Dr. Wojciech Kosek
in collaboration with Beata Krochmal, Danuta and Jerzy Hudecki
Please click here to download the same text in format: a/. Word, b/. PDF
Meditations led by eight people:
B, D, G, M – women; J, P, W, Z – men.
This translation was published here on 31 Oct 2023.
To see the original Polish text ← click, please!
(Duration with recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: about 90 min.)
Full text of St. Faustina’s Diary at www.saint-faustina.org ← click, please!
Prayer before the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
(Duration of this prayer with songs: about 21 min.)
J In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit! How good that You are, O Good Jesus! How good it is that we can be here with You, not rushing to any affairs, the excess of which often overwhelms us in the passing days, months, and years of the temporal journey towards the eternal Fatherland… Time passes… One must look more and more maturely at the passage to eternity… It is not worth squandering the unique chance You give us every day – the chance to love You with true love, with selfless love, with love that does not seek self-satisfaction, with love that has a predilection for bestowing upon You the happiness for which You are thirsty from each of us personally… (1:15)
J Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 1st stanza (0:43)
D O Lord! Reflecting on my commitment to our love encounters in Holy Communion, I ask myself if You are happy with me. You know what I feel when I read what St. Faustina wrote down in her Diary about wanting to be united with You and thinking about it already at night… She wrote: When I received Holy Communion, I said to Jesus, “I have been thinking about You so many times during the night.” And He replied, “And I, too, was thinking about you, before I called you into existence.” “Jesus, what were You thinking about me?” I asked. “How to bring you into My everlasting happiness.” (Faustina’s Diary, No. 1292). Oh, Jesus! Do I draw from the experience of those with spiritual power to see in this preternatural miracle of Your love the source of the greatest happiness? Can I, along with St. Faustina, say to You at this moment analogically as she did? For example, “Jesus, I have been thinking about You so many times during the night…” Or can I confess to You today, “Jesus, I thought about You so many times before today’s Eucharist… Jesus, I wanted so much to be united with You…” (1:37)
D Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 2nd stanza (0:43)
Z O Beloved Jesus! Today is the thirteenth day of October, when falls the 99th anniversary of the last apparition of Your Mother, Mary, at Fatima. It is essential to read this apparition in obedience to the Church’s teaching on the subject… It is important to read it in light of the apparitions approved by the Holy See, including the three apparitions of the Angel of Peace. This Angel gave Holy Communion to the Fatima shepherds a hundred years ago, in the autumn of 1916, in his last apparition. The Angel earnestly instructed the children to pray in a spirit of propitiation for all insults, all blasphemies, and all frigidity that You, O Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, suffer from people. We wish to say this prayer with the awareness that, behold, we too have just received You in Holy Communion: (1:27)
G “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended.” A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended.” A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended.” (1:35)
G Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 3rd stanza (0:43)
P Beloved Jesus! We are very grateful for the grace of being with You now – now that, having received You at the Holy Mass, we are in a state of supreme union with You. We do not always realize that the received Blessed Sacrament makes each of us so closely united with You as no human being can achieve under other circumstances, even if he or she has attained the heights of contemplative prayer. What we do not always remember, however, is that this extraordinary – because Divine – the gift of union requires a small but vitally important commitment on the part of man – requires for some time after receiving Holy Communion to abide lovingly in prayer and not be involved in any worldly concerns. (1:20)
P Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 4th stanza (0:43)
M O Jesus, my Jesus! I look at You, though not with the eyes of the body… I look at the whiteness of the Sacred Host… I look at this consecrated whiteness and know that You are present here… Yes, You are here; You are truly present, though entirely invisible to us, not granting the grace of seeing Your Face – the seeing with the eyes of the body… I see You, therefore, not with the eyes of my body but with the eyes of my loving heart, with the eyes of a heart filled with the wisdom of the Church’s faith, with the eyes full of awe at Your incredibly close presence… (0:54)
M Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 5th stanza (0:43)
W A time of love, a time to be with the Beloved, a time longed for, a time awaited, a precious time, our time, O Jesus… Now is that longed-for time, the time to gaze into Your loving eyes, the time when, together with Mary, sister of Lazarus, I listen to the beating of Your Heart, to the wisdom of Your teaching, to You, coming to our parish church, coming to us, the people thirsting for You and Your presence with us… As we read of You in the Gospel of St. Luke: (0:53)
B As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:38-42). (1:04)
B Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 6th stanza (0:43)
J It is an extraordinary time, a long-awaited time, a time of meeting You – God, who became Man for our salvation; God, who for our salvation was willing to suffer from thirst. O Lord! I remember the hour of Your agony, when You, stretched between heaven and earth on the cross stuck in the rock of Golgotha, spoke the words of Your Testament… Then You also said these extremely moving words – “I thirst!” By the power of the Divine Sacrament, You say them today – at every Holy Mass, as it is, the making present of Your Death on Golgotha… You utter them at every consecration and coming to me in the Holy Communion… (1:11)
J Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 7th stanza (0:43)
D Do I believe, O Christ, do I know, O Savior, that You, coming in Holy Communion in the mystery of Your saving death, speak to human hearts to awaken them to love, to move them to the depths with that poignant “I thirst!”? Do I believe that in Your thirst for my love is contained the saving power, the power to awaken me from un-love, the power to raise me from frigidity, the power to bestow upon me a truly holy life, an authentic life? Do I know it… do I love You… do I have the love toward You within me… do I live a life truly directed toward You?… (1:03)
D Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 8th stanza (0:43)
Z Do I believe, O Christ, do I know, O Savior, that You, coming in Holy Communion in the mystery of Your saving death, speak to human hearts to awaken them to love, to move them to the depths with that poignant “I thirst!”? Yes, yes, how can You not desire in such a strangely long-lasting situation of our inability to feel the magnitude of this tension with which Your Heart lives, thirsting for the love of the hearts of each of us – us, to whom You came with a desire of saving us from un-love, from ego-centrism, from seeking in everything our comfort or even our own will, our idea to achieve happiness… (1:03)
Z Song: The Hidden Jesus – 1st stanza (0:53)
G Dearest Jesus! We now desire to go with You on this way that You passed with the Apostles after the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane and then to the gates of Death. We desire to go with You through the Gethsemane to Golgotha by the power of the Divine Food with which You nourished us during this very Last Supper – for every Holy Mass is a participation in the Last Supper. We wish to go with You so that You will not feel abandoned… so that You will have friends in us who earnestly desire to assist You in these highly demanding hours of Your work of saving us all. We will pray the Divine Mercy chaplet with meditations and excerpts from the Diary of St. Faustina. Jesus, lead the way! (1:18)
Meditations for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
(Duration of meditations with songs and the Chaplet: about 36 min.)
Meditation 1.
Lord Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane
P Song: Garden of Olives – 1-2 stanza (1:20)
P “And His sweat was like thick drops of blood falling on the ground,” St. Luke records in the Gospel (22:44). I kneel next to You, O Dearest Jesus, amid the trees of the Garden of Olives… Thirsting for my love, O Beloved, You have strangely arranged that by the power of the received Blessed Sacrament, I can genuinely be with You at that time of Your prayer two thousand years ago. I desire to respond to the longing of Your Heart. That is why I abide after the Holy Mass in prayer to be with You, O Beloved… I wish to express all my love for You through this presence … (0:59)
M Blood sweat, O Dearest Jesus, Your bloody sweat, oozing onto the Palestinian ground, let it reach the ground of our hearts as well. O Beloved, let Your love cause the miracle of transforming our weak, timid love. O Most Beloved Jesus! Transform our hearts… transform them now, in this time of grace… transform them into the fertile and life-giving soil of our mutual spousal love. May our hearts live for You from this day forward… May they utter love for You, present in the Blessed Sacrament, with every beat… (0:55)
