BY Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC.
You have come to look for Jesus … Behold Him in this divine Host. It is He … It is truly Jesus! …
It was there, in the Tabernacle, that His handmaiden, Margaret Mary, saw Him; … it was from the Host that she heard the voice of Jesus, His plaints and the sobs of His Eucharistic Heart rent by the torments of love and of human ingratitude …
You have come to look for Him? … Do not doubt that you have really found Him … Behold Him! It is indeed He, the God of an infinite tenderness, the merciful Lord of Gethsemane and of Paray-le-Monial … It is Jesus!
Let us in company with Margaret Mary, the chosen one of the Sacred Heart, visit the humble and mysterious chapel of the great revelations. With head bowed down and soul overflowing with heavenly fervor, let us adore our Lord Who wishes to talk to us during this Holy Hour about the sorrows, the desires, and the victories of His Divine Heart …
You have come to see Him and to talk intimately with Him … Behold Him! … It is truly Jesus, Jesus Himself ! …
(Pause)
(On this first Friday of the month, let us beseech Him to forgive us our faults, our infidelities and our lukewarmness; but, at the same time, let us thank Him, in union with Mary, for the countless graces and favors, which His Loving Heart has showered upon us.)
I. Our Lord asks for frequent Communion in a spirit of reparation
Jesus: Lift up your eyes, My children, and look at Me though you are covered with confusion because of your sins. Look upon Me … do not fear, for I am Jesus … Jesus, the God of charity, Who forgives you because He loves you.
Come to My Holy Table; I am cold and I wish to feel the warmth of your love. Come to communicate fervently and frequently in the name of so many Christians, who, alas, never receive this Holy Sacrament! If you knew the immense desolation which fills My Soul when, stretching forth My Hands like a beggar, I ask the ingrate and the indifferent for their hearts which they refuse Me! …
Ah! how often in the evening I come back to My Tabernacle alone with My sorrow after having been repulsed by thousands of creatures! …
But My Heart, the Heart of the Good Shepherd, never wearies of men, is never disillusioned with men …
In spite of their rebuffs, I renew My appeals to them, I insist, I implore … Sometimes at nightfall, My Feet are bleeding, … but My Love has succeeded in winning at last the heart of a child, of a pauper, who accepts a place at My Eucharistic Banquet …
Dearly loved souls, this indifference wounds Me cruelly … Who can number those who spend a long life without ever tasting the delights of Holy Communion! … And yet the Sacred Host is man’s glorious and exclusive heritage, his anticipated Heaven! …
I thirst for love!
I have a burning thirst to be loved in this Sacrament of Love and I find so few who, according to My desire, try to quench My Thirst, by making Me some return.
I have an infinite thirst to give Myself to souls, to all souls, in My Eucharist!
Come, My chosen friends, receive Me to atone in a spirit of loving reparation … repair by your fervor the absence of the many who ignore this heavenly gift. Give Me that which so many ingrates refuse Me: the holy kiss of a fervent Communion; keep Me as the habitual Guest of your hearts to make up for the innumerable Christians who, absorbed by the world, forget that in the Tabernacle resides their Savior and their God under the appearances of the Eucharistic manna …
I wish to be for your spiritual life an element more necessary than air and blood are for your natural life … I, your Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, wish to be your soul itself … the life of your life …
I am the living Bread, the heavenly food of your soul. By Holy Communion I live in you and you in Me, in order to be one with you until the indissoluble union of eternal life.
Come to Me without more delay … fly to My altar and promise Me the consolation of frequent Communion of reparation.
Will you be insensible to My love and My plaints? … Answer Me, My children … Answer Me that you give Me your hearts!
(Pause)
(God anxiously awaits our answer. Give it to Him wholeheartedly.)
Souls: As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so we, the faithful friends of Thy Heart, run to Thee …
O never-failing Source!
O Life divine! …
O ineffable Paradise!
O Eucharistic Jesus! …
O Lord, these are not empty words which we address to Thee during this Holy Hour, but a solemn promise to live by the Eucharist and to atone for the ingratitude of so many Christians who never approach the Holy Table …
Be touched by this resolution and from Thy Altar deign to accept our prayer, gracious Prisoner of the Tabernacle.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, divine Lover of our hearts.
