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Italian Americans at Sunday Moring Mass
Location: Poughkeepsie, New York, 1953
Photo by Ralph Morse
Courtesy of Life Magazine |
THE CANTICLE OF LOVE
"City of Sion, be of great joy! Give voice to your songs of praise. Great is the One who is in your midst: He is the Holy One of Israel." (Is. 22). How great our joy should be; how great our hopes; and how great our love; when we know that here in our own city, in our own church, close to our own home, the Holy One, God Himself, dwells in the Blessed Sacrament―yes, God Himself, whose presence gives joy exceeding great to the Saints in Heaven: God who is Love Itself!
St. Bernard tells us "He imparts love. But this is not all: He is Love―Love Itself. "God is Love."
But here in this Sacrament, my dear Jesus, I can hear you making your sad complaint: "I came as your guest and you refused to welcome me." To do good to us you came to earth to be our Guest, and we had no welcome for you. Ah! yes, my Master, you are right; and one of those ungrateful ones who left you forsaken was myself; I did not even come to visit you. O punish me in any other way you will, but please do not punish me by depriving me of your presence; this is the punishment I deserve, but I will correct the rudeness of my manners, and my want of courtesy towards you. From today forward I want to visit you often and I want to spend as much time as I can in your company.
O my gentle Saviour, make me faithful to you now, and inspire others by my example to keep you company in the Most Holy Sacrament.
The voice of Your Eternal Father speaks to me, "This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 17). In you the Great Almighty Father finds His boundless joy. And I, a poor thing of no worth dwelling in this valley of tears am to find my delight in you also! O Fire all-consuming, put an end to that love of created things that still lingers in me; because it is these, and these only, that can make me unfaithful to you and deprive me of your possession. You can do it. You wish to do it. You can make me clean. You have done much for me; do this one thing more: put out of my heart every particle of love that is not for you. Here and now I surrender myself completely to you; I dedicate all the rest of my life to the love of the Most Holy Sacrament. You, my Jesus in the Sacrament, will now be my comfort―my love all my life long; and in the moment of my death. Then you will come to be my Viaticum; then you will bring me to the Kingdom of the Blessed.
Amen. Amen.
This is my hope; and so let it be.
Aspiration―My Jesus, when shall I see your beautiful Face?
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
THE BRIDGE OF GOD
THE BRIDGE OF GOD
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Praying the Rosary through the Kitchen Window
Courtesy of Life Magazine |
Mary, my Mother most holy, St. Germanus calls you "The power that supports our weakness." In you we will find the remedy for all our sickness; in you our weakness will find strength.
St. Bonaventure calls you "The gate of Liberty"―In you we have the door through which we go forth from the slavery of sin. He also calls you "The safe resting place of men"―so in you too we find peace and security. St. Lawrence Justinian calls you "The comforter of our pilgrimage"―you bring relief to us in our sufferings. St Bonaventure calls you "The Throne of the Grace of God:" so to sum up all, in you we find God's grace and God Himself. St. Proclus tells us you are "The bridge by which God comes down to man"―our sins have separated us from God but happily for us, Mary is the bridge by which He passes when He comes to dwell in our souls by His grace.
Aspiration―Mary, you are my strength, my liberty, my peace; and my salvation.
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