W Sister Faustina noted in her Diary: My relations with the Lord now are purely spiritual; my soul has been touched by God and is completely absorbed in Him unto self-forgetfulness; it is permeated with God through and through, completely submerging in His beauty, immersing completely in Him. I cannot describe it in writing, for when I write I use my senses, but the senses play no part in that union, what is there is the fusion of the soul with God, the life in God to which the soul is admitted is so immense that language cannot express it. When the soul returns to its normal life, it sees that this life is but a murky shadow, a vapor, a sleepy confusion, a baby’s swaddling. At such times, the soul is merely the recipient of all things from God, for it does nothing of itself, it does not make even the slightest effort, it is God Who works everything within the soul. (1:23)
B But when it returns to its normal condition, the soul sees that, on its own, it is incapable of continuing in that union any longer. Such moments of union with God are short but of abiding significance; the soul cannot stay in this condition for long, otherwise it would perforce free itself of the shackles of the body forever, even though it is being miraculously supported in this state by God. God lets the soul know distinctly how much He loves it, as if it were the sole object of His love. The soul learns of this clearly and sort of directly; it rushes to God as fast as it can, but feels it is a child; it knows this is beyond its power, so God comes down to the soul and unites with it in a way which is … and here I must fall silent on what the soul experiences – I cannot express it. (Faustina’s Diary, No. 767) (1:19)
J Strangely enough, although the soul cannot describe the exact nature or manner of its union with God when it is in that state, yet when it meets another soul akin to itself, in an extraordinary way they understand each other in these matters, even though they might not speak very much to one another. A soul which is united with God in this manner readily recognises another soul which is like itself, even if they have not said anything to each other about their spiritual experiences, but only conversed in the ordinary way; it’s a sort of spiritual kinship. There are not many souls united with God in this way, fewer than we think. (Faustina’s Diary, No. 768) (0:59)
D A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the first decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane before the Face of the Father. (0:19)
Meditation 2.
Scourging of the Lord Jesus
Z Song: Let us Love the Lord – 1st stanza (0:42)
Z “Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him scourged,” St. John records in the Gospel (19:1). I am with You, O Beloved Jesus, when You, with such great humility and submission to the Will of the Father, receive the painful blows of such cruel non-love… I am genuinely with You because You willed in Your love that I might, by receiving the Blessed Sacrament, unite with You undergoing this execution. You made it so that I would be close to You at this moment and love You with my presence… (0:53)
G Jesus, my Jesus! Let the painful blows of the scourges reach my heart as well… May the grace of being with You be salutary for me as well – for the stirring of my heart. Oh, how dissimilar my heart is to Yours… How it flinches from receiving unjust blows… Jesus, my Jesus! In this hour of our mutual presence, heal my heart and make it like Your Heart so that, conformed to Your Heart, it may be able to endure much for the sake of peace among men, to endure without complaining, to endure with gratitude for the opportunity to assist You in saving the world… (1:00)
P Sister Faustina noted in her Diary: O my Jesus, You know how much effort has to be put in to manage to be sincere and straightforward with those whom our nature shuns, or with those who have, either deliberately or inadvertently, made us suffer – it is simply impossible in the ordinary, human way. At such times, I try to do more than I would otherwise to discover Jesus in that person, and it’s for the sake of Jesus that I do everything for such people. There is pure love in such deeds; this sort of exercise in love strengthens the soul and makes it more resilient. I expect nothing from creatures, so I am never disappointed; I know that of itself a creature is poor, so what can you expect of it? For me God is everything; I want to assess everything in accordance with God. (Faustina’s Diary, No. 766) (1:20)
M A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the second decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, who, with humble obedience to the Father’s Will, accept the punishment of scourging for our intentions. (0:23)
Meditation 3.
