From 8 P.M. to 9 P.M.
Preparation Before Each Hour
O my Lord Jesus Christ, prostrate in your divine presence, I implore your most loving heart to allow me to enter into the sorrowful meditation of the twenty-four hours of your passion, in which, for love of us you wanted to suffer so much in your adorable body and in your most holy soul, even to death on the cross. O give me help, grace, love, profound compassion, and understanding of your sufferings as I now meditate this Hour.
For those hours which I cannot meditate, I offer you the will I have to meditate them; and I propose to meditate them with my intention during all the hours in which I must dedicate myself to my duties, or sleep.
Accept, O merciful Lord, my loving intention, and let it be beneficial for me and for all, as if I effectively and in a saintly way accomplished what I desire to do.
I give You thanks, O my Jesus. I thank You for calling me to union with You in prayer. To please You, I take your thoughts, your tongue, and your Heart. I want to pray with them. I want to fuse myself in your Will and in your Love. I extend my arms to embrace You, I rest my head on your Heart— and I begin….
My tender love, you are never satisfied in your love. I see that once you have finished the legal supper, you get up from the table together with your beloved disciples; and together with them you raise up a hymn of thanksgiving to the Father for the food he has given you, making reparation for all the souls who fail to thank You for the many ways our lives are sustained by You. This is why, O Jesus, in anything You do, touch or see, You always have on your lips the words, “Thanks be to You, O Father”. I too, Jesus, united with You, take the words from your very lips, and I will say, always and in everything: “Thank You for myself and for everyone”, to continue atoning for the lack of thanksgiving.
The washing of the feet
My Jesus, your love seems untiring. You have your beloved disciples sit down again. Then, taking a basin of water, and girding yourself with a white towel, you kneel at their feet in such a humble way that it draws the attention of all heaven, turning it rapturous. The apostles themselves, seeing you kneeling at their feet, are almost motionless.
But tell me, my Love, what do You want? What do You intend to do with this act so humble? Humility never before seen, nor will ever be seen again!
“O my little child, I want every soul. So, as a poor beggar kneeling humbly before them, I ask, I beg, I insist; with my tears, I construct snares of love to catch them.. Prostrate at their feet, with this basin of water mixed with my tears, I want to cleanse them of any imperfection and prepare them to receive me in this sacrament.
I so much cherish this act of receiving Me in the Eucharist, that I do not want to entrust this office to the angels, and not even to my dear Mama, but I Myself want to purify them, down to the most intimate fibers, in order to dispose them to receive the fruit of the Sacrament; and in the Apostles I intended to prepare all souls.
I intend to make reparation for all holy works, for the administration of the sacraments, and especially for all those things that priests do with the spirit of pride, empty of the divine spirit, and filled with self-interest. How many good works reach me more to dishonor me than to give me honor, more to embitter me than to please me, more to give me death than to give me life! These are the sins which sadden me most. Yes, my child, go over all the most intimate sins by which I am offended, one by one, and satisfy me with my own reparations, and console my embittered heart.”
My tormented love, I make your life my own; and together with you I intend to make reparation to you for all these offenses. I want to enter into the most intimate hiding places of your Divine Heart and repair with your own Heart for the most intimate and secret offenses with which your dearest ones offend You. O my Jesus, I want to follow You in everything, and together with You I want to make present all the souls who are about to receive You in the Eucharist, enter into their hearts, and place my hands together with yours, to purify them.
O Jesus, with your tears and with the water with which You washed the feet of the Apostles, let us wash the souls who will receive You. Let us purify their hearts. Let us inflame them; let us shake them free of the dirt that soils them, so that when they receive You, You will find joy in them instead of bitterness.
But, my affectionate Good, while You are all intent on washing the feet of the Apostles, I look at You, and I see another sorrow which pierces your Most Holy Heart. These Apostles represent all the future sons of the Church. And in each one You see the variety of all the evils that will arise in the Church, each a continuation of your sorrow. In one you see weakness, in another deception; in this one, hypocrisy; in that one, love of interests. In Saint Peter you see the lack of determination, and all the sins of the leaders of the Church. In Saint John you see the sins of your most trustworthy. In Judas you see all the apostate, with the series of all the grave evils which are caused by them. Ah, your Heart is so flooded with sorrow and Love that You cannot bear it, and You pause at the feet of each Apostle. Your tears flow, as you pray and atone for each of these offenses, asking for the remedy corresponding to each need.
My Jesus, I too unite myself to You; I make your prayers, your reparations and your appropriate remedies for each soul, my own. I want to mix my tears with yours so that you may never be alone, but may always have me with you to share your pains.