(All together, aloud)
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament of Love.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament of infinite sweetness.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, the very source of all holiness.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament divine.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, source of ineffable consolation.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, source of supernatural hope.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, pledge of everlasting life.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament of infinite graciousness.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, unfailing source of peace.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament which gives a light that will never be extinguished.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament containing all celestial delights.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
Come … we adore Thee, Jesus, in this Sacrament, pledge of unfading glory.
All: Kindle in us an ardent thirst for the Holy Eucharist.
(Pause)
(Let us not forget that what we came to tell Jesus is not a word of passing enthusiasm, but a firm resolution, a serious promise to go to Holy Communion very often in the spirit of reparation.)
(Pause or hymn)
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| 1 Sweet Sacrament divine, hid in Thine earthly home, lo, round Thy lowly shrine, with suppliant hearts we come; Jesus, to Thee our voice we raise in songs of love and heartfelt praise: sweet Sacrament divine, sweet Sacrament divine. |
2 Sweet Sacrament of peace, dear home for every heart, where restless yearnings cease and sorrows all depart; there in Thine ear all trustfully we tell our tale of misery: sweet Sacrament of peace, sweet Sacrament of peace. |
| 3 Sweet Sacrament of rest, ark from the ocean’s roar, within Thy shelter blest soon may we reach the shore; save us, for still the tempest raves, save, lest we sink beneath the waves: sweet Sacrament of rest, sweet Sacrament of rest. |
4 Sweet Sacrament divine, earth’s light and jubilee, in Thy far depths doth shine Thy Godhead’s majesty; sweet light, so shine on us, we pray, that earthly joys may fade away: sweet Sacrament divine, sweet Sacrament divine. |
II. The celebration of the First Friday of each month
Jesus: Your generous love consoles Me … I feel comforted by your promise …
Listen, My beloved children, to another desire of your Lord and your God … I ask that the First Friday of each month be especially devoted to consoling Me … I wish to feel you nearer my Divine Heart that day, and to shower you, Mystery of faith and love, center and fountain of Christian life with the graces I reserve for the most faithful souls, for My best friends.
Let this day of love, reparation, and consolation be consecrated to Me with special tenderness. Celebrate it by praising Me with particular fervor.
Oh, you, who understand Me better than the world does, come to Communion each first Friday. Come, with love like that of the Seraphim, to visit Me in the Holy Eucharist …
Take the place of John, My beloved disciple. Speak to Me in the language of Margaret Mary, My happy confidante.
Then, silent and recollected, your head on My Heart, your soul warmed by the flames of My charity, tell Me all that troubles and interests you; name to Me those dear to you, those who are faithful to Me, and also those who grieve Me.
Confide in Me your great desires for holiness, your ambitions for My glory. Expose to Me your miseries and pains; lay before Me your weaknesses and open up to Me your entire soul …
The First Friday will be until the end of time a day of grace, a day of mercy … Take full advantage of it, My friends, for the benefit of your dear home, and for sinners.
On this day pray especially for My priests and apostles, intercede for them … that they may become saints and may sanctify the souls I have confided to them …
And now listen to My words. They will be the pledge of an infinite reward to you.
I promise thee, in the exceeding great mercy of My heart, that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Holy Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays of the month, the graces of final repentance, of not dying in My disfavor and without receiving the Sacraments, and that My Divine Heart will become their assured refuge at the last moment.
My beloved, what response do you make to this promise, which, one would say, exhausts My almighty power, by giving you My Divine Heart for time and eternity? …
(Pause)
(Although even in Heaven it will be impossible to acknowledge worthily so many benefits, nevertheless let us try to begin here below our eternal thanksgiving by a humble and fervent prayer.)