The crowning of the Lord Jesus with thorns
W Song: Adoro Te Devote – 1st stanza (0:42)
W St. John recorded in the Gospel (John 19:2-5): And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly. Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, “Behold, the man!” (0:54)
B I look at You, the crowned Love, and think how much it is necessary to endure from people to make them love God truly, sincerely, without seeking their self in it, without seeking their will in love… O Jesus! Do I desire to imitate You in humbly accepting thorns from others? In this hour, when the power of the Blessed Sacrament makes me truly present with You, crowned with thorns, I resolve to ask myself more often in examining my conscience about my success in giving up carrying out my own will. I wish to comfort You now with my new, though probably not easy to consistently carry out, decision – I wish to win my heart to cooperate with others in carrying out their good intentions, even at the price of giving up my preferences. Amen. (1:22)
J Sister Faustina noted in her Diary: Today, during Vespers, a pain went through my soul; I see that this work exceeds my powers in every respect. I am a small child with respect to the immensity of this task, and only on the express order of God have I embarked on it, and on the other hand, even the tremendous graces have become such a burden for me that I can hardly carry them. I see incredulity on the part of my superiors, a variety of misgivings, and hence an attitude of mistrust of me. O my Jesus, I see that even such grand graces may bring suffering, and that is just what is happening; not only may they, but they must bring suffering, as a characteristic of God’s works. (1:10)
D I know very well that if God Himself did not strengthen my soul in all these trials, it would never manage on its own, so God Himself is its shield. As I was still meditating during Vespers on this mixture of suffering and grace, I suddenly heard the voice of Our Lady, Who told me, “You should know, O My daughter, that even though I was elevated to the honour of being the Mother of God, nonetheless, seven swords of sorrow pierced My heart. Do nothing in your own defence, bear everything with humility, and God Himself will defend you.” (Faustina’s Diary, No. 786) (0:55)
Z A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the third decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, who accept with humble obedience to the Father’s Will the cruelty of crowning with thorns for our intentions. (0:25)
Meditation 4.
The Way of the Cross of the Lord Jesus
G Song: You go Through the Ages – 1st stanza (0:48)
G St. John recorded in the Gospel (John 19:14-18): It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!” They cried out, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. (1:02)
P O Jesus, going with the wood of the cross to the Hill of the Skull! O Jesus, going there to offer Himself as an atoning sacrifice for our sins! I am with You to take, at least in part, the burden of Your cross and, simultaneously, my cross… I am here to make You feel how much I care about You, about the fulfillment of Your Heart’s saving design. O Lord! How wondrous is the work of salvation… How worth pondering the mysterious plan of God, who desires to save us without exception from unloving, from disobedience, from not trusting in His loving Will. (1:00)
M How much You love us, O incomprehensible God… How worth pondering God’s mysterious salvific plan since Your, O Jesus, way to Calvary was already announced in Genesis. How many signs of Your love and wisdom we have not yet read… One of them is the inscription on the wall above the altar of our church: “Deus providebit” – God will provide. These are the words spoken in Genesis (22:7-8) by Abraham to his son Isaac, who, while carrying wood for burnt-offering to the hill of Moriah, did not know that he was to be sacrificed and asked his father, “Here are the fire and the wood, and where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide for the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two continued going forward (1:19)
W Lord, we know that God tested Abraham’s love, and Abraham trusted that God would, in some mysterious way, save both his love for God and, at the same time, save his son from death. We know that in the end, God stopped him from killing his son, let him see a ram caught by its horns in the bushes, and sacrificed it instead of his son. We see that this prophesied Lamb is ultimately You, O Jesus, sacrificed on a hill adjacent to the hill of Moriah in Jerusalem… Lord, how can we not trust You even in the most challenging situations, when You combine events so distant in time to lead us to admire and love You ultimately… (1:12).
B Sister Faustina noted in her Diary: Never to talk about my own experiences. In suffering to seek relief in prayer; in the slightest of doubts to ask for advice only of my confessor. Always to have a heart ready to take up other people’s suffering, and to plunge my own suffering deep into the Divine Heart, making it externally as undetectable as possible. Always to strive for equanimity, however stormy the circumstances. (0:47)
J Not to let my inner peace and quietude be disturbed. Nothing can compare with peace of soul. Should I be wrongly accused of anything, not to offer excuses or explanations; if my superior should want to discover the truth about whether I was in the right or wrong, she shall find out, not necessarily from me. My part is to take everything in an inner disposition of humility. I shall go through this Advent in accordance with Our Lady’s instructions – in meekness and humility. (0:50)
D A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the fourth decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, who are, with humble obedience to the Father’s Will, undertaking the immense effort of carrying the cross to Calvary for our intentions. (0:26)
Meditation 5.
