Dr. Wojciech Kosek
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Meditations led by six people:
B, D, J – women; L, P, W – men.
This translation was published here on 2 Dec 2023.
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(Duration of meditations with songs: about 82 min.)
(Duration of meditations with songs and Holy Rosary: about 122 min.)
Prayer before the Holy Rosary
(Duration of meditations with songs: about 18 min.)
B Beloved Savior! Behold, by Your graciousness, now begins the hour of our monthly adoration after the Holy Mass, the hour we call “the holy hour.” What is the purpose of our adoration? What do we expect during this holy time?… We highly desire to be with You… We desire to continue our Eucharistic encounter, which began with the Holy Mass, and thus in the most solemn of all ways of being with You. We now desire to abide with You in prayer during the time marked by Your most significant suffering: the time that follows the end of the Last Supper. With You praying in Gethsemane, we will try to rediscover the Eucharist Gift. For the painful fact that we do not fully understand this extraordinary Gift and are not fully able to meet You through it – is not this very fact pressing a bloody sweat on Your body then, when in Gethsemane, after the end of the Eucharist, You abide in prayer? (1,45) (1:45)
B Song: Fall to Your Knees – 1-2 stanza (0:49)
W Be glorified, Dearest Jesus, Almighty God, Creator, and our Lord! Be glorified in the mystery of Your love for us – Your sisters and brothers. Be glorified in the gift of the Blessed Sacrament with which You have fed us at the Holy Mass – the sacrament of Your love. Behold, the Holy Mass has just been completed. Behold, the mystery of the Last Supper has just been completed, when You, O beloved Jesus, transubstantiated the unleavened bread into Your Body, giving itself into death on Golgotha, transubstantiated wine into Your Blood, flowing out from the height of the Cross to us, the sinners. (1:04)
J Beloved Savior! In our time, You have reminded us of that poignant truth that You come in Holy Communion not as the Risen Lord of glory but as the suffering Servant of Yahweh. Behold, Archbishop Edward Ozorowski, in October 2011, having officially announced on behalf of the Church that an extraordinary Eucharistic event had indeed taken place in Polish town Sokółka, declared: “The Eucharistic Host that fell to the floor during the distribution of Holy Communion, picked up and put into a vessel with water, turned red. When its microscopic particle was subjected to pathomorphological examination, it was found to contain heart muscle in agony.” [1] (1:05)
P How deeply do I believe in the wonderful miracle that is the Mass? How deeply do I believe in the extraordinarily poignant fact that, under the cover of liturgical signs, the transfer of the entire Eucharistic community into the time of the Last Supper is accomplished, within which You Yourself, O Jesus, make the Apostles and all of us witnesses to Your death on Golgotha? Do I believe that this is really taking place, albeit in a manner incomprehensible to the mind and unknowable by the senses? Do I believe that I really meet with You, giving Yourself up to death on the cross, even though I cannot see it with the eyes of the flesh? (1:04)
D Dearest Savior! I thank You with all my heart for the love of my heart for You, who are giving Yourself out in the saving Sacrifice. From You, I have the heart loving You – it is the gift of Your love for me, a gift not earned but necessary for my conscious participation in the liturgy of the Mass. Thanks to Your grace, I firmly believe that every Eucharist makes me a participant in Your Last Supper – the Passover supper You celebrated two thousand years ago during that unique night – the night before Your way through death. (0:59)
L Beloved Jesus! Deep in my heart, I ask myself today: Do I make an effort to consciously participate in the Holy Mass as a moving sacrificial meal that You Yourself celebrate among the Apostles on the last night of Your earthly life? Do I participate in the Holy Mass with the awareness of being with You and the Apostles in the Cenacle? Do I know I participate with them there in the holy sacrificial banquet when You distribute the Holy Communion? Am I aware that I eat Divine Food to be brought forward in the twinkling of an eye with them and the entire Eucharistic community to Golgotha to stand at Your feet, nailed to the cross – right next to Immaculate Mary? (1:10)
B Most beloved Jesus! What is my faith in this miracle of truly moving us all from the time of our lives into Your time, O Jesus, into the time of salvific events? Do I believe? Do I love? Am I there with You? During Transubstantiation and Holy Communion, am I consciously with You and Your Mother Mary on Golgotha in the hours of Your greatest trial and tribulation? A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE (0:42)
