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The Holy Hour THE AGONY
Place vividly before your imagination the scene in the
Garden of Olives—the prayer and agony of Jesus; follow
every detail; and adore Jesus in a spirit of faith, love and
compassion.
1
After instituting the Blessed Sacrament, and
giving Holy Communion to the Apostles, even to
Judas—who then went out to finish his work of
treachery—Jesus went with His disciples to the
Garden of Olives, or Gethsemane. Taking with Him Peter, James, and
John, He began to fear, to be heavy, to be sorrowful, broken with
anxiety, straitened. One word escaped Him, which tells us all His
overwhelming affliction: My soul is sorrowful even unto death! Stay
you here and watch with Me. And going a little further. He fell upon
His face, praying and saying: Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me;
nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. And
an Angel appeared and strengthened Him to suffer yet more. And He fell prostrate on the ground
in agony, and prayed that if it were possible, the
hour might pass from Him, saying: Father,
Father, let this chalice pass from Me! All things
are possible to Thee; remove this chalice from Me but not what I will, but what Thou wilt,
find his sweat became as drops of blood trickling
down upon the ground.
He rose up at the end of an hour and came to
His Apostles, and found them sleeping; and He
said to them: What, could you not watch one
hour with Me? Watch and pray. And going
away, He prayed, saying the same words: My
Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it. Thy Will be done! And when He
returned, He found them again asleep; and they
knew not what to answer Him. He left them
and recommenced His prayer for a third hour, no
doubt repeating the same words; after which He
said to the Apostles: The hour is come, behold,
the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands
of sinners. Rise up, let us go. Behold, he that
will betray me is at hand.
II
Adore Jesus saying to His Apostles, My soul is
sorrowful even unto death. These words are to
be taken literally; they are not a figure of speech
nor the exaggeration of intense sorrow. If Jesus
had not been supported by His Divine Nature,
His sadness was overwhelming enough to cause
death. It inundated not only His imagination
and His heart, but His very soul, His will and
His intelligence. It was a sadness accompanied by
disgust, discouragement, utter prostration, profound weariness, grief, bitterness, fear, terror
and agony. It was so keen, that it brought on our
Lord a sweat of blood, and He sank crushed
beneath the awful pressure.
Contemplate Jesus, prostrate in the dust. Look
upon His pale brow. His sunken eyes, His livid
countenance, His trembling steps; listen to His
broken accents; the tone of infinite grief with
which He utters the words, My soul is sad even
unto death.
Oh, how truly is He man, and like unto us: trembling with fear,
oppressed with anguish, prostrated by grief, filled with disgust,
and yielding to the sadness which assails Him.
III
But adore Him as your God. It is by His own
will that these passions seize upon Him, disturb
and crush Him. He freely throws open His soul
to them; and that holy soul, even then, possesses
the .Beatific Vision, but veils its light and joy
from the faculties, that they may be given Tip
entirely to suffering. Adore, adore with love, with
sadness, with compassion. He who is the Son of
God, the Word, the Light of Heaven, the Joy of
Angels, is steeped in bitterness. The Eternal
Beauty is covered with blood.
He who is the strength of God, permits discouragement to attack Him. Adore your Saviour,
never more truly God, never more truly man. Keep close to Him, drive far from you all
indifference, selfishness, sleep; give yourself to
Him, watch with Him, pray with Him.
IV
Go from Gethsemane to the Tabernacle; enter
with respect, and there adore your Jesus. He is
there—the same Jesus whom you saw prostrate
in the Garden. Recognize Him, and contemplate
how that awful Agony is continued. There it was
suffering; here it is humiliation. See how He
annihilates Himself under the veil of the Sacred
Species: Without form or appearance, silent and
weak, His desolation even beyond that, of Gethsemane. His enemies plot against Him, and He
does not even rise from the place of His humiliation, to go and ask His friends, who sleep, for aid
and comfort, as in the Garden. What is it that
lays Him so low that we cannot even form an
idea of His existence? What so crushes Him that
He cannot escape from the corruption of the
form He wears, or from the sacrilegious hand
that would, ill-treat Him? It is indeed annihilation. He repeats in His heart, and by His humiliation, Father, not My will but Thine be done; and
to him He says: Watch and pray with Me. Ah! do
you not hear that Divine voice pleading, night
and day, in every consecrated Host, a voice that
commands, a voice that prays, a voice that reproaches, but a voice whose accents are always
loving—bidding us to watch and pray?