My gentle love, while you continue to wash the feet of the apostles, you now come to Judas’ feet. I hear your labored breathing; You not only cry —You sob. And, while You wash those feet, You kiss them. You press them to your Heart. Unable to speak—your voice choked by weeping—You look at him through eyes swollen with tears. With your Heart, You say to him:
My son! I beg you, with the voice of my tears, do not go to Hell! Give Me your soul. I lie prostrate at your feet, and I am begging you… Tell Me what you want. What do you ask of Me? I will give you everything —only do not join the lost. I am your God —spare Me this pain!”
And you again press those feet to your heart. It aches, seeing Judas fixed in his hardness. Your suffocating love almost causes you to faint. My Heart and my Life, let me hold You in my arms. I understand that these are the loving ways that You use with each hardened sinner. Please, my heart, as I share your sorrow and atone for the sins you receive from the souls that obstinately refuse to convert, I pray you to let us travel around the earth together. Wherever there are obstinate sinners, let us give them your tears to soften them, your kisses and your embraces of love to chain them to you so they cannot escape. I want to do this to console you for your pain at the loss of Judas.
Institution of the Eucharist
My Jesus, my joy and delight, I see that your love runs, and runs rapidly. Though suffering greatly, You rise and quickly approach the Altar where the bread and wine have been prepared for the Consecration.
My Love, I see you take on a tender and affectionate demeanor—one never seen before. Your eyes shine more brightly than the sun. Your ruddy Face is resplendent. Your lips smile and burn with Love. Your hands and all your members take on a creative attitude. My Love, You are completely transfigured. Your Divinity seems to overflow from your Humanity. O Jesus, my Heart and my Life, your entirely new appearance commands everyone’s attention. A sweet rapture steals over the Apostles and leaves them breathless. Our sweet Mother runs in spirit to the foot of the Holy Table to witness the wonders of your Love.
The Angels descend from Heaven and ask one another, “What is this? What is this? This is the folly of follies and the excess of excesses: a God who creates not Heaven or earth, but Himself! And where? In the humblest of things—some bread and some wine.”
O unquenchable Love, surrounded by the Apostles, You take bread into your hands and offer it to the Father. With your gentle voice I hear You say:
“Thank You, Holy Father, for always answering the prayer of your Son. Holy Father, concur with Me. One day, You sent Me from Heaven to earth to be incarnated in the womb of my Mama, to come and save Our children. Now, permit me to incarnate myself in each host, to continue their salvation and to be the life of each of my children. Do You not see, O Father? Few hours of my life remain: who would have the heart to leave my children orphaned and alone? Many are their enemies —the darkness, the passions, the weaknesses to which they are subject. Who will help them? Please, I beg you: let me remain in each host to be the life of each of my children. Then I will rout their enemies, and will be their light, strength and help in everything. Otherwise, where will they go? Who will guide them? Our works are eternal. My Love is irresistible; I cannot—nor do I want—to leave my children.”
Moved at the Son’s tender, loving voice, the Father descends from Heaven. He unites Himself with the Holy Spirit on the altar to concur with his Son. Jesus pronounces the words of the consecration with a powerful and moving voice; and without leaving himself he creates himself in that bread and wine. Then he gives communion to the apostles; and I believe that our heavenly mother does not remain without receiving him. Ah, Jesus, the heavens bow down and all send to You an act of adoration in your new state of profound annihilation.
But, sweet Jesus, while your love remains pleased and satisfied, lacking in nothing, I see, O my Good, on this altar, all the consecrated hosts which will exist until the end of the ages. I see all your painful passion formed in each host, because to the excesses of your love, creatures respond with excesses of ingratitude and of enormous crimes. Heart of my heart, I want to be with You always, in each tabernacle, in all the pyxes, and in every consecrated Host that will be until the end of the world. I want to offer You my acts of reparation for all the offenses that You receive. Therefore, my heart, I come beside you and kiss your majestic forehead. But as I kiss you, I feel my lips pricked by the thorns which surround your head. I see, O my Jesus, that you are not spared the thorns in this holy host, just as you are not spared them in your passion.