B Song: Fall to Your Knees – 3-4 stanza (0:49)
W Dearest Lord Jesus! As a community of the parish of Divine Providence, today we have come again for the Holy Mass and adoration. We have arrived to love You with our presence. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank You for this incomprehensible grace of participation in the Holy Mass. It is, in a mysterious way, always a participation in that Last Supper, which You celebrated two thousand years ago on the night before Your Passion. (0:43)
J Behold, the Holy Mass – or the Last Supper – has ended. Behold, You, in the company of the Apostles, come out of the Upper Room to begin that shedding of Blood in which, thanks to Holy Communion, they have already participated sacramentally. You go out determinedly after the Last Supper to the people of violence to realize among them in a natural way for us humans what was already given to the Apostles in a sacramental way: You go to offer the saving sacrifice of Your own life. (0:51)
P Dearest Jesus! As the Apostles, we also wish to accompany You on this way of shedding Blood. A moment ago, we also received Holy Communion with them in the Upper Room. So now, having been fed by the Blessed Sacrament, we have the power from You to participate after the Holy Mass in the events that took place after the Last Supper two thousand years ago. (0:39)
D Dearest Jesus! In the depths of my heart, I ask the question today: how is my faith in this astonishing Eucharistic miracle that consists in Your truly moving me and all of us from the time of our life into Your time, O Jesus, into the time of salvific events? Do I believe? Do I love? Can I consciously be there with You… and with Your Mother Mary… with John the Apostle… and with the women?… A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE (0:44)
D Song: Adoro Te Devote – 1st stanza (0:39)
L Dearest Jesus! I ask my heart today: Can I consciously be during the Transubstantiation and Holy Communion with You and Mary on Golgotha to abide there lovingly with You – in the hours of Your greatest trial? Am I acutely aware that thanks to the Holy Communion, it is not only during the Holy Mass but also after it when the minutes of God’s time of grace – the time of union with You in those events – continue to tick away? Do I believe that in praying after the Holy Mass, I am a true friend to You – a friend who has not forsaken You but faithfully follows You along the path from the Upper Room to the Hill of the Skull, with the three crosses on top of it? (1:13)
B Beloved Jesus! How fervently we desire that the presence of our prayerful community after Mass by Your side – after receiving You in Holy Communion – become from this day forward the most beautiful and complete response to the desire for love of Your Divine Heart, the desire You entrusted to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Behold, You confessed to St. Margaret one day thus: [2] (0:42)
W “I thirst with such a terrible thirst to be loved by men in the Blessed Sacrament that this thirst consumes Me. Yet I find no one trying to quench it according to My desire by some return of My love.” (0:27)
J Is my heart capable of loving You, Dearest Jesus? Am I capable of loving You as You thirst for it? Am I not content today to love You only as my weakness allows? Therefore, I beseech You, O beloved Jesus, assist my weak heart with Your grace so that today, during this adoration, it may beat for You with poignancy. (0:39)
J Song: Adoro Te Devote – 2nd stanza (0:39)
P Dearest Jesus! Now, in rosary contemplation, we will meditate with St. John Paul II [3] on the successive stages of Your way to death. We wish, however, not only to think about what happened two thousand years ago but, above all, to consciously participate piously with You and for You in Your extraordinary saving effort. We go out with You from the Upper Room of the Last Supper, desiring to abide with You, bearing the burden of our guilt. (0:49)
D Dearest Jesus! The time has come when we will meditate in rosary contemplation on the successive stages of Your way to death. We will do it with St. John Paul II. However, we desire to not only think about what happened two thousand years ago but, above all, to consciously participate piously with You and for You in Your extraordinary saving effort. We go out with You from the Upper Room of the Last Supper and desire to persevere to the end on this way with You, who bear the burden of our guilt. (0:50)
Meditations for the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary
(Duration of meditations here: about 20 min.)
Meditation 1.
Lord Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane
(Duration of meditations here: about 3 min.)