Lend your ear to that voice; open your heart to
it: Watch and pray with Him, Who in agony
watches and prays unceasingly for you, wherever
His love has fixed a Tabernacle.
SECOND QUARTER -
THANKSGIVING
THE PURPOSE OF THE AGONY
For whom and why that agony in Gethsemane?—In the Tabernacle?—For us, for love of us, for
our salvation.
You can never thank Jesus sufficiently for
having accepted it; for by it He asks and obtains
the pardon of all your sins. There He accepts
the punishment due to them; there, also. He
sanctifies all your sufferings.
In Gethsemane, Jesus beheld, on one hand, our iniquity, the
chastisement due to it; and on the other, the holiness of God, the
justice which required satisfaction.
Facing that dread holiness, that inexorable
justice, and that utter helplessness of man to pay
that debt, who would offer Himself for us? Thou,
0 my Jesus, Thou alone couldst.
And Jesus offered Himself: Father, if this
chalice cannot pass unless I drink it. Thy Will be
done. He then took upon Himself the sins of the
whole world. He pledged Himself to pay the
debt, even to the last farthing; and He obtained
pardon for us all! All men, from Adam to the
end of the world, were included in that prayer of
Jesus. He asked and obtained pardon for all.
Not one was excluded from His prayer nor from
His love?
And I was there, I also, 0 my Saviour, with
all my sins, powerless to expiate them. I was
there, present to Thy Heart, ungrateful, hardened,
without contrition, rendering Thy agony useless
by my determination to sin; and yet Thou hast
not rejected me! And each time that I sin I have
only to offer to the Father Thy prayer. Thy
contrition, Thy agony, and pardon is mine.
Every sinner asking pardon, is heard, because
Thou hast merited the grace for him; and until
the end of time, perfect contrition—that which so
pleases the Justice of God, which restores purity
and life to the soul—will flow from those rocks of
Gethsemane in an inexhaustible fountain .of pardon and mercy, springing from the Blood there
shed.
How can we thank Thee, 0 my Jesus, for
having proved Thyself so truly human in Thy
agony? And why didst Thou deign to feel sharply
the sting of fear, anguish, disgust, and sorrow, if
not to satisfy these passions, if not to give us an
example of holy suffering and obtain for us, grace to make the
combat meritorious? I can
hold it as a truth, now, although I may recoil
terror stricken, before sacrifice and humiliation
though nature may fail, my courage give way, and
my will hesitate,—yet I shall never offend the
Divine Will, so long as, relying upon Thy grace
I repeat, in the depth of my soul, in spite of all
weariness, sadness, and disgust, the fiat of resignation and abandonment to God! And moreover
because Thou, 0 my Jesus, didst feel and conquer
these humiliating repugnance, they will, if I
hold them in submission to God's Holy Will, become for me a source of great merit and a pledge
of recompense. Forever blessed be the most
loving Saviour, Who thus sanctifies weariness,
disgust, terror, repugnance, prostration, discouragement and pain! Never wert Thou more merciful than in that hour; my God, never was my poor
human nature, with its endless weakness, better
understood!
Again, My Jesus, I give Thee thanks for the
example given me, in Gethsemane, of prayer, arid
for the grace obtained for me to make it humble,
resigned, fervent, persevering, conformed in all
to the designs of God. There Thou didst sanctify,
purify, and render efficacious all our petitions;
and they are granted in advance if they are united
to Thy prayer during the Agony in the Garden.
IV
Finally, that all these living and efficacious
graces might reach me in their fullness, Thou
hast placed them in the ever abiding Sacrament of
Thy love. During the long hours of Thy life of
annihilation, these nineteen hundred years, hast
Thou not unceasingly presented to the Father the
humiliations, the anguish, the prayers, and the
contrition of Thy agony in the Garden of Olives ?
And, in seeing Thee thus humble, prostrate before
Him as a suppliant, could the Father refuse Thee
my pardon, 0 my dear Jesus?
