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| Dedication, Introduction & Index |
A true lover experiences exceeding great joy when he finds himself in the company of the one he loves. If we have a great love for Jesus that joy is ours now. See, we are in His presence; Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is watching us; He is listening to us: are we going to say nothing to Him?
O let us abound with consolation at the thought of His company. Let us rejoice in the glory and the love He receives from that multitude of souls who are on fire with love of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us be filled with a great longing that all men would love Jesus in this Sacrament of love, and would consecrate their hearts to Him; at the very least, let us consecrate to Him all the love that is ours: let Him be the one object of our love and the one object to whom all the longing of our soul turns.
Even to speak of the Most Holy Sacrament gave great joy and consolation to Father Salesius of the Society of Jesus; he never tired of repeating his visits―of looking for opportunities to go into the company of the Master whom he loved. He found such opportunities when he was on his way to the door of the monastery; or when he was returning to his room; or when he was going from one part of the house to another. Those with whom he lived could not help noticing that he repeated these visits almost every hour of the day. He ended his life by dying at the hands of heretics while defending the doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament―this was a fitting reward for his great devotion.
O Jesus, my most loving Master, how happy I would be if I could die for so beautiful a cause―defending your Real Presence in this Sacrament, in which you show us so clearly how tender is your love for us.
My dear Master, you have already worked many miracles in this Sacrament; so now work this one miracle more―draw me, bind me all to you. This is your wish already, and how well you deserve that I should be all yours! Give me strength to love you with all the love of my heart. Give worldly goods to others if you please; I renounce them utterly here and now; but I do sigh after and I long for your love―and it alone. Yes, your love alone: this I seek for now, this I will seek for always. O, I love you, my Jesus: make me love you always. There is nothing more that I ask.
Aspiration―Jesus, when shall I truly love you?
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
Jesus, I believe you are in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you; I want you to come to me. Come into my heart; I embrace you; O never depart from me.
A VISIT TO MARY
MOTHER MOST LOVABLE
MOTHER MOST LOVABLE
My most sweet Queen, how pleasant to me is that beautiful name used by those who are devoted to you, "Mater Amabilis," Mother Most Lovable. Yes, how true it is, O my Lady, that you are exceedingly lovable, for your beauty has won the love of God Himself: "The King has greatly desired your loveliness."
St. Bonaventure tells us that to your lovers even your name is so lovely, that when they pronounce it, or hear it pronounced, they are set on fire; and an intense longing wells up within them to love you still more: "O sweet, O kind, O most lovable Mary―your name cannot be pronounced without setting us aflame; nor can it strike upon our hearing without stirring the affections of those who love you."
O how fitting it is then, most lovely Mother, that I should love you. But I shall not be satisfied with merely loving you: I want to be, after God, the first of your lovers on earth; and later on, the first of your lovers in Heaven. If this desire is too bold your loveliness alone is responsible, together with the particular love that you have given me; if you were less lovable then my longing to love you would be less.
Come, O my Lady, and accept this intense desire of mine. In proof that you have accepted it, you must yourself obtain for me from God the love I seek. I seek to love you more because the love I have for you gives great joy to God Himself.
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