Souls: O Jesus, not content with opening to us the treasures of Thy Merciful Heart, Thou dost promise us, as a reward, on fulfillment of the obligation we have of loving Thee, the gift of Thy very Self, the possession of heaven, because Thou art God … But what can we poor mortals offer Thee in exchange for Thy bounty and how can we thank Thee for having freely loved us … unto the folly of the Cross, and the Eucharist! … Oh, that we but had at this moment, the virginal love of John, the ardent and generous faith of Peter, the tears of Magdalen, the spirit of immolation of Margaret Mary, but above all, the Immaculate Heart of Thy Mother, with its incomparable riches so as to satisfy Thee and to die now at Thy Feet, consumed by burning love!
Lord, we promise Thee from now on that the first Friday of the month, which Thou Thyself hast chosen as a day of reparation, shall from the break of day until the close thereof be given to Thee.
In every throb of our hearts, Thou wilt find, Jesus, a word, a sigh, a new outburst, to tell Thee our love, our gratitude, and our immense desire to console Thee …
In return, beloved Master, we ask Thee for a grace, only one … that Thou dost continue to forgive us, despite the countless and continual weaknesses of our will so sickly and so frail.
Have pity on us, Lord! … O Merciful Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
(Aloud, together)
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, because we feel our heart weaken and our love for Thee growing cold …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, in the inevitable temptations and when our faith weakens and wavers …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, in the exhaustion caused by a life of struggle and incessant sacrifice …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, in the despondency occasioned by deceptions as painful as they are unforeseen …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, in hours of perplexity, in the anguish of painful doubt …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, to our homes to soothe and heal those intimate worries and misfortunes that no one but Thou canst cure …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When we call Thee, O Jesus, as the Good Samaritan, to the bedside of a sick soul who needs Thy great mercy …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
When finally we call Thee, O Jesus, in our last hour to give us our last embrace in Holy Communion … Oh! come without delay, in order to bring us life eternal …
All: Heart of Jesus, do not weary of us!
(Brief pause)
Lord Jesus, in response to Thy request, we wish to pray for Thy beloved priests, for those who minister at Thy altar and for Thy apostles. Give them, Adorable Savior, the light of a most vivid faith … And grant them the gift of loving Thee with a burning charity and also grant them the treasure of a humility, which will stand any test … Kindle in them, O Jesus, immense desires of being saints really holy, and a passionate zeal for Thy glory … And, Jesus, since the harvest is so great, increase the number of truly holy reapers in the field of Thy Church, and send workers according to Thine Own Heart into Thy Vineyard …
(Pray for the Sovereign Pontiff. Offer the good works of the first Friday, especially for the sanctification of priests …
May Jesus deign to reveal to us His desires, and may His Voice, which enraptures the angels of the sanctuary, teach us the way which leads to His Sacred Heart …)
(Pause)
III. The Holy Hour
Jesus: All of you are particularly dear to Me because you have responded to My call … Know that the love and compassion of your souls were a delicious and sweet consolation to Me in My hour of agony in Gethsemane … My Heart, bruised by sorrow, discerned you then in the shadows of the Garden of Olives … you were there very close to Me.
You love Me … Oh, yes! I know it. You love Me more than many others. And because you give evidence of more fidelity than the greater number of your brethren, you have a better right to My confidence … I asked the Holy Hour of My spouse, Margaret Mary, as much to appease My Father’s rigor by imploring mercy for sinners, as also to sweeten the bitter abandonment by My Apostles, whose lack of generosity forced Me to reproach them for not having been able to watch one hour with Me …
What consolation to see you here after the example of Margaret Mary, sharing in all the horrors, the abandonments and the tortures of My Agonizing Heart!
Dear friends, mount this guard of honor with an ardent charity, in a spirit of reparation to hasten the coming of My Reign, and to obtain the conversion of unfortunate sinners. Pray, watch with Me. Do not abandon Me at the moment when I must taste the bitter chalice of My Passion. I will not ask for help from the heavenly legions. It is you I wish as witnesses of My Agony. I wish that those whom I have redeemed by My Blood be here to gather these precious drops which flow from My Veins … I wish to be supported, not by an angel, but by My very faithful friends … My wounded, agonizing Heart, source of My Tears is this Heart of your Savior and your Brother … your inheritance, yes, really yours, that shall never be taken away from you!
“Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of man shall be betrayed.” [Matthew 26:45] Make Him then your Captive, and the Royal Prisoner of your homes. Is it not with this purpose that you surround Me now close to this altar? Draw then very near, I am Jesus of Nazareth … Here are My Feet, here are My Hands, I deliver Them to you, bind Them with the fetters of a very great love, but above all, take My Sacred Heart that It may be forever the Prisoner of yours.
Jesus: And now, My consolers, what more would you have? … What do you ask of Me? …
(Aloud, together)
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: But are you forgetting your earthly interests? … What do you wish from Me as a supreme reward? … Speak, command!
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: What? Do you not desire some temporal blessings of fortune or health? Speak!
What do you ask in exchange for this Holy Hour?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: My dearly loved children, your generosity touches Me deeply … Do not fear; tell Me what I can give you, what treasures can I heap upon you for your generous forgetfulness of self?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: Dear souls, that is the language of saints … You have overwhelmed Me, by speaking thus … But tell Me without more delay what do you long for?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: By answering Me thus you abandon yourself without reserve to My Will … You enrapture entirely My Heart; command then, disclose your most secret wishes to It … What are they?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: But amidst the trials and bitterness of life … with its deceptions from the fleeting love of creatures, do you ask no relief or consolation of Me? … What soothing balm do you wish Me to give you?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: And for this great desire to love Me, for this insatiable thirst to glorify Me, what anticipated reward do you claim during this life?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
Jesus: I looked for those who would comfort Me and I have found them in spirit and truth … But, for the hour of your agony, when you are already taking leave of earth, what do you ask of Me for having by this Holy Hour consoled your God in His Agony?
All: To love and glorify Thy Sacred Heart!
(Promise the Sacred Heart to continue all during your life the beautiful practice of the Holy Hour and to spread this devotion so fruitful for salvation.)
IV. The devotion to the Sacred Heart
Jesus: My little children, enemies without number surround you … The storm rages furiously about you; it rises from the infernal abyss where My Name is cursed and where those who would not accept the help of My grace in the struggle are cast for all eternity … The satanic fury stirs up a deadly hurricane which seeks the destruction of souls … but fear not; I have conquered the world and hell. Remain in peace … Behold I have prepared a sign, a standard of victory which will insure the world’s happiness! … It is My adorable Heart! … Fall on your knees and trembling with immense love, accept It … receive It with holy joy … Then adore It, yes, adore It with the most profound gratitude, for It is the Heart of your God and Savior, Who has loved you unto folly.
I speak to you now with the beats of My Heart, which offers only pardon and mercy … It is with groans that It begs you to love Him above everything on earth and in heaven.
By the thorns which pierce My Head, by the Cross which consummates My martyrdom, and especially by the deep and bleeding Wound of My Side, I conjure you to procure for My Sacred Heart an immense glory … to make It better known, to make It far better loved by so many unfortunate souls who have need of that miraculous source of resurrection and of life.
(Slowly and with pauses)
Come, you the banished from an earthly paradise who look for quiet and happiness … fear not, enter into the Wound of My Side. There you will find consolation and hope, reserved for you by a God Who is all love …
Come, you, the unfortunate ones of life, so numerous in the world … Come, you who are very often deceived by the wealth and esteem of men … Fear not, enter into the Wound of My Side; you will find there in the midst of the world’s trials, light, rest and unknown delight.
Come, come quickly, O you whose soul has found only bitterness in the poisoned pleasures of earth … Enter at the dawn of youth or at the evening of life. Do not delay; enter into the Wound of My Side even if it be the eleventh hour, and you will find there a Paradise of eternal peace, a happiness without end …
Yes, come all … Longinus with the lance opened the doors of My loving Heart … I have widened this redeeming Wound … and I eagerly call the just and the sinners, the ingrates, and the afflicted, and I offer them all, in this divine Wound, an abode of ineffable peace … He who consecrates himself to the love and the glory of My Sacred Heart … will have life superabundant, eternal!