When suffering, humiliation, ingratitude, or
even the every day cares of life, weigh me down,
Thou art ever at my side, to sustain me, to teach
me how to bear, how to be silent, how to pray
for my enemies; and yet Thou leavest Thyself in
the Blessed Sacrament without protection or defence. As if example were not enough, Thou
hast instituted Holy Communion, by which Thou
comest personally to pour into my soul all the
saving strength of Thy Agony, its contrition and
hatred of sin, its resignation and energy, its persevering prayer and love. 0 my Jesus! Most
loving Jesus of Gethsemane and the Tabernacle!
Mayest Thou be blessed and praised forevermore !
THIRD QUARTER
PROPITIATION
THE CAUSE OF AGONY
Among many others, three principal causes reduced Jesus to that agony of sadness which led
Him to the gates of death.
1. Our sins, which He took upon Himself;
2. Their chastisement, which He accepted;
3. The uselessness of His ,sufferings for so
many of those He loved.
Here follow Jesus closely; penetrate the depths
of His Heart, look into it with the light of faith—
look without shrinking.
That our sins might be expiated, Jesus is laden
with them! He takes the entire burden, and
acknowledges Himself guilty in our place. This
is a dreadful reality! He had to take them upon
Himself, to appropriate them as His own, so to
speak: that, becoming a substitute, He might stand
before the Father as the sinner and penitent of
the whole world. St. Paul expressed it in one
word, He became sin,—as it were the only sinner,
by ownership, and to the exclusion of all others. Do you understand this terrible mystery? It was
necessary that He, the All Holy,— Innocence,
Purity, Rectitude, Truth, Humility, and Charity— should become sin, foulness, impurity, blasphemy,
falsehood, pride, avarice and every other sin; Him
that knew no sin, for us He hath been made sin.
V
What a terrible struggle took place then, between perfection and degradation, between beauty
and shame, between Jesus and sin!
0 my Jesus, Thou didst come to bear our
iniquity, Thou didst bend Thy adorable shoulders
to have the burden of our crimes laid upon them.
Look how in that valley of Gethsemane two
rushing torrents meet; one coming from the
beginning of the world, the other from the end of
time. Their waves are foul, and dark, and fetid,
as they sweep onward, carrying with them all the
sins that have been committed and that will be
committed, from Adam to Antichrist: sins of
pride, of avarice, of envy, of luxury, of gluttony,
of wrath and of sloth; sins hidden and sins seen;
sins of thought, desire and action—every sin! And they break upon Jesus; they are poured upon
Him as from the outlet of a sewer! In that
awful hour, horror, disgust and shame soaked His
very soul; and He sank, submerged, suffocated,
dying. It was useless to resist, or plead for
mercy. He is perishing in a storm of darkness
and horror.
It is a night of terror, in which the most
horrible phantoms appear: Cain, Judas, Herod,
Caiphas, Tiberius, Nero, Arius, Luther, Voltaire,
Nineveh, Babylon, Athens, pagan Rome, our
corrupt modern cities—every abomination, every
sacrilege, every apostasy! My Jesus, Son of the
thrice Holy God, wilt Thou become all that!
Wilt Thou appropriate and take to Thyself all
that! It is too awful! Father, if it be possible,
let this chalice pass from Me! Shall the world,
then, be lost? No, let it be saved, though I die!
Father, if this chalice cannot pass from me, unless I drink it.
Thy Will be done! And then, kneeling with His face in the dust,
crushed under the weight of shame, Jesus acknowledges the infinite
justice of His Father, and bids Him strike. By His stripes we are
healed. Humiliation can go no further. Love is stronger than death.
How dreadful is the atonement required by Justice!
I also was present to Thee on that night, 0
gentle Victim of our sins! For me Thou drainest
the chalice to the bitter dregs. Thou expiatedst
my sins of childhood, my ungrateful relapses after
absolution, my cowardly human respect, my
treachery, my betrayal of Thy trust! This life
of mine caused Thy agony of heart, Thy bloody
sweat. Oh, how I detest myself now! Grant
that I may die rather than ever again renew Thy
bitter Agony by sin!
