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VISITS TO THE BLESSED
SACRAMENT IN visiting the Blessed Sacrament in Community,
according to Rule, or privately through devotion, you should
lay aside all distracting thoughts and assume a more
exact modesty. It is for this reason, and for this grace, that
you take Holy Water on entering the Chapel.
Genuflections before the Blessed Sacrament are as follows: A simple genuflection is to bend the right knee until it
reaches the floor, keeping the body erect. A profound genuflection is to kneel on both knees and bend the body from the
hips so that the tips of the fingers could touch the floor. In genuflecting do not rest the hands on pews.
St. Vincent could not endure to see one of his brethren
salute the Blessed Sacrament in an abrupt or careless manner. He compared those who make but half a genuflection
to
puppets, whose reverences are without understanding or
heart. Not that he placed piety in these exterior signs, but
because he was persuaded that they are always manifested by
those professing piety.
On entering a holy place that Jesus Christ honored by His
Presence, St. Vincent always knelt on both knees, and with
a demeanor so humble, that it seemed he would willingly have
abased himself to the center of the earth, the better to testify
his reverence. His modesty was such that one would have
supposed that he saw Jesus Christ visible. He avoided speaking in Churches, and if anyone, were he Bishop or Prince,
wished to speak even a word to him, he would endeavor to
lead him from the Church, and he did so with so much grace and ease that no one could be offended. When going out
into the city, he saluted, before his departure, the Master of
the House, according to his own expression; on his return, he
would again salute Him, and he has left this practice to his
children.
What honor! What an invaluable favor granted us in
having Jesus Christ always among us! What would we refuse
for so great and incomprehensible a grace, if we did not
possess it? Many Catholics go a great distance to enjoy so great a blessing. Even in our neighborhood pious people go
out many times a day to come to our Altars; and shall we,
who have so great a convenience, not fulfill, to the best of
our power, so reasonable a duty? Or shall we fulfill it with
carelessness?
The Saints knew how to esteem the benefits we possess. St. Francis Borgia passed the whole of his free time before
the Blessed Sacrament. St. Francis Xavier remained generally the entire night in a Church, and even took the short
rest which nature obliged him to, on the steps of the Altar.
Father Louis de Ponte remained, to an advanced age, in a
high story of the Infirmary, where he had daily the disadvantage of ascending and descending, but he regarded the
trouble as nothing solely because his garret was separated
from the Church only by a slight partition.
To reap advantage from the visits you pay to the Blessed
Sacrament, you should enter in spirit into the Tabernacle
closeting yourself there with Jesus alone, adoring Him with
humility, and treating with Him of those important concerns
which brought you to Him. If it be to our Saviour Himself
you direct your prayer, supplicate Him, by His love and
humiliation in that prison, to grant your request. If to God
the Father, or to the Holy Ghost, you should beg Jesus Christ
to pray with you, or rather, to speak instead of you, promising that you will willingly subscribe to whatever He will ask,
say 'or promise.
Your petitions during your visits may correspond to the
hour of the day, the season of the year or your own necessities. First, to the hour of the day: for example, after rising,
you might thank God for His favors during the past night, or ask His blessing to spend the day in a holy manner.
You should also adapt your visits to the time of the year,
and to the different mysteries the Church celebrates. During
Advent, contemplate the Incarnate Word, renewing, in the
Eucharist, the humiliations of His state in the womb of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. After Christmas, visit Him as the
Shepherds and the Magi did. From then until Lent, honor
the mysteries of His holy Childhood and Hidden Life. During Lent accompany Him in the desert and pray with Him.
At the time of His Passion, follow Him to and from the many
places which witnessed His sufferings and ignominies endured
for us. After Easter, go to the Sepulchre and see there the
image of that solitude, exterior and interior, in which you
should live. Picture Him yourself rising gloriously from
the tomb, and reflect that they who imitate Him will one day rise in
like manner. At other times of the year, consider Him in the Blessed Sacrament, exercising all the virtues you should imitate: obedience, humility, patience, recollection, charity, etc. Sometimes see Him in prayer before
His Father, and, as St. Paul says, never ceasing to supplicate Him in our behalf. At other times adore Him in the
midst of the celestial spirits, who cover themselves with their wings through respect and sing Holy, Holy, Holy.