(Pause)
Souls: Have pity, sweet Jesus! … Remember Thou hast promised victory to the armies which combat under the Labarum of Thy Sacred Heart! …
(Aloud, together)
All: Remember Thy promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! … Remember Thou hast promised peace to the homes which lovingly enthrone the image of Thy Sacred Heart …
All: Remember Thy promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! … Remember Thou hast promised to convert the most hardened sinners by the mysterious strength of Thy Sacred Heart …
All: Remember Thy promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! … Remember Thou hast promised to soothe the pains of afflicted souls who demand the consolations of Thy Sacred Heart.
All: Remember Thy promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! … Remember Thou hast promised to melt the ice of religious indifference by enkindling the world with ardor of Thy Sacred Heart …
All: Remember Thy promises, O Divine Heart!
Have pity, sweet Jesus! … Remember, above all, that Thou hast promised that Thy friends, consolers and the apostles of Thy Sacred Heart shall sleep forever in Thy Arms in a calm and holy death …
All: Remember Thy promises, O Divine Heart!
(Recommend now to the Heart of Jesus your most intimate intentions.)
(Pause or hymn)
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| H. W. Baker (1821-1877). | Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625). Song 13. |
|---|---|
| 1. Jesu, grant me this, I pray, ever in Thy heart to stay; let me evermore abide hidden in Thy wounded side. |
2. If the world or Satan lay tempting snares about my way, I am safe when I abide in Thy heart and wounded side. |
| 3. If the flesh, more dangerous still, tempt my soul to deeds of ill, naught I fear when I abide in Thy heart and wounded side. |
4. Death will come one day to me; Jesu, cast me not from Thee: dying let me still abide in Thy heart and wounded side. Amen. |
V. The institution of a most solemn feast in honor of the Sacred Heart
Jesus: Do you know, My beloved children, why I am drawn to you with such a marvelous effusion of tenderness? Listen to Me! …
I love you so passionately, because I am in a sense your debtor by being the Eldest of Mankind … by being Jesus, Son of Mary and your Brother … Your immense wretchedness, your utter helplessness, your unhappiness without remedy … in fine the vast abyss of your nothingness and of your innumerable miseries attracts the infinite abyss of My mercy. It is because of you and for you then, that I have a created Heart, a wounded Heart like yours, which bears the bloody testimony of your redemption, so that you may believe in My love and that you may give Me yours too!
It is My wish, then, that this alliance of My mercy and your weakness should have a magnificent, mystic wedding day, a day of celestial rejoicing, the prelude of our eternal union …
That is why I have asked that the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi should become a special, very solemn feast to honor My Sacred Heart.
I wish that this day, called the classical day of My Divine Heart, be the great feast of those who suffer, who live near Me in the shadow of the Tabernacle, of pardoned sinners, the feast par excellence of My infinite Mercy.
Come to Me on this feast, My little ones: Come, the poor, the afflicted, come, the abandoned, the neglected, the sinners … Come that you may celebrate with Me the mysteries of My love, My Incarnation, My sorrowful Passion and My ever-abiding presence in the Blessed Sacrament; come that you may receive on this feast the promised fruits of peace, mercy and salvation.
You, My children, celebrate with great splendor this Passover of My mercies. May it be a great feast in your souls by very intimate union with My Divine Heart. Receive Me very fervently in holy Communion that day as a reparation to make up for the indignities of which My Heart has been the object ever since It has been exposed on the altars …
Let it be also a feast of grateful joy in your homes, where you must acclaim Me the victorious King Who has triumphed over your families by His tenderness and meekness … a glorious feast in the Parishes and Communities, a universal feast in the Church to exalt forever, from generation to generation, the inexhaustible tenderness of My most loving Heart.
(Promise the Sacred Heart to celebrate with holy joy this feast as a family feast, at the foot of the altar and in your homes)
(Pause)
Lord, Jesus, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving, a hymn which the angels themselves do not know how to intone because they have never sinned, because they have never tasted Thy merciful forgiveness or the ineffable delights of the Holy Eucharist, the food of mortals … We, Thy pardoned ones, whose eyes have been bathed in tears of sorrow and gratitude, we who have need of Thy presence in order to persevere on the road of life, we wish to address to Thee as an ardent petition, the prayer of the disciples on the way to Emmaus: Heart of Jesus, “Stay with us.”