The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross
Z Song: I Greet You – 1st stanza (0:56)
Z Together with Mary, O Dearest Jesus, I participate in this most poignant drama – in Your dying on the cross at Calvary… You love me very much, and therefore, You have hidden for me in the Most Blessed Sacrament not only Yourself but also the preternatural possibility of genuinely participating in Your life and Your dying… You know that my heart thirsts to show You love by being present in the moments that are most difficult for You… I am with You, O Beloved Jesus… I am with You with all my heart, O Beloved, when You suffer so much, when You, because of Your love for me, give Your life so that I may live forever. (1:06)
G In this hour of grace, I ask You, O Jesus, to renew my heart and the hearts of all believers in love for You, who are coming in Holy Communion to our hearts. I know that You are patient and forgiving, not discouraged by our slow growth toward the fullness of loving You. Oh, how I long, however, for a greater focus of the heart on You, when You, O Savior, show me such boundless love by giving Your life for me… Jesus, do now this miracle of the transformation of our hearts… O Jesus, give us to taste what it means to love You as You desire to be loved… (1:01)
P Sister Faustina noted in her Diary: During the night, I was suddenly woken up and I realized that a soul was asking me for prayers, that it needed prayer desperately. Briefly, but as sincerely as my whole soul could manage, I begged the Lord for grace for that soul. Next day after twelve o’clock, when I entered the ward, I saw a person in the throes of death, and I was told it had started during the night. I ascertained it was the time when I was asked for prayer. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my soul telling me, “Say the Chaplet I have taught you.” (0:55)
M I ran back for my rosary and knelt down by the dying person’s bedside and started reciting the Chaplet as fervently as my spirit could manage. Suddenly, the dying person opened her eyes and looked at me; I had not finished saying the Chaplet when she passed away in extraordinary peace. I fervently begged the Lord to keep the promise He had given me for saying the Chaplet. The Lord let me know that the soul had been granted the grace He had promised me. It was the first soul to have experienced the Lord’s promise. I felt the power of mercy embracing that soul. (Faustina’s Diary, No. 809-810) (0:56)
W A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the fifth decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite with You, with humble obedience to the Will of the Father, giving Your life to save us from eternal death. (0:24)
Meditations after the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
(Duration of meditations with songs: about 14 min.)
B Beloved Jesus! Behold, we have come with You to the end of the way You passed from the Upper Room to Golgotha two thousand years ago. We believe that by Your Divine right hand, You have genuinely carried us back to the time of those events, which, from the point of view of our human nature, have passed away irretrievably… We believe that such is the unifying power of the Blessed Sacrament that we have eaten during the Holy Mass, and, therefore, during this one Last Supper, in which we always participate with all the participants of all the Holy Masses celebrated during the history of the world until its final close, in moments that from our point of view have already passed and in those that from our point of view are yet to come. To You we sing the song of love… (1:21)
B Song: I Greet You – 2nd stanza (0:56)
J From the height of the cross of Golgotha, You descend into the Abyss, into the land of darkness, into the darkness of death. You descend with the power of God, who breaks the bonds of death, who dispels the darkness of non-life, who liberates and leads out towards new life. We unite with You at this moment and ask for all the dead, for those who have already departed from our mortality: grant them, O Lord of life, grant them eternal life, life in love without limit… (0:47)
J Song: I Greet You – 3rd stanza (0:56)
D We adore You, O Christ, who conquers death in our dead sisters and brothers and who overcomes death in our hearts as well. You love us and desire to bestow life upon us… You love us and desire to bestow happiness upon us… You love us and desire to open our hearts to love You… Yes, in loving You, in loving unity with You, is the source of man’s happiness, the source of eternal life, the source of eternal fulfillment… To You we sing a song of praise, O Christ-Conqueror: (0:56)
D Song: Winner of Death – 1st stanza (0:56)