I see how many creatures come before You and instead of offering You the homage of their good thoughts, send You evil thoughts. That is why You bow your Head once again, as in the Passion, to receive and suffer the thorns of their evil thoughts. O my Love, I draw near You to share your pain. I place all my thoughts in your Mind to drive out the thorns that cause You so much sorrow. May my every thought flow in every thought of Yours to make up for all the evil thoughts of creatures and, in this way, to console your afflicted thoughts. My Good Jesus, I kiss your beautiful eyes. In this holy host I see your loving eyes looking with anticipation, waiting for all those who come into your presence, to look at them with your glances of love, and receive the exchange of their loving glances. But how many come before you, and instead of looking at you and seeking you, they look at things which distract them from you, and so deprive you of the pleasure of an exchange of glances between you and them. You weep. So, kissing you, I feel my lips bathed by your tears. My Jesus, do not cry; I want to place my eyes in yours to share in these pains with You, and to cry with You. And wanting to repair for all the distracted gazes of creatures, I offer You my gazes, always fixed in You. Jesus, my Love, I kiss your most holy ears. Ah, I see You listening intently to the needs of souls so that You can console them. In spite of this, they fill your ears with badly recited prayers, full of distrust, lacking true confidence; they are lifeless prayers said mostly out of habit. And your ears are aggravated more in this holy host than in the passion itself.
O my Jesus, I want to take all of the harmonies of Heaven and release them into your ears to make reparation to You. I want to place my ears in Yours, not only to share these sufferings with You, but also to offer You my continuous and instantaneous act of reparation and consolation. Jesus, my Life, I kiss your most holy Face; I see it bleeding, bruised and swollen. The creatures, O Jesus, come before the Holy Host, and with their indecent postures and evil discourses, instead of giving You honor, seem to send You slaps and spittle. Yet, as in the Passion, You receive them with perfect peace and patience and endure everything.
O Jesus, not only do I want to put my face near yours to caress you and kiss you as you receive these slaps, and to take away the spit, but I also want to put my face in yours in order to share these pains with you. I want to divide my body into tiny particles and place them before You as countless kneeling statues. I want to transform all my movements into continuous prostrations to make up for all the irreverence You receive from creatures. Jesus, my all, I kiss your most sweet mouth. I see that as you descend into the hearts of creatures, the first contact you make is on their tongue. Oh, how embittered you are to find many biting, impure and evil tongues! Yes, you feel as if poisoned by those tongues, and it is even worse when you descend into their hearts. O Jesus, if it were possible, I would like to be in each creature’s mouth to make it sweet for you, and to make reparation for whatever offenses you receive from them.
My tired Lord, I kiss your most holy neck. I see you are tired and exhausted, and all absorbed in your crafting of love. Tell me, what are you doing? And Jesus replies:
“My child, in this host I work from dawn till dark, forming continuous chains of love, so that as souls come to me they find my chains of love ready to chain them to my heart. But, do you know what they do? Many do not want these chains of mine, and by means of force they free themselves and break them to pieces. But because these chains are bound to my heart, I remain tortured unto delirium. And, as these souls shatter my chains and ruin the work that I do in this Sacrament, they seek the chains of creatures. And they do this even in my presence, using Me in order to reach their own ends. The pain from this is so intense that it brings on a violent fever which makes me faint and become delirious.”
O Jesus, how I give you compassion! You love is so overburdened by this. In order to relieve you from the offenses You receive from these souls, I ask You to chain my heart with those chains broken by them, in order to give You my requital of love in their place. The fire that it contains is so intense that, in order to give a little relief to your flames which shoot up too high—while wanting to take a little pause in your work—you also want to play in this sacrament. Your game is to form arrows and darts so that when creatures come before you, you begin to play with them by shooting arrows from your breast to wound them. When they receive them, you celebrate, and so it is that your game is played.
But many, O my Jesus, deflect them, reciprocating with arrows of coldness, darts of lukewarmness, and arrows of ingratitude. This saddens you to tears, because creatures make your game of love fail.
O Jesus, here is my breast, ready to receive not only the arrows destined for me but also those which the others refuse. This way, your games will not be frustrated any more. And in exchange, I want to make reparation to you for the coldness, lukewarmness and ingratitude you receive. O Jesus, I kiss your left hand, and I intend to make reparation for all the illicit and unholy touches made in your Presence. I beg You to always hold me close to your Heart! O Jesus, I kiss your right hand. I intend to make reparation for all sacrileges, especially for all badly-celebrated Masses. How many times, my love, you are compelled to descend from heaven into the hands of priests who, in virtue of the authority given to them, call you. But you find those hands full of mud, and oozing decay. And although you feel the nausea of those hands, your love compels you to remain.