For all the sins laid upon Him Jesus had to pay
full satisfaction to the Divine Justice; and this
meant death preceded by the treachery of one
trusted friend, and the cowardly desertion of
others, by an iniquitous condemnation, by the
scourging, crowning with thorns, public insults,
calumny, and official censure. As all this rises
in vision before Jesus, His soul and body recoil,
terror takes possession of Him; it is beyond
endurance. Father, all things are possible to
Thee; let this chalice pass! But the Heavens
are as brass; the Father is now the just Judge.
And Jesus gives Himself up; Thy Will, not Mine
be done! Where are we while our Saviour thus goes to
martyrdom for us ?—We sleep! Just now we fled
away! Shall we render all His Passion useless ?
Shall it be said that Jesus came down from
Heaven, took upon Himself our chastisement, was
bruised for our iniquities and all in vain? That
we heeded Him not; that we abandoned Him for
a moment's pleasure, for a vile interest, for a
trifling difficulty! He died for love of us, and. He
failed to win the love of those for whom He had
laid down His life.
VI
To secure to us the fruit of the Redemption,
Jesus continues throughout all ages the humiliation of His Passion. By His constant self-annihilation in the Blessed Sacrament He is ever atoning
for sinners. What return do they give Him? Some
are His declared enemies; they plot against Him
they would drive Him off the face of the earth
they pursue Him with hate, and if they can lay
hands on Him, they cast Him into the very
sewers, with unspeakable mockeries, insult and
contempt. Yet His insatiable love for this poor
sinful world has made Him fix His abode among
sinners and continue to plead for and with them.
His Heart cries out: For all My love I receive
in return, but indifference, ingratitude, and contempt. I feel this coldness more than all the
sufferings of my Passion.
Then He appeals to His friends: You, at least,
will strive to console Me. But where are His
friends! While His enemies are on the watch to
snatch souls dear to His Heart away from Him
His friends sleep! While the tide of sin rises
higher and higher, threatening to submerge the
Tabernacle, His friends sleep! The honor of
Jesus is to be maintained; His interests are at
stake, His Heart calls for consolation; He is
alone in His watching and His labors; His
friends sleep!
Oh what an insult, what a blow, to the Heart of
Jesus our Friend! What a wrong we do ourselves
in thus failing Him! It costs us to watch; where
is our love? We would have to sacrifice our
comforts, our self-love, the world, our own ease.
Have we hearts, that we calculate thus? It is
incredible! And yet we are His chosen friends,
His beloved Peter, James, and John, perhaps
consecrated to Him, His familiars. We have sat
at His table, we have pledged Him our love, and
we sleep! 0 my Jesus! This apathy of Thy
friends formed a part of Thy Agony in Gethsemane; and their desertion of Thee in the Holy
Eucharist is still Thy bitterest Chalice. Must
Thou drink it to the very end?
FOURTH QUARTER -
CONCLUSION
Dwell again on what struck you in your meditation and
make appropriate resolutions for the future.
The Holy Hour
REFLECTIONS, MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS
At no other time, perhaps, did the Heart of
Jesus suffer more than during His agony in the
Garden of Olives. And it is to this sad vigil that
He calls us, gently chiding us as He reproaches
the sleeping disciples: "Can you not watch one
hour with Me?" Oh, accept His loving invitation ! He will not refuse you powerful graces that
will touch and even convert your sinful heart.
Represent to yourself Our Lord Jesus Christ
leaving the supper room where He had just instituted the Sacrament
of His Jove, and directing His steps toward the lonely garden where His
Passion began, with the sorrow of His Sacred
Heart.
Imagine that, by a special favor the good
Master Chooses you to be a witness of His agony
and a companion in His blessed prayer. Hasten,
therefore, with all the fervor of your soul, to
answer His loving call.
What a favor, 0 my Jesus! Thou invites me
to witness Thy agony and to realize the infinite
love Thou bearest for sinners. I follow Thee, 0
my Jesus, with readiness, and I desire to watch
and pray with Thee during this hour. But Thou
kowest my weakness. Sustain me, therefore, 0
Jesus, for without Thy assistance I shall be more
cowardly than Thy apostles, and shall remain
insensible to Thy sorrow and love.