Z O Jesus, my Jesus, how not to adore You after receiving You in Holy Communion, how not to adore You in this particular time of union, how not to sing songs of love to You… How good it is to be with You, Who loves us so much… How good it is to be with You, relishing the presence of Him who is the fulfillment of the heart’s longing for true love, mad love, infinite love… Blessed Marie Candide of the Eucharist, an Italian Carmelite nun, wrote about this great adventure of love. Here are her words, full of loving fire: [1] (1:00)
G “Jesus radiated inside me, so it seemed to me that I had a jewel full of radiance in my heart, spreading rays. Once, when I was concentrating after Holy Communion and abiding in thanksgiving, I felt a gentle ray penetrate me. At first, I did not attach any importance to it, thinking it was an ordinary thing, but the sensation was repeated and lasted for a long time, so I thought I would faint. I renewed my devotion to Him, and He reciprocated, flooding me with the tenderness and sweetness of His mad love: ‘O Jesus, I am wounded with love, have mercy on me! I am wounded with the arrowhead of Your mad love.’ I repeated these words to Him with simultaneous submission to His action. Let Him do in me what pleases Him! With the help of His grace, I would give all my blood to love Him more fervently.” (1:25)
G Song: Jesus, Veiled in the Sacred Host – 1st stanza (0:26)
P How precious are the moments of Eucharistic union, O Jesus… If we allow You to act after Holy Communion, if we stay in prayer, if we last even in silence and submit to Your loving action, You transform our hearts without requiring some great effort on our part. You will give us holiness for which others who do not know the mysterious, miraculous power of the Eucharistic union will have to work hard in their struggle with personal tendency to sin… It is how Blessed Candide wrote about You and Your action after Holy Communion: (1:02)
M “Sometimes, when He sacramentally descends into my soul, it pleases Him to make me beautiful, to clothe me with Himself, and when He so immerses my heart in the crystalline immensity of His soul, can I still remember that my soul was stained, naked and wretched? Jesus can make me beautiful, rich, and worthy of Himself in one moment of the outpouring of His Mercy. I comprehended His Divine action when I saw myself truly pure and beautiful to Him. I then asked: ‘Do you see how beautiful I am? Behold, now You can absorb my soul into Yourself. Drink, consume me, and give me Life.’ I am all clothed in His infinite purity. He Himself clothes me in it. Everything that belongs to Jesus is mine. My Heavenly Father will no longer mention my past but look fondly at what Jesus has done for me.” (1:28)
M Song: Jesus, Veiled in the Sacred Host – 2nd stanza (0:26)
W From early childhood, Blessed Candide suffered whenever she could not go out of the home to the church and receive You, O Jesus, in the Sacrament of Love. She wrote, “One day, I asked myself, what could be the aim of this terrible sacrifice that deprives me of the Eucharist, and all these obstacles to so much good? To this, Jesus Himself answered me: ‘Do not you remember that you wanted to make expiatory sacrifices for the ingratitude and insult to Me in the Blessed Sacrament?’ Because I asked only myself and did not think I would receive an answer, I was amazed that He wanted to remind me of my ‘agreement’ with Him, made many years ago. (1:11)
B It is true that when I was eighteen years old and reading about the life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, I was moved by Jesus’ lamentation of the misunderstanding of His presence in the Blessed Sacrament and people’s ingratitude for His love. Indeed, at that time, I offered myself to Him several times for any suffering to rectify and compensate Him for His pain of loneliness. I asked that I could have my purgatory on earth. I said: ‘Deprived of Your Body, may I directly reach You; I want to make amends for my sins, so may they no longer be an obstacle and no longer delay my meeting with You.’ Jesus, in His infinite Mercy, accepted this commitment then and is now allowing it to be fulfilled. (1:18)
J It changed my attitude. Instead of complaining, I began to ask Him that my expiatory sacrifice and the purgatory of being deprived of the Eucharist He would accept for those holy souls who are in true purgatory, longing to possess the Living God. For what greater suffering is there than to be deprived of Him? It causes them pain most acute in their purgatorial exile.” (0:41)
J Song: Jesus, Veiled in the Sacred Host – 3rd stanza (0:26)
The prayer community will meditate now one by one on the texts
prepared by the adoration participants,
interspersed with successive stanzas of the song.