In reality, it is worse in certain priests. In these, you find the priests of your passion who, with their enormous crimes and sacrileges, renew the deicide. My Jesus, it is terrifying just to think of it. Again, as in the passion, you find yourself in those unworthy hands, like a meek little lamb, waiting for your death once more. O Jesus, how you suffer! And how you would like to have a loving hand to free you from those bloody hands! Yes, when you find yourself in such hands, I pray you to make me be there to make reparation to you. I want to cover you with the purity of the angels, perfume you with your virtues to lessen the stench of those hands, and offer you my heart for an escape and a refuge. And while you are in me, I will pray to you for priests so that they may be your worthy ministers, and no longer endanger your sacramental life.
O Jesus, I kiss your left foot. And I intend to make reparation to you for those who receive you by habit and without the proper dispositions. O Jesus, I kiss your right foot, and I intend to make reparation to you for those who receive you to outrage you. Please, when they dare to do that, I pray you to renew the miracle you worked when Longinus pierced your heart with the lance: with the blood that flowed out and touched his eyes you converted him and healed him. Similarly, with your sacramental touch, convert offenses into love.
O Jesus, I kiss your heart, the center into which all offenses are poured. I intend to make reparation to you for everything and for everyone; to love you in exchange for your love; and always united with you, to share your pains. Please, heavenly archer of love, if I fail to make reparation to you for some offense, I pray you to imprison me in your heart and in your Will so that nothing can escape me.
I will pray our sweet mother to keep me alert; and together with her we will make reparation to you for everything and for everyone. Together, we will kiss you; and, sheltering you, we will drive away the waves of bitterness which, unfortunately, you receive from creatures. O Jesus, remember that I too am a poor prisoner. It is true that your prisons, which consist of the tiny space of the host, afford less space than mine. So, enclose me in your heart, and with the chains of your love not only imprison me, but tie my thoughts, affections and desires [to yours], one by one. Shackle my hands and my feet to your heart, so that I may not have any other hands or feet but yours.
And so, my Love, my prison will be your Heart, my chains will be made of love; your flames will be my food, your breath will be mine, the fences preventing me from going out will be your Most Holy Will. So I will see nothing but flames, I will touch nothing but fire; and while they give me life, they will give me death, like that You suffer in the Holy Host. I will give You my life, and so, while I remain imprisoned in You, You will be released in me.
Isn’t this why you imprisoned yourself in the host: to be released from your prison by the souls that receive you, and to take life in them? Now, as a sign of love, bless me and give me a kiss. And I embrace you and remain O my sweet heart, I see that after you have instituted the Blessed Sacrament, and have seen the enormous ingratitude and the offenses of creatures before the excesses of your love, although you are wounded and embittered, still you do not retreat. Indeed, you want to drown everything in the immensity of your love. Jesus, I see that you give yourself in communion to your apostles. Afterwards, you add that what you have done, they also must do. With this, you give them the power to consecrate. And so you ordain them priests, and institute other sacraments.
In this way, you take care of everything, and make reparation for everything: the faulty sermons; the sacraments administered and received without the proper dispositions, and therefore, without effects; the mistaken vocations of priests, caused by the failure to use all the means necessary to discern true vocations—both on the part of the priests and on the part of those who ordain them. No, nothing escapes you, O Jesus. And I intend to follow you and to make reparation to you for all these offenses. Then, once you have finished with everything, you take your apostles with you and set out for the Garden of Gethsemane to begin your painful passion. I will follow you in everything to keep you faithful company.
Reflections and Practices.
Jesus is hidden in the host to give life to everyone, and in this hidden state he embraces all ages and gives light to everyone. Similarly, by hiding ourselves in him, through our prayers and reparations we will give light and life to everyone, even to heretics and infidels, because Jesus does not exclude anyone. What are we to do while hiding in him? In order to become similar to Jesus, we must hide everything in him: our thoughts, glances, works, heartbeats, affections, desires, steps and works. We must even hide our prayers themselves in Jesus’ prayers.
And just as our loving Jesus in the Eucharist embraces all ages, together with him we will embrace them as well. United to him, we will be the thought of every mind, the word of every tongue, the desire of every heart, the step of every foot, the work of every arm. With this, we will repel from Jesus’ heart all the wrongs that creatures would like to do him, and we will try to substitute them with all the good that we can possibly do, and so urge Jesus to give salvation, holiness and love to all souls. In order for our life to correspond to Jesus’ life, it must be completely conformed to his.