L Jesus! In both life and death, You offered Yourself to the Father in complete obedience. In Gethsemane, we see how painful this obedience is: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me. Yet, not as I will, but as You will” (Matt 26:39). At this moment, O Christ, You are experiencing an agony of the soul that is far more painful than the agony of the body. This agony results from the inner conflict between the ‘supreme rationale’ of the Passion contained in God’s plan and the fact that, with the extraordinary sensitivity of Your soul, You realize the enormity of the ugliness of the sin that seems to have fallen upon You – and You became “sin” (i.e., the sacrifice for sin), as St. Paul says (2Cor 5:21), so that in You the atonement for the sins of all may be made. This way, O Jesus, You approach death as the supreme act of obedience: “Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46) – the spirit and the basis of Your human life. (1:35)
B Oh, Jesus! This obedience simultaneously expresses the infinite love that unites the Son with the Father… So obedience means, at the same time, the fullness of love. The absolute fullness of love that not only balances but ultimately outweighs the sin of the world. Therefore, the world is renewed; therefore, the world is redeemed in You, O Jesus Christ! (0:37)
W Beloved Jesus! With the eyes of the flesh, we look over the tabernacle, where we see the whiteness of the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance. With the eyes of the spirit, we penetrate beyond its veil to see You here, truly present in Your human flesh. O beloved Jesus, we believe that we now truly participate in that pain that touches You during Your agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are here with You, O Dearest One! As we pray the Rosary, we remember that we now give our attention above all to You. Yes, we now give our hearts to You, thirsting to console You. Amen. (1:01)
Meditation 2.
Scourging of the Lord Jesus
(Duration of meditations here: about 3 min.)
J “He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity” (Isa 53:3)… O Jesus! You now reveal the whole truth contained in the prophetic words, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” By becoming the “Man of suffering,” You establish a new solidarity of God with the suffering people. O Eternal Son of God united with Him in eternal glory, You do not demand the privileges of earthly glory or freedom from pain, but enter the way of the cross, choosing to suffer not only physically but also morally, which accompany You until death. You do all this out of love for us to show people Your love, atone for their sins, and bring them from distraction to unity. For Your love, O Christ, reflects God’s love for people. (1:26)
P In the face of this mystery, we can say that without Your suffering and death, O Christ, God’s love for humankind would not have appeared in all its depth and greatness. And, on the other hand, suffering and death have become, thanks to You, O Christ, an incentive, a stimulus, a call to love more generously, as has happened in the lives of many saints … and other people, known and unknown, who can sanctify pain by becoming a reflection of the painful face of Christ… (0:52)
D Beloved Jesus! With the eyes of the flesh, we look over the tabernacle, where we see the whiteness of the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance. With the eyes of the spirit, we penetrate beyond its veil to see You here, truly present in Your human flesh. We believe, O beloved Jesus, that we now truly participate in the pain that is inflicted upon You by Pilate’s soldiers as they painfully tore apart Your body during the cruel scourging. We are here with You, O Dearest One! As we pray the Rosary, we remember that we now give our attention above all to You. Yes, we now give our hearts to You, thirsting to console You. Amen. (1:09)
Meditation 3.
The crowning of the Lord Jesus with thorns
(Duration of meditations here: about 3 min.)
L Christ, who suffers, You are – in the words of a modern poet – “the Saint who suffers,” and therefore, Your suffering has an inexpressible depth: You are certainly the most innocent, the most sinless among all Jobs, among all those who suffer without any fault of their own (…). Through such guiltless suffering, O Christ, You redeem the world. The redemptive power of suffering lies in love (…) (0:46)
B To participate in Your scourging, O Christ – means to believe in the saving power of the sacrifice that every suffering person can make with You, the Redeemer. Suffering is then freed from the sense of meaninglessness and gains its creative meaning and dimension. It recedes, as it were, into the background of its devastating power since the mystery of Redemption testifies that suffering bears exceptional fruit (…) (0:42)
W Is this not the answer that humanity is waiting for today? An answer that can only be given by You, O Christ scourged, “the Holy One who suffers,” who can get to the crux of human problems, for You stand by the side of all those who suffer, who ask You to inspire them with new hope. (0:34)
J Beloved Jesus! With the eyes of the flesh, we look over the tabernacle, where we see the whiteness of the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance. With the eyes of the spirit, we penetrate beyond its veil to see You here, truly present in Your human flesh. We believe, O beloved Jesus, that we now truly participate in the pain inflicted upon You by Pilate’s soldiers forcing a crown of thorns upon Your head. We are here with You, O Dearest One! As we pray the Rosary, we remember that we now give our attention above all to You. Yes, we now give our hearts to You, thirsting to console You. Amen. (1:06)
Meditation 4.