(Duration of meditations with songs: about 17 min.)
J The Disciple 1/. O Lord my God, favor Your servant with the blessings of Your sweetness that I may merit to approach Your magnificent Sacrament worthily and devoutly. Lift up my heart to You and take away from me this heavy indolence. Visit me with Your saving grace that I may in spirit taste Your sweetness which lies hidden in this Sacrament like water in the depths of a spring. Enlighten my eyes to behold this great Mystery, and give me strength to believe in it with firm faith. For it is Your work, not the power of man, Your sacred institution, not his invention. No man is able of himself to comprehend and understand these things which surpass even the keen vision of angels. How, then, shall I, an unworthy sinner who am but dust and ashes, be able to fathom and understand so great a mystery? 2/. O Lord, I come to You at Your command in simplicity of heart, in good, firm faith, with hope and reverence, and I truly believe that You are present here in this Sacrament, God and man. It is Your will that I receive You and unite myself to You in love. Wherefore, I beg Your mercy and ask that special grace be given me, that I may be wholly dissolved in You and filled with Your love, no longer to concern myself with exterior consolations. For this, the highest and most worthy Sacrament, is the health of soul and body, the cure of every spiritual weakness. In it my defects are remedied, my passions restrained, and temptations overcome or allayed. In it greater grace is infused, growing virtue is nourished, faith confirmed, hope strengthened, and charity fanned into flame. 3/. You, my God, the protector of my soul, the strength of human weakness, and the giver of every interior consolation, have given and still do often give in this Sacrament great gifts to Your loved ones who communicate devoutly. Moreover, You give them many consolations amid their numerous troubles and lift them from the depths of dejection to the hope of Your protection. With new graces You cheer and lighten them within, so that they who are full of anxiety and without affection before Communion may find themselves changed for the better after partaking of this heavenly food and drink. Likewise, You so deal with Your elect that they may truly acknowledge and plainly experience how weak they are in themselves and what goodness and grace they obtain from You. For though in themselves they are cold, obdurate, and wanting in devotion, through You they become fervent, cheerful, and devout. Who, indeed, can humbly approach the fountain of sweetness and not carry away a little of it? Or who, standing before a blazing fire does not feel some of its heat? You are a fountain always filled with superabundance! You are a fire, ever burning, that never fails! 4/. Therefore, while I may not exhaust the fullness of the fountain or drink to satiety, yet will I put my lips to the mouth of this heavenly stream that from it I may receive at least some small drop to refresh my thirst and not wither away. And if I cannot as yet be all heavenly or as full of fire as the cherubim and seraphim, yet I will try to become more devout and prepare my heart so that I may gather some small spark of divine fire from the humble reception of this life-giving Sacrament. Whatever is wanting in me, good Jesus, Savior most holy, do You in Your kindness and grace supply for me, You Who have been pleased to call all unto You, saying: “Come to Me all you that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you.” 5/. I, indeed, labor in the sweat of my brow. I am torn with sorrow of heart. I am laden with sin, troubled with temptations, enmeshed and oppressed by many evil passions, and there is none to help me, none to deliver and save me but You, my Lord God and Savior, to Whom I entrust myself and all I have, that You may protect me and lead me to eternal life. For the honor and glory of Your name receive me, You Who have prepared Your Body and Blood as food and drink for me. Grant, O Lord, my God and Savior, that by approaching Your Mysteries frequently, the zeal of my devotion may increase. [2] (6:51)
J Song: I Know in Whom I Believe – 1st stanza (0:48)