The soul must have the intention of being in all the tabernacles of the world, to keep him company continuously and to give him perpetual relief and reparation. And with this intention we must do all our actions of the day. The first Tabernacle exists within us, in our hearts. So, we should attend closely to everything that good Jesus wants to do in us. Many times, abiding in our hearts, Jesus makes us feel the need to pray. Yes, it is Jesus who wants to pray, and he wants us with him. He makes himself practically one with our voice, with our affections, with our whole heart, so that our prayer may be one with his. And so, to honor Jesus’ prayer, we will be careful to give him our entire being so that loving Jesus may raise his prayer to heaven, to talk to the Father and to renew the effects of his own prayer in the world.
We must be attentive to all the movements of our interior, because now good Jesus makes us suffer, now he wants us at prayer, now he puts us into one state of soul or another, in order to be able to repeat his own life in us. Let’s suppose that Jesus gives us the occasion to exercise patience. He receives so many offenses from creatures that he feels compelled to pick up some scourge and strike creatures with it; and so he gives us the occasion to exercise patience. Now, we must honor him by patiently supporting everything, just as he does. This way, our patience will snatch from his hand the scourges that other creatures draw down on themselves, because he will be exercising his own divine patience in us. And as with patience, so too with all the other virtues.
In the Blessed Sacrament, loving Jesus exercises all the virtues; and it is from him that we will draw strength, meekness, patience, tolerance, humility, obedience. Good Jesus gives us his flesh for food; and we will give him our love, our will, our desires, thoughts and affections to nourish him. This way, we will compete with Jesus’ love. We won’t let anything enter into us that is not him. So, everything we do must serve to nourish our beloved Jesus. Our thoughts must nourish the divine thought. That is, realizing that Jesus is hidden in us and that he wants the food of our thoughts, by thinking holy thoughts we come to nourish the divine thought. The same goes for our glances that must nourish the divine glance, and for our words, heartbeats, affections, desires, steps, and works. In a word, all must serve to nourish Jesus, and, in doing so, we must have the intention of nourishing creatures in Jesus.
My sweet Love, in this hour You transubstantiated Yourself in bread and wine. O Jesus, please grant that everything I say and do may be a continual consecration of Yourself in Me and in souls.
My sweet Life, when You enter into Me, grant that my every heartbeat, desire, affection, thought, and word may endure your sacramental consecration, in such a way that, with my entire, tiny being consecrated, it may become so many hosts to give You to souls. And by virtue of your consecration.
O Jesus, may I consecrate all of You into all souls. O Jesus, my sweet Love, may I be your tiny host in order to enclose within myself, as within a living Host, your entire Being.
(Personal Offering and Thanksgiving)
Thanksgiving after each hour
My Beloved Jesus, You have called me to this Hour of your Passion to keep You company—and I have come. I seem to have heard you, anguished and sorrowful, praying, making reparation and suffering. With the most loving, eloquent voices you were pleading for the salvation of souls. I tried to follow You in everything. Now, I owe You my heartfelt “Thank You” and “I bless You.”
Yes, O Jesus, I repeat my “Thank You” thousands and thousands of times. I bless You for all that You have done and suffered for me and for everyone. I thank You and I bless You for every drop of Blood You shed. I thank You for every breath, for every heartbeat, and for every step. I thank You for every word, glance, affliction, and outrage that You had to endure. In everything, O my Jesus, I intend to give You my “Thank You” and “I bless You.” O my Jesus, let my soul send forth a continuous flow of thanksgiving and blessings to You—to draw down upon all of us the abundant flow of your blessings and graces. Please, O Jesus, press me to your Heart, and with your most holy hands seal every particle of my being with your “I bless you”, so that nothing other than a continuous hymn to You may come from me.
So I leave my being within Yours, to follow you in all you do; better still, you will be so alive in me that I will leave my thoughts in you to defend you from your enemies, my breaths as a faithful companion, my heartbeat to recall my “I love you,” and to give you the love that the others refuse to give you; I will give you the drops of my blood to atone and make up the honor and regard that your enemies deny you with their insults and offenses. I will leave my entire being as a guard.
My dear love, while I must go about my duties, I will remain in your heart. I am afraid to leave It. Is it not true that You will keep me here? Our heartbeats will continually touch so that You will give me life, love, and close and inseparable union with You.
Jesus, if You see that I am about to run from You at times, let your heartbeat hasten in mine. Let your hands press me closer to your Heart; let your eyes look at me and pierce me with rays of fire so that I may feel your presence and immediately return to union with You.
O my Jesus, be on guard so that I may not exhaust You. I beg You to watch over me. O give me a kiss, embrace me, and bless me! Give me your most holy hands so that I can do all that I must do united with You! My Jesus, give me the kiss of Divine Love, embrace me and bless me; I will kiss your intoxicating Heart, and take my rest in You.