Finally the state of your soul will oftentimes suggest to
you the manner of making these visits. Like Mary Magdalen, you will go to lament your sins and to hear these
consoling words: Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace;
or as the leper, the paralytic, or the blind man of the Gospel,
you can say. Lord, give me sight. If you wish you can make me clean
Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me. At one
time you can ask light in your doubts, saying: Master, we
know that Thou dost teach the way of God in truth. At
another, to console yourself in your weariness and temptations : If it be possible, let this chalice pass from me; but
not my will, but Thine be done! He will send His consoling
angel to comfort you, or He Himself will whisper to you:
Fear not, it is I Weep no more. Have courage, I have
conquered the world. My grace is sufficient for thee. To
conclude, whatever be your state, never leave our Lord without having expressed, with a full confidence, your needs,
wishes, fears and inquietudes, or without carrying, deeply
engraved in your soul this consolation, that Jesus Christ holds
truly for you the place of father, mother, brother and sister, and all things else.
For the Beginning of Each Visit
My Lord Jesus Christ, who for the love which
Thou bearest to men dost remain day and night
in this Sacrament, full of mercy and of love, inviting, expecting, receiving all who come to
visit Thee, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. I adore Thee,
confessing my own misery and nothingness, and I
thank Thee for all the mercies which Thou hast
bestowed upon me, especially for having given me
Thyself in this Sacrament, for having given me
Thy most holy Mother Mary for my advocate, and
for having called me to visit Thee at this time. I
salute Thy most loving Heart, and I desire to do
so for three ends:
1. In thanksgiving for this great gift;
2. To atone for all the injuries that Thou hast
received from Thy enemies in this Sacrament;
3. To adore Thee in all places in which Thou
art least honored and most neglected in the
Blessed Sacrament. 0 my Jesus, I love Thee with
all my heart! I am sorry for having hitherto
displeased Thy Infinite Goodness. I resolve, with
the assistance of Thy grace, never more to offend
Thee, and at this moment, miserable as I am, I
desire to consecrate my whole being to Thee. I
give Thee my will, my affections, my desires, and
all that I have. From this day forward do with
me, and whatever belongs to me, what Thou
pleasest. I ask and desire only Thy love, the
gift of final perseverance, and the perfect accomplishment of Thy Holy Will. I recommend
to Thee the souls in Purgatory, particularly those
who were most devout to the Blessed Sacrament
and to Thy Mother Mary, and I recommend to
Thee all poor sinners. Finally, my dear Savior,
I unite all my affections with those of Thy most
loving Heart, and, thus united, I offer them to
Thy Eternal Father, and I beseech Him in Thy Name, and for Thy sake, to accept them. Amen.
Spiritual Communion
I believe in Thee, 0 my Jesus, present in the
most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. I love Thee
above all thing's, and I desire to receive Thee
into my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee
sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my
heart. I embrace Thee, and I unite myself to
Thee, as if Thou wert already there. Oh, permit
me not ever to be separated from Thee! 0 Lord
Jesus Christ, let the sweet and consuming force
of Thy love absorb my whole soul that I may die
for the love of Thee, who wast pleased to die for
the love of me.
Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation and
Supplication
Believing all that God has in any way made
known to us; grieving for all my sins, offences,
and negligence's; hoping in Thee, 0 Lord, Who wilt never let me be confounded; thanking Thee
for this supreme gift, and for all the gifts of Thy goodness; loving
Thee, above all in this Sacrament of Thy love; adoring Thee in this deepest
mystery of Thy condescension: I lay before Thee
all the wounds and wants of my poor soul, and ask
for all that I need and desire. But I need only
Thyself, 0 Lord; I desire none but Thee—Thy
grace, and the grace to use well Thy graces, the
possession of Thee by grace in this life, and the
possession of Thee for ever in the eternal king.
dom. In my moments before the tabernacle, I
will, with God's help—
Believe, and grieve, and hope; thank, love
adore,
Show my soul's wounds, and holy gifts implore.
There is no aspect of God's love for us which
ought to affect our hearts more tenderly than the
mere fact of His wishing to be loved by us; and
there is no manifesting of that tenderness of the
Sacred Heart more touching than the yearning
to be remembered at many times and in many
ways, but especially in the Eucharistic, Do this in
commemoration of Me, which becomes at the
altar even more simple and affecting, In memory
of Me. When such infinite and utterly incomprehensible love as this has Omnipotence for the
instrument of its behests, how can any poor little
creature of God—whose sole dignity is that he
has a heart to love Him—presume for one moment to discuss the limits of the possibilities of the
Divine condescension?
Moments Before the Tabernacle
My God, my Lord, in Thine own place,
I kneel before Thy sacred Face—
That Face which once for me on high Hung white in death beneath the sky—
And hail Thee King and Lord and Love,
My heaven on earth, my all above! 0 Love supreme, 0 Love Divine,
Who stoopest low to make me Thine.