The Way of the Cross of the Lord Jesus
(Duration of meditations here: about 3 min.)
P We stand here in the conviction that Your way of the cross, O Son of God, is not simply approaching a place of execution. We believe that Your every step as the Condemned One, Your every gesture, and every word, as well as everything experienced and accomplished by the participants in this drama, constantly speaks to us. Through Your Passion and Death, O Christ, You reveal to us the truth about God and man. (0:43)
D What does it mean to share in Your cross, O Christ? It means to experience in the Holy Spirit that love which Your cross, O Christ, hides within itself. It means to recognize one’s own cross in light of this love. It means in the power of this love to take it up again and again on one’s shoulders and go…. (0:31)
L To go through life, imitating You, who “endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). Thus the cross – a sign of ignominious death, reserved for the lowest category of people – becomes the key. Henceforth, with the help of this key, man will open the doors of the depths of God’s mystery. It is through You, O Christ, accepting the cross, the instrument of Your destruction, that people will learn that God is love. (0:48)
B Beloved Jesus! With the eyes of the flesh, we look over the tabernacle, where we see the whiteness of the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance. With the eyes of the spirit, we penetrate beyond its veil to see You here, truly present in Your human flesh. O beloved Jesus, we believe that we now truly participate in the pain of Your carrying of the Cross. We are here with You, O Dearest One! As we pray the Rosary, we remember that we now give our attention above all to You. Yes, we now give our hearts to You, thirsting to console You. Amen. (1:01)
Meditation 5.
The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross
(Duration of meditations here: about 3 min.)
W The cross means to give your life for your brother in order to save your own life along with his. The cross means that love is more potent than hatred and revenge; it is better to give than to take; commitment is more effective than idle demands. The cross means there is no shattering without hope, darkness without a star, and storm without a safe haven. The cross means that love knows no boundaries; let you begin with those closest to you, and do not forget those farthest away. The cross means that God is more powerful than humans, greater than our fallibility; He is a rescue even in the greatest calamity; life is stronger than death. (1:09)
J We beg You, O crucified Jesus, to remain with the Church, to remain with humanity, not to be dismayed if perhaps many pass indifferently by Your cross… However, perhaps never more than today does a man need this power and this wisdom, which is You, You alone: through Your Cross! So stay with us in this poignant mystery of Your death, in which You revealed how much “God loved the world.” Stay with us and draw us to Yourself. (0:51)
P Beloved Jesus! With the eyes of the flesh, we look over the tabernacle, where we see the whiteness of the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance. With the eyes of the spirit, we penetrate beyond its veil to see You here, truly present in Your human flesh. O beloved Jesus, we believe that we now truly participate in the pain of Your agony on the tree of the Cross. We are here with You, O Dearest One! We are here with You, O Immaculate Mary, standing at the pierced feet of Your Son! As we pray the Rosary, we remember that we now give our attention above all to You, O Christ… above all to You, O Mary. Yes, we now give our hearts to You, thirsting to console You. Amen. (1:13)
Completion of the Holy Rosary
(Duration of meditations here: about 4 min.)
D Song: I Greet You – 1-2 stanza (1:12)
D 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 the Blessed Sacrament, which we received at the Holy Mass, genuinely takes us back to the historical time of Your life, to the Cenacle. For we believe, following St. John Paul II, that when You celebrated the Last Supper in the Upper Room, You simultaneously [4] celebrated in some mysterious way every Holy Mass that Your priests celebrate during their earthly life. (0:54)
L Today, once again in our life, we received from You the grace to participate in that celebration because every Holy Mass is always that Last Supper, which You celebrated on the last night before the way towards death. In our adoration after the Holy Mass today, we received the grace to accompany You in that salvific way also. We have reached Golgotha. From the height of the Cross, You now descend, O our Savior, into the Abyss, into the land of the dead, to come out from among the dead after three days on the morning of the Resurrection. (0:52)
B We believe, O Jesus descending into the Abyss, that You are descending in this hour of grace also into the Abyss of our souls. With profound devotion, we will now abide in prayerful silence for some time to open ourselves to Your voice – the voice of the Good Shepherd (cf. John 10:1-18; Heb 13:20), who calls His sheep by name, lovingly addresses each of us, and leads us out of the shackles of the Abyss, and leads us towards the Resurrection. Jesus, the Beloved Shepherd, we now await Your word in the depths of our souls. We await for the Holy Spirit. Amen. A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE (1:00)
Adoration during the glory time
of the Risen Lord Jesus
(Duration of meditations here: about 43 min.)