I come, 0 my God infinitely holy, to prostrate
myself, in union with Thy divine Son, before Thy
supreme majesty, and to annihilate myself in the
presence of Thy infinite greatness. I come to
offer Thee His agony and the sorrows of His
Heart, to satisfy Thy justice. I come to weep for
my sins and those of all men. Hear my supplications, and accept my homage, or rather cast Thine
eyes on the Heart of Thy beloved Son, with whom
I desire to be united during this prayer.
THE FIRST PROSTRATION OF JESUS
"He hath borne our infirmities and carried our
sorrows."
Behold your divine Savior prostrate, His face
to the very ground, moaning under the weight of
the iniquities of the whole world. He bore them;
He took them on Himself; He offers to expiate
them. Nevertheless, He feels so great a horror for
them that He seems crushed and even annihilated
under the weight of sorrow and humiliation.
Adore profoundly this august and holy Victim.
get Him to let you share His horror for sin, and
to pierce your heart with holy and bitter sorrow.
Recite with compunction of heart the Confiteor
and an act of contrition.
Behold the total abandonment in which our
divine Savior is found. A dread silence surrounds Him; His apostles aye asleep; His Mother
is far away; He is alone with His Father. But
the Father, infinitely holy, no longer considers
His divine Son as the object of His eternal complacency. He beholds in Him only the Victim
.upon Whom will fall His vengeance against sin.
Repeat several invocations from the Litany of
the Holy Name. Pronounce the name of Jesus
with burning love. Oh, at what a dear rate the
Son of God purchased this divine name! Now
He suffers that He may indeed become our
Savior, our Jesus.
Contemplate your Victim rising with difficulty
and going to His disciples. He finds them asleep.
Hear His gentle voice of reproach: "Could you not watch one hour
with Me?" Imagine that on returning to His place, Jesus directs His
loving looks toward you. Cast yourself at His feet and say. with
loving heart: "0 Jesus, I, too, have often abandoned Thee. I have
afflicted Thy Heart by my wanderings, but now I return, to be faithful to Thee until death."
THE SECOND PROSTRATION
Imagine you hear the sweet voice of your
divine Savior, exclaiming: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death." Two swords pierced the
Heart of Jesus—the sword of His love for His
Father, and the sword of His love for men. He
wished to repair the outrage done to His Father
by sin; and yet sin will still be committed, and the
majesty of the Father will again be insulted. He
suffered to save men, to prevent them from
falling into hell; and yet many will despise His
goodness, and lose their souls despite His devotedness and love.
Keep the eyes of your soul fixed with love and
compassion on your suffering Savior.
Contemplate His sacred head bowed to the
earth. Behold the anguish of His adorable
countenance. He sinks under the weight of so
great an affliction. His agony begins. He seems
about to die of sorrow.
Let your heart be pierced with the sadness
which filled the Heart of Jesus, and reduced Him
to this deplorable state. His blood flowing in vain
for so many cherished souls! His Father's goodness outraged by so many sins! Jesus scans the
ingratitude.
Penetrated with grief for having
contributed to the agony of Jesus, let us say from
•our hearts: Behold, 0 my Jesus, this ungrateful
soul who has been so deaf to Thy voice, who has,
on a thousand occasions, despised the mercies of
Thy adorable Heart. Weep no longer for me, 0
my amiable Jesus. I return to Thee; I return for
ever. Alas, my soul is loaded with miseries
stained with innumerable sins, but it belongs to
Thee. To possess it Thou consents to suffer so
much. 0 merciful Savior, Thou hast said:
Come to "lie, all ye that labor, and I will refresh
you. Here is my soul, 0 Jesus; it will be Thine
for evermore. I come to share in Thy sorrow,
and to console Thee by my sincere return.
Animated with the sincere desire of giving
greater consolation to the Heart of Jesus, form
acts of love, saying: I love my neighbor as myself, etc. Promise Jesus that you will try to gain
souls to His love, and to recall the straying to the
true fold.
Continue to contemplate your adorable Savior
delivered to agonies more cruel than death. He
perseveres in prayer, notwithstanding the weariness, fear and sorrow that fill His Sacred Heart.
Listen with profound respect to the prayer of your
Lord. Let it sink to the depth of your heart.
with fervor, His divine prayer. Unreservedly
offer yourself with Him to do the will of God.