0 Jesus, God and Master, pent
Within this gracious Sacrament !
I love Thee, praise Thee, thank and bless
Thy Godhead in Thy lowliness. For me made low! For me the Lord
Of heaven, the uncreated Word
Of God, doth condescend to dwell
By night and day within this cell.
Oh! break, proud heart, such love to see
Revealed in such humility. My God, my Jesus, Thou hast done
All that Thou canst to make me one
With Thine own self. What need I more?
What grace is left me to implore?
Bought with Thy Blood, for me outpoured-
Fed with the Body of my Lord! Yet, ah! my Jesus kind and meek,
One other grace I still must seek:
That all this love and all this pain
May not be felt and borne in vain,
But that Thy love may win my love
And make me Thine in heaven above. First Visit
Indulgenced
Look down, 0 Lord, from Thy sanctuary, and
from Heaven, Thy dwelling-place, and behold
this holy Victim which Thy holy child Jesus, our
Lord and great High Priest, offers up to Thee
for the sins of His brethren; and let not Thy
wrath be kindled upon us for the multitude of our
transgressions. Behold, the voice of the Blood
of Jesus, our Brother, calls to Thee from the
cross. Give ear, 0 Lord! be appeased, 0 Lord!
hearken and do; and tarry not for Thy own sake,
0 my God! because Thy Name is called upon
this city and upon Thy people; but deal with us
according to Thy great mercy. Amen.
Second Visit
ACT OF REPARATION
Indulgenced
Jesus, my God, my Savior, with that lowly
homage with which the Faith itself inspires me, I
worship Thee, very God and very man; with my
whole heart I love Thee, enclosed in the most
awful Sacrament of the Altar, in reparation for
all the acts of irreverence, profanation, and sacrilege, which I may ever have been so unhappy as
to have committed, as well as for all such like acts
that ever have been done, or (which may God
avert) ever may be done in ages to come. I adore
Thee, My God, not indeed according to the measure of Thy merits, not according to the greatness of my debt to Thee, but according to the
little strength I have; and fain would I adore
Thee with all the perfection of every reasonable
creature. Meantime, I purpose now and ever to
adore Thee, not only for those Catholics who
adore Thee not and love Thee not, but also in
the stead of, and for the conversion of all heretics, schismatic, impious atheists, blasphemers,
sorcerers, Turks, Jews, and idolaters. Jesus, my
God, mayest Thou be ever known, adored, loved,
and praised every moment, every day, in the most
holy and most heavenly Sacrament. Amen.
Third Visit
Indulgenced
May Jesus live and reign forever, who, for my
salvation, shed the last drop of His most precious
Blood.
The Blood of Jesus is my life; blessed be His
infinite goodness!
Praised forever be that Blood which has redeemed the world from hell. This Blood has
become our drink indeed—yea, and the sacred
laver of our souls.
The Blood of Jesus appeases the anger of His
divine Father, and brings us to the Kingdom of
His glory.
The Blood of Abel cried out to heaven for
vengeance! that of Jesus pleads for pardon.
If our hearts be sprinkled with this Divine
Blood, we shall be delivered from the destroying
angel.
If we extol the Divine Blood of Jesus, heaven
exults with joy, and hell trembles and is powerless. Let us therefore cry out with all our might:
All praise be given to the sacred Blood of Jesus!
Fourth Visit
I am here before my Jesus: what do I want?
Liberty, love, and life, a settled attention, a
simple intention, humility of heart, conformity to
the Divine will, purity of soul and body, wisdom
to know God's will, and strength to execute it, and
patience lo persevere in it, resolution to suffer
for my Savior, devotion to sigh after Him,
diligence to find Him, and constantly to remain
with Him; courage to endure all, faith to forego
all, hope to expect all, charity to give all, and
confidence to gain all. Thyself I want, my God
and my all! Thou art my life, my Lord, and my
only hope, till I come to Thee; let Thy cross tie
my refuge. Thy will my paradise. Amen.
At Least To-day
Sweet Jesus, grant at least to-day,
My soul for Thee may live,
Not seeking any gift to weigh,
Thou askest it to give; Not counting any price too dear
For Thy loved smile to pay;
So that each hour I feel Thee near
And helping me to-day. Forget my infidelities,
The graces I have lost.
Remember only, all that
Thy Precious Blood has cost. Think what I am when left alone,
And do not leave my side,
Cover my merits with Thine Own
And all my weakness hide. The past my tears cannot undo,
The future is not mine;
To-day, Lord Jesus, keep me true
To every wish of Thine. |
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