D The Disciple 1/. What, Lord, is the trust which I have in this life, or what is my greatest comfort among all the things that appear under heaven? Is it not You, O Lord, my God, Whose mercies are without number? Where have I ever fared well but for You? Or how could things go badly when You were present? I had rather be poor for Your sake than rich without You. I prefer rather to wander on the earth with You than to possess heaven without You. Where You are there is heaven, and where You are not are death and hell. You are my desire and therefore I must cry after You and sigh and pray. In none can I fully trust to help me in my necessities, but in You alone, my God. You are my hope. You are my confidence. You are my consoler, most faithful in every need. 2/. All seek their own interests. You, however, place my salvation and my profit first, and turn all things to my good. Even though exposing me to various temptations and hardships, You Who are accustomed to prove Your loved ones in a thousand ways, order all this for my good. You ought not to be loved or praised less in this trial than if You had filled me with heavenly consolations. 3/. In You, therefore, O Lord God, I place all my hope and my refuge. On You I cast all my troubles and anguish, because whatever I have outside of You I find to be weak and unstable. It will not serve me to have many friends, nor will powerful helpers be able to assist me, nor prudent advisers to give useful answers, nor the books of learned men to console, nor any precious substance to win my freedom, nor any place, secret and beautiful though it be, to shelter me, if You Yourself do not assist, comfort, console, instruct, and guard me. 4/. For all things which seem to be for our peace and happiness are nothing when You are absent, and truly confer no happiness. You, indeed, are the fountain of all good, the height of life, the depth of all that can be spoken. To trust in You above all things is the strongest comfort of Your servants. My God, the Father of mercies, to You I look, in You I trust. Bless and sanctify my soul with heavenly benediction, so that it may become Your holy dwelling and the seat of Your eternal glory. And in this temple of Your dignity let nothing be found that might offend Your majesty. In Your great goodness, and in the multitude of Your mercies, look upon me and listen to the prayer of Your poor servant exiled from You in the region of the shadow of death. Protect and preserve the soul of Your poor servant among the many dangers of this corruptible life, and direct him by Your accompanying grace, through the ways of peace, to the land of everlasting light. [3] (4:38)
D Song: I Know in Whom I Believe – 2nd stanza (0:48)
B Hail, O eternal Love, my sweet Jesus, You Who have deigned to dwell in my heart. I welcome and greet You, O glorious Divinity, Who have deigned to stoop down to me and humble Yourself so much, down to the negligible form of bread, out of love for me. I greet You, Jesus, never withering flower of humanity, You are the Only One for my soul. Your love is purer than the lily, and Your company is more pleasant for me than the fragrance of the hyacinth. Your friendship is gentler and more delicate than the scent of the rose, and yet mightier than death. O Jesus, infinite beauty, You understand most perfectly the souls that are pure, for they alone are capable of heroism and sacrifice. O sweet and rose-red Blood of Jesus, ennoble my blood and transform it into Your own Blood, let it be unto me according to Your wish. (Faustina’s Diary, No. 1575) (2:39)
Staying at Your feet, O Godhead hidden from sight
Is all my soul’s joy and delight,
You make Yourself known to me, O Infinite Might,
And sweetly ask for my heart.
A quiet talk just between us two
Is like a moment of heavenly leisure,
I say, “Here’s my heart, just for You’
You, the Infinite and Great One, take it with pleasure.
Sweetness and love is the Life of my soul,
In my soul Your presence is ever continuing,
I spend my days on Earth in raptures untold,
And like the Seraph “Hosanna” I sing.
O Hidden One, with Body, Soul, and Divinity,
You come under the ordinary guise of bread,
You are my life, from You flow graces unlimited,
Not any of Heaven’s delights – it’s You I desire instead.
And when in Communion, Lord, You please to unite with me,
A wondrous greatness I feel, freely and without restraint,
Flowing from You, that I may say in lowly humility,
With Your help, Lord, the wretch that I am may yet be a saint.
(Faustina’s Diary, No. 1718) (1:23)
B Song: O Unspeakable Happiness Shone Forth – 1st stanza (0:55)
At the end of the adoration:
W Beloved Jesus! We thank You so much for the love we can experience in our relationship with You. How good it is to be with You, to look into Your eyes, to listen to Your voice. We will abide in silence from this moment until the Jasna Góra Appeal. O Jesus, speak to our hearts, transform our hearts, rest in hearts so prepared by Your transforming grace. O Jesus, Love of our hearts, love us… O Jesus, Love of my heart, I love You… Amen. (0:48)