My adorable Savior, Thy example teaches me
the surest means of arriving at perfection. Yes
I desire to imitate Thee in Thy divine resignation,
On every occasion I will say: Thy will, 0 Father
Thy will and not mine be done.
Jesus goes again to His disciples and finds them
still asleep.
He returns, in sadness, to the place of His
prayer. ' THE THIRD PROSTRATION
Our Savior considers with intense anguish
the sufferings of His Passion, and His Sacred
Heart endures them all. Oh, how great was the
love necessary to accept them! In union with the
Victim recall these sufferings, and first the
treacherous kiss of Judas. Ah, bitterly bewail
your own baseness, in communions that were
tepid, in those, perhaps, that were sacrilegious, in
which you also gave the perjured kiss. Make an
act of spiritual communion. Say three time, with
the deepest contrition: Lord Jesus, my soul is not
worthy to receive Thee. Say only the word and
it shall be healed. Add in union with the angels
surrounding the tabernacle: Lamb without spot,
who art daily immolated for the honor of God and
the salvation of the world, be for ever blessed
jidst not fear to expose Thyself to all the outrages and profanations of sinners. Be Thou for
ever blessed and glorified! Saving Host, chalice
of benediction, disarming the anger of God, be
for ever blessed and glorified!
The Heart of Jesus accepts the sentence of
scourging. Already He feels the blows. His
body is but one wound. His feet wade in His
blood. The pillar to which He is attached is
red with His blood, and shreds of His sacred
flesh lie scattered around.
Alas! by what cruel
treatment Jesus wishes to expiate our sensuality
and sloth, our vanity, but, above all, our faults
against the lily of virtues, purity.
Follow the inspiration of your devotions, and
form acts of contrition in union with all holy
penitents.
Jesus beholds the cross, the heavy cross prepared for Him to carry to the top of Calvary,
and upon which He is to die, a Victim of divine
justice and His infinite love for men. Oh, how
painful, how crushing is the cross! Our sins
have made it so heavy that Jesus can hardly carry
it. Thrice on the way to Calvary He will fall,
borne to the earth by its cruel weight. Nevertheless, He receives it and embraces it with holy
ardor. Let us try to fathom this mystery of love.
Jesus embraces the cross, because the cross will
loved you to such excess. Promise Him that you
will never again refuse the precious treasures He
offers you when He deigns to give you a share in
His cross.
Repeat with tender and profound gratitude: We
adore Thee, 0 Jesus, and bless Thee, because by
Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
Add with love and confidence: 0 Jesus, I wish
to carry the cross with Thee.
Jesus at length contemplates that last hour,
which He calls His Hour, so great is His desire
to finish the work of our redemption. Behold
this hour of death in all its bitterness. The Heart
of Jesus feels all the sufferings prepared for Him.
Stay with Him in His agony. He is stripped of
His clothes; His hands and feet are pierced: He
is raised on the cross, suspended between two
thieves. He is insulted, abandoned by all. Listen
to His dying words. Contemplate Him with love.
Cry out from your heart: 0 Jesus, best of Masters and tenderest of Fathers, my heart feels a
profound grief in considering the cruel sufferings
Thou hast endured. Never, never again, shall
anything separate me from Thee! Thou dost
wish to shed even the last drop of Thy blood to
expiate my many sins. Thy goodness touches my
cold heart. 0 Jesus, I wish to be Thine during
life—till death.
my Savior, I will love Thee always, I will love
thee for ever.
Recall to mind that Jesus, while thus considering the sufferings of His Passion, feels them all in
His Heart, and that His agony is increased by the
crushing thought God will again be offended; men
will continue to cast themselves into the abyss of
perdition.
How bitter is this chalice presented to our
divine Redeemer! His holy humanity is terrified,
and again the cry of distress escapes from His
blessed lips: Father, let the chalice pass from Me.
In this awful moment an angel descends from
heaven, and reverently raises Jesus. In company
with this angel, approach your Savior, and say
to Him: "Wilt Thou, dear Lord, permit this poor
soul to perish eternally?" And Jesus, with looks
of tender pity cast upon you, will reply: "No, I
will die willingly for you." Words can make no
answer to such an excess of love. Let your
heart alone speak to your Victim, with thanks-
giving and gratitude inspired by the goodness of
your most amiable Savior.
