Son of the eternal Father, take my freedom, my will, everything that is mine, my whole self—and give me yourself. I love you, I seek you, I long for you, I want you, I want you, I want you. — Ejaculation.1 My Jesus, make me entirely yours. Spiritual Communion.

Mary, Our Hope

The devotee turns to the Blessed Virgin Mary, invoking her as the hope of the desperate and a guide to her Son.

To Mary. Our most lovable Lady, the whole Church calls you and greets you as Spes nostra, Our Hope.2 You, then, who are the hope of all, be my hope as well. Saint Bernard called you the whole ground of my hope, and he would say to you: Let the one who despairs hope in you.3 So I want to say the same to you: my Mary, you save even the desperate; in you I place all my hope. — Giac.4 Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me.

The Radiant Dawn of Grace

A contemplative reflection on Mary's unique holiness and her role as the dawn preceding the Sun of Justice.

A prayer by St. Bernard. O Queen, it’s of you they speak when they say: Who is she who rises like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun? So you have come into the world, O Mary, like a radiant dawn, going before the coming of the Sun of justice with the light of your holiness. The day you appeared in the world may well be called a day of salvation, a day of grace.5 You are beautiful as the moon, because just as there is no planet more like the sun, so there is no creature more like God than you. The moon lights the night with the light it receives from the sun, and you light our darkness with the splendor of your virtue; but you are more beautiful than the moon, because in you there is neither stain nor shadow. You are chosen as the sun—I mean that Sun who created the sun. He was chosen among all men, and you were chosen among all women. Ejaculatory prayer.6 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.

Read the original Latin

Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad consummationem saeculi. Matth. XXVIII, 20. Questo nostro amoroso pastore che ha data la vita per noi sue pecorelle, non ha voluto morendo separarsi da noi. Eccomi, egli dice, pecorelle amate, sempre con voi; io per voi mi sono restato in terra in questo Sacramento; qui mi trovate sempre che voi volete per aiutarvi e consolarvi colla mia presenza; non vi lascerò sino alla fine del mondo, sin che voi starete sulla terra. Voleva lo sposo, diceva S. Pietro d'Alcantara, lasciare alla sua sposa in questa sì lunga lontananza qualche compagnia, acciocché non rimanesse sola; e perciò lasciò questo Sacramento, in cui rimase esso stesso ch'era la miglior compagnia che le potesse lasciare.

Cortesissimo mio Signore, amabilissimo mio Salvatore, io vi sto oggi visitando in quest'altare; ma voi mi rendete la visita con altro amore quando venite nell'anima mia nella santa comunione. Allora non vi fate solo a me presente, ma vi fate cibo mio, tutto vi unite e tutto vi donate a me; sicché io posso dire allora con verità: Gesù mio, ora siete tutto mio. Giacché dunque voi vi donate tutto a me, è ragione ch'io mi doni tutto a voi. Io sono un verme e voi siete Dio. O Dio d'amore! o amore dell'anima mia, e quando sarà che mi vedrò tutto vostro in fatti e non in parole? Voi lo potete fare, accrescete in me la confidenza per gli meriti del vostro sangue, acciocché io ottenga senz'altro questa grazia da voi di vedermi prima di morire tutto vostro e niente più mio. Voi sentite, Signore, le preghiere di tutti, sentite oggi la preghiera d'un'anima che vi vuole amare da vero.

Io vi voglio amare con tutte le mie forze, vi voglio ubbidire in tutto quello che volete, senza interesse, senza consolazioni, senza premio. Vi voglio servire per amore, solo per darvi gusto, solo per compiacere il vostro Cuore tanto innamorato appassionatamente di me. Il premio mio sarà l'amarvi. O Figlio diletto dell'eterno Padre, pigliatevi la mia libertà, la mia volontà, tutte le cose mie, tutto me stesso e datemi voi. Io vi amo, vi cerco, vi sospiro, vi voglio, vi voglio, vi voglio. - Giac. Gesù mio, fatemi tutto vostro. La comunione spirituale.

A Maria. Signora nostra amabilissima, tutta la Chiesa vi chiama e vi saluta Spes nostra. Voi dunque che siete la speranza di tutti, siate ancora la speranza mia. Tota ratio spei meae, vi chiamava S. Bernardo e vi diceva: In te speret qui desperat. Così vi voglio dire ancor io: Maria mia, voi salvate anche i disperati, in voi io pongo tutta la mia speranza. - Giac. Maria, Madre di Dio, prega Gesù per me.

Orazione dello stesso S. Bernardo. O regina, di Voi si parla, quando si dice: Chi è colei che sorge come l'aurora, bella come la luna, eletta come il sole? Siete dunque venuta al mondo, o Maria, come risplendente aurora prevenendo colla luce della vostra santità la venuta del sole di giustizia. Il giorno, in cui siete comparsa nel mondo, ben può dirsi giorno di salute, giorno di grazia. Siete bella come la luna, perché siccome non v'è pianeta più simile al sole, così non v'è creatura di Voi più simile a Dio. La luna illumina la notte col lume che riceve dal sole, e Voi illuminate le nostre tenebre collo splendore di vostra virtù; ma Voi siete più bella della luna, perché in Voi non si trova né macchia né ombra. Voi siete eletta come il sole, intendo di quel sole, che ha creato il sole. Egli è stato eletto fra tutti gli uomini, e Voi eletta fra tutte le donne.

Giac. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus.

Scripture echoes

  1. Matt.28.20teaching them to observe everything I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
  2. Matt.28.20teaching them to observe everything I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
  3. Ps.22.6To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
  4. Deut.6.5;Mark.12.30And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Mark.12.30 — And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
  5. Matt.3.17And behold, a voice from the heavens said, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'

Notes

  1. 1Source abbreviation «Giac.» for Italian giaculatoria (a brief aspirational prayer). English editions of these Visits traditionally render the heading as «Ejaculation.»
  2. 2Spes nostra is the Latin Marian title kept as a title of address; Our Hope is supplied as its sense.
  3. 3Latin titles and maxim kept in sense: Tota ratio spei meae (whole ground/reason of my hope); In te speret qui desperat (let the one who despairs hope in you).
  4. 4Source attribution abbreviation retained as printed (likely an author/source tag in the Italian edition).
  5. 5Italian 'salute' can mean health or salvation; in this soteriological Marian context, 'salvation' is the intended sense.
  6. 6Italian heading 'Giac.' expands to 'Giaculatoria' (a short ejaculatory prayer), a standard label in Italian devotional books.

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