(Aloud, together)
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Thank Thee, O Lord, in the name of many ransomed sinners … And when our slackness and temptations would draw Thee from our feeble and powerless souls … Good Master, do not leave us!
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Thank Thee, O Lord, in the name of the many sorrowful Thou hast consoled … And when, in Thy name and for Thy glory, sorrow visits and tortures our souls … Good Master, do not leave us!
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Thank Thee, O Lord, in the name of the many souls who have been strengthened by hope in Thee … And when the hardships of life weary us grievously … Good Master, stay with us!
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Thank Thee, O Lord, in the name of the many who have been deceived, but who now, happily, have been enlightened by Thy grace … And when ingratitude rends our souls and detaches us from creatures … Master, do not leave us!
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Thank Thee, O Lord, in the name of the many fallen and miserable souls now regenerated by Thy merciful love … And when through frailty we would be exposed to the awful death of sin … Master, do not leave us!
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Yes, thank Thee, O Lord, for the many dying saved at the eleventh hour … And when agony warns us that the hour of inexorable justice draws near, O Redeemer and Master, do not leave us!
All: Heart of Jesus, stay with us!
Yes, stay with us in that moment of supreme agony when all the disillusionments of earth vanish before the dazzling splendor of the infallible Tribunal from which there is no appeal. Jesus at that terrible hour be near to us … give us strength to call upon Thee and to remind Thee of Thy promises … give us courage to ask Thee to read our decisive sentence in that book of life, where Thou hast written our names … Oh! sentence us with the benignity and tenderness of Thy merciful Heart! … Thy Kingdom come! …
(Invocations for the Last Agony)
O Divine Sufferer of Gethsemane, Eucharistic Jesus, here are the faithful witnesses of Thy mortal agony in the Garden of Olives who come to ask the supreme grace promised to the consolers and apostles of Thine afflicted Heart …
Lord, we do not pray Thee for health, fortune, or a long life. No, but we entreat Thee that in the supreme struggle of our agony Thou mayest stretch forth Thine arms to us … Oh! show us then the burning Wound in Thy Side and permit us, O sweet Jesus, when dying, to breathe forth our last sigh of praise, of love, and of atonement in the heavenly Wound of Thy Sacred Heart …
In that hour when our childhood, our youth, our whole life with all its failings comes before our mind, remember Thy promises, beloved Jesus, show us the burning Wound in Thy Side … Oh! reveal Thy Heart to us to calm our agonizing hearts … When in that decisive moment we will wish to grasp an anchor of salvation and to embrace Thy Cross and to beg for pardon … when groaning we will call Mary to our aid and stammer Thy name … ah! … though our lips will not be able to pronounce it, Thou, Jesus, Who didst offer Thy life for our lives, Thou who embraced us at the table of Communion, Thou who didst smile on us because we consoled Thee in the Holy Hour … draw then near to us, most sweet Savior, and pointing out to us the Wound of Thy Side … reveal Thy tender Heart to us to calm our agonizing hearts …
Recall, Jesus, in that decisive hour, how much we wished to love Thee and remember not our tepidity … and recall how much we prayed and worked to save souls and remember not our sins … recall our efforts to have Thee enthroned as King of love and remember not our ingratitude … Oh! … recall that Thou hast written our names where they can never be effaced! …
We do not ask Thee for the joys of earth, nor for the flattery of false glory or of human love … We implore Thee that in our agony’s mortal anguish Thou deignst to show us the burning Wound in Thine open Side, O Jesus, and to let us breathe forth our last as a supreme prayer of love, of adoration, and atonement in the heavenly Wound of Thy Sacred Heart!
Now and at the hour of our death: Thy Kingdom Come! …
A Pater and an Ave for the agonizing and for sinners.
A Pater and an Ave for the universal triumph of the Sacred Heart, especially by daily Communion, the Holy Hour and the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in families.
A Pater and an Ave for the particular intentions of those present.
A Pater and an Ave for our country.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come! (5 times)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. (3 times)
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saint Margaret Mary, pray for us.
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