And Jesus, being in an agony and bloody sweat, prayed the longer.
The more our infinitely compassionate Savior suffers, the more He prays.
Oil, how many and how great the graces showered upon the earth through the humility, the
sub-blessing's you most need. Pray for your parents
brethren, and friends, for your superiors, for your
Order, for the Church. Pray with Jesus, like
Jesus, through Jesus, and you will obtain all you
desire.
Recite five Our Fathers, and five Hail Mary's.
Jesus rises, leaving the place dyed in the blood
of His agony, of His martyrdom of love and
superhuman courage, and goes to meet His cruel
enemies. Follow Him in spirit, saying with all
the love and energy of your soul: My beloved
Jesus, Thou art going to die for me: I wish to
die for Thee. 0 Jesus, no more during life will
my heart be separated from Thee.
Repeat the sacred words of the Divine Victim:
It is consummated! Apply them to yourself in
saying: My resolution is taken. I renounce for
ever all the sins and evil habits of my life which
have caused so much suffering to my Savior. I
shall never again refuse anything to Him Who
has so loved me as to deliver Himself for me.
Greater love than this no man hath, that he lay
down his life for his friends.
RESOLUTIONS AND AMENDMENTS
My sweetest Jesus, I here take the resolution of
losing all rather than losing Thy grace. I am
weak, but Thou art strong; Thy strength will
envigour, do not allow me to be separated from
Thee. Assist me in the dangers in which I may
find myself; may I never fail in having recourse
to Thee! I ardently desire to be faithful to Thee,
and to live for Thee alone, so long as I may still
remain on earth. It is for Thee to give me the
strength of which I stand in need.
Increase in me, oh, purest Heart of Jesus! the
fear of displeasing Thee. I tremble at the sight
of my past infidelities, but Thy merits and the
multiplied graces Thou hast bestowed on me
restore my confidence. Now that I love Thee, I
hope Thou wilt not abandon me, and of this I feel assured in view of the mercy Thou didst extend
to me when I did not think of loving Thee. I do
not count on my own strength, for by experience
I know how little it is worth. I depend entirely
on Thy goodness and this is why I hope never
more to be separated from Thee.
My Divine Redeemer, never will I leave Thee
again. Even should all others leave Thee, I will
remain faithful to Thee, should it even cost me
my life. I solemnly protest that were there neither
paradise nor hell, I would never cease loving
Thee, since, my Love, Thou art always worthy
of infinite love.
If I could begin my life anew, I would employ
it wholly in loving Thee; but I can not recall the
borne with me until now, and not having cast me
away from Thee for ever.
Since Thou hast spared me it is but just that I
should consecrate the rest of my life to Thee.
May all my thoughts, desires, and affections be
pleasing to Thee.
My beloved Jesus! I renew my vows; I accept
with renewed fervor all the obligations and all the
sacrifices of my state of life, for love of Thee. I
will be more devoted than ever to my Holy Rule,
for it is the expression of Thy will. And at my
last hour, when Thy holy image shall be pressed
to my dying lips, when all the world shall not
be able to help me, then do Thou not abandon me;
for Thou art my Redeemer. Receive me into Thy
Sacred Heart, and may my last sigh be a sigh of
love, so that I may love Thee and bless Thee
eternally.
ACT OF ATONEMENT
0 Sacred Heart of Jesus! humbly prostrate
before Thee, we come to renew our consecration,
with the resolution of repairing by an increase of
love and fidelity toward Thee, all the outrages
unceasingly offered Thee:
We solemnly promise
V.—The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed,
R.—The more firmly we will believe them,
V.—The more impiety endeavors to extinguish
Our hopes of immortality,
R.—The more we will trust in Thy Heart, sole
hope of mortals!
V.—The more hearts resist Thy divine attractions,
R.—The more we will love Thee, 0 infinitely
amiable Heart of Jesus!
V.—The more Thy Divinity is attacked.
R.—The more we adore It, 0 Divine Heart
of Jesus!
V.—The more Thy holy laws are forgotten and
transgressed,
R.—The more we will observe them, 0 most
holy Heart of Jesus!
V.—The more Thy sacraments are despised and
abandoned,
R.—The more we will receive them with love
and respect, 0 most liberal Heart of Jesus!