W Song: Winner of Death – 1-2 stanza (1:42)
W Dearest Jesus! Through the following moments of our adoration, we wish to reflect on the content of the words You spoke to the disciples, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8) What do these words mean? Do they have any relation to our prayer after the Holy Mass? Behold, we abide in the sacramental space of Your loving presence with us and for us. Behold, we are with You and for You. We abide in the time of grace in prayer, gathered in the Upper Room of our parish church. Following the example of the Apostles and the first Christian communities, we abide in prayer after the Eucharist (cf. 1Cor 11-12). We are here together, spiritually focused, looking forward to a new phase of our meeting. We are here, eager to open our eyes to what is now taking place: You come to us as the Risen Lord of glory. You come out of the Abyss, having defeated its hitherto ruler – the Devil. You come out at the dawn of a new day, having victoriously passed through the darkness of the Abyss of our hearts. (1:49)
J Jesus! In order to understand the miraculous truth of our real participation in Your return from the Abyss to the Upper Room, in order to comprehend this miracle in which we participate by virtue of the Memorial Sacrifice – the Eucharistic Sacrifice – we will now read a passage from the Book of Numbers, which, during our adoration, will gradually show its full depth. In the tenth chapter of this Book, its holy author recorded a particular command given by God to the Israelites after the covenant was made on Mount Sinai. Here, God commands that a special kind of sacrifice – a memorial offering – be offered to Him before they go into the battle. (1:02)
P As we will hear in a moment, the purpose of this unique sacrifice, the memorial offering, is to gain victory over the enemy. The giver of victory will be God Himself, who, remembering the memorial offering made – will successfully lead the fighting men through mortal dangers and ensure their return to where the memorial offering was made and from where they set out. Yet here are the words from the Book of Numbers: (0:42)
D When in your own land you go to war against an enemy that is attacking you, you shall sound the alarm on the trumpets, and the Lord, your God, will remember you and save you from your foes. On your days of celebration, your festivals, and your new-moon feasts, you shall blow the trumpets over your holocausts and your peace offerings; this will serve as a reminder of you before your God. I, the Lord, am your God.” (Num 10:9-10) Beloved Jesus! You came out victorious from the battle that You preceded by offering the Memorial Sacrifice in the Upper Room. To You, we sing a song of praise. (1:01)
D Song: The Lord of life knows not death – 1-2 stanza (1:04)
L Beloved Jesus! Now, at the dawn of a new time, You come to us, having victoriously passed the darkness of the Abyss of our hearts. You are the true ruler, the Lord of life and death. You are our Lord! You come to us with the desire to bestow Your presence upon us. You come in the power of the Holy Spirit with the desire to bestow upon us His presence with His different gifts… It is an extraordinary gift – the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of His presence in the hearts of believers. We do not always realize how costly this gift is. So we ask the Holy Spirit to descend upon us. (1:02)
L Song: Come Holy Spirit – 1-2 stanza (1:04)
B Dearest Savior! We do not fully realize how costly the gift of the Holy Spirit is. It is costly because our hearts are not eager to open to Him. Behold, some mysterious heaviness of our hearts became why You had to pay a high price for the gift of the Spirit. You paid; yes, you paid for our ability to receive the Holy Spirit… you paid for the openness of our hearts. The price is extremely high. The price, after all, is Your Sacrifice, made on the Cross, on the Hill of the Skull. The price is Your love, capable of making the supreme sacrifice for the sake of us – Your beloved ones… (1:06)
B Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 1-2 stanza (1:40)
W O Jesus! To this poignant, saving presence, now we open our hearts, aware that we need the gift of holiness, the gift from on High. We need from You, O Almighty God, the gift