Most sweet Jesus, I believe that you are as truly present here in the tabernacle as when you walked in Galilee, where you ministered to the sick, the lame, and the blind. Your ears of mercy have been ever open to listen to the cries of the sorrowing and wounded, and your lips ever ready to speak words of sympathy, comfort, and encouragement to those who trusted in your power to help them. As a sinner conscious of your mercy, I come before you now to spend an hour in communion with you. Too long have I heard your plea, “Could you not watch one hour?” (Mark 14:37), and too long have I neglected to respond to it. Now at last I come to you, Jesus, my patient and faithful friend, to whom I can open my heart as someone who fully understands me.
Sweet Jesus, you know me better than I know myself. You perceive the innermost secrets of my heart and see there my longing to be totally yours. Deep down within me I want to love you, but at the same time I am aware of the promptings of my sinful nature drawing me away from you and the unselfish service that I should render you. Jesus, I have asked, and now ask you again, to make me love you in spite of my weaker self. Fill each day of my life with acts of love for you, and make me realize what is your love really means. Enlighten my understanding, that I may clearly see that to love you means wealth beyond measure, and to serve you reward without limit. Sweet heart of Jesus, I implore that I may love you daily more and more.
Adoro te devote: Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore, Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more, See, Lord, at thy service, low lies here a heart Lost, all lost in wonder, at the God thou art. Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived; How says trusty hearing? That shall be believed; What God’s Son has told me, take for truth, I do; Truth himself speaks truly, or there’s nothing true. On the cross thy Godhead made no sign to men; Here thy very manhood steals from human ken: Both are my confession, both are my belief, And I pray the prayer of the dying thief. I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see, But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he. This faith each day has deeper been my holding of, Daily makes me harder hope and dearer love.
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified, Living Bread the life of us for whom he died, Lend this life to me then: Feed and feast my mind, There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find. Bring the tender tale true of the pelican; Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran— Blood that but one drop of has the worth to win All the world forgiveness of its world of sin. Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below, I beseech thee, send me what I thirst for so, Some day to gaze on thee face-to-face in light And be blest for ever with thy glory’s sight. St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
To Be With You in Silence: In silence To be there before you, Lord, that’s all, To shut the eyes of my body, To shut the eyes of my soul, And to be still and silent, To expose myself to you who are there, exposed to me. To be there before you, the Eternal Presence. I am willing to feel nothing, Lord, to see nothing, to hear nothing. Empty of all ideas, of all images, In the darkness. Here I am, simply To meet you without obstacles, In the silence of faith, Before you, Lord. (Michel Quoist)
Sweet Heart of Jesus: The Sweet heart of Jesus, fount of love and mercy, today we come, thy blessing to implore; O, touch our hearts, so cold and so ungrateful, and make them, Lord, thine own forevermore. Sweet heart of Jesus, we implore, O make us love thee more and more. Sweet heart of Jesus, make us know and love thee, unfold to us the treasures of thy grace; that so our hearts, from things of earth uplifted, may long alone to gaze upon thy face. Sweet heart of Jesus, make us pure and gentle, and teach us how to do, thy blessed will; to follow close the print of thy dear footsteps, and when we fall, sweetheart, oh, love us still. Sweet heart of Jesus, bless all hearts that love thee, and may thine own heart ever blessed be; bless us, dear Lord, and bless the friends we cherish, and keep us true to Mary and to thee.
Seeking a Blessing: For Families in Need: O Living Bread that came down from heaven to give life to the world! O loving Shepherd of our souls, from your throne of glory, whence, a “hidden God,” you pour out your grace on families and peoples, we commend to you, particularly the sick, the unhappy, the poor, and all who beg for food and employment, imploring for all and every one the assistance of your providence; we commend to you, the families, so that they may be fruitful centers of Christian life. May the abundance of your grace be poured out over all. – Pope John XXIII