V.—The more Thy adorable virtues are forgotten,
R.—The more we will endeavor to practice
them, 0 Heart! model of every virtue.
V.—The more the devil labors to destroy souls,
R.—The more we will be inflamed with desire V.—The more pride and sensuality tend to
destroy abnegation and love of duty,
R.—The more generous we will be in overcoming ourselves, 0 Heart of Jesus!
0. Jesus, make us such true apostles of Thy
Heart, that reparation to Thee may be our best
reward. Amen.
Good Jesus, Who alone orderest all things well
I cast myself upon Thy infinite, undeserved
love:
I trust Thee with my all . . . myself, and
all whom I love, and all that I desire,
My present and my future, my hopes, and my
fears,
My time and my eternity, my joys and my
sorrows, Deal with me as Thou wiliest and knowest best,
Only bind me safe to Thine everlasting love!
PRAYER
I adore Thee, 0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, the
joy, the satisfaction, and the supreme ruler of all
hearts. With the same loving kindness that led
Thee to take the hand of St. Thomas, and carry it
Thyself into Thy side, make my heart seek no
joy but in Thee, 0 Sacred Heart. May my
heart be ever subject to Thy gentle sway, for out
Thirty-three Petitions
IN HONOR OF THE YEARS OF OUR LORD'S LIFE
V.—Jesus, Word of the Father,
U.—To Thyself convert me! V.—Jesus, Son of Mary,
R.—With her children name me! V.—Jesus, my Master,
R.—Of Thy wisdom teach me! V.—Jesus, Prince of Peace,
R.—With Thy peace endow me! V.—Jesus, my Refuge,
R.—To Thy bosom take me! V.—Jesus, my Shepherd,
R.—To Thy pastures lead me! V.—Jesus, my courage in trial,
R,—Do Thou courageous make me! V.—Jesus, my Savior,
R.—In Thy mercy save me! V.—Jesus, my Lord and my God,
R.—As Thine own possess me I V.—Jesus, Way of the righteous,
R.—Do Thou righteous make me! V.—Jesus, Life of the Blessed,
R.—Give me life unfailing! V.—Jesus, Strength of. my strength,
R.—Keep me, Lord, from falling! V.—Jesus, Light of the world,
R.—Shine in upon my darkness! V.—Jesus, my Righteousness,
R.—With Thy Justice clothe me! V.—Jesus, my Mediator,
R.—To Thy Father reconcile me! V.—Jesus, my soul's Physician,
R.—Health again restore me! V.—Jesus, my Judge,
R,—By Thy sentence free me! V.—Jesus, my King,
R.—Deign to guide and guard me! V.—Jesus, Fount of my holiness,
R.—Do Thou make me holy! V.—Jesus, Sea of Goodness,
R.—In Thy depths absorb me! V.—Jesus, Life-giving Bread from Heaven,
R.—With Thy fullness sate me! V.— Jesus, Joy of my joy,
R.—With Thy joy delight me! V.—Jesus, my Helper,
R.—Give me Thine assistance! V.—Jesus, Magnet of love,
R.— To Thyself attract me ! V.—Jesus, my Protector,
R.—Be my shield and shelter! V.—Jesus, Anchor of my hope,
R.—Let me cleave to Thee, Lord! y.—Jesus, Lover of my soul,
R.—May I love Thee ever! V.—Jesus, Fountain of life
R.—In Thy waters wash me! V.—Jesus, Victim for my sins,
R.—From sin's defilement cleanse me! V.—Jesus, Crown of the victory,
R.—Give me to attain Thee! V.—-Jesus, my Glory,
R.—In heaven glorify me! HAIL! HOLY GHOST
Hail! Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life,
m. sweetness, and our hope, to thee do we cry,
to thee do we send up out sighs in this valley of tears; turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and, after
this, our exile, shown unto us the blessed fruit of
thy womb, Jesus, 0 clement, 0 pious, 0 sweet
Virgin Mary!
V— Pray for us, 0 Holy Mother of God;
R.—That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
V.—Heart of Jesus, burning with love for me'
R.—Inflame my heart with love for Thee.
V.—Mary with her loving Son
R.—Bless us, each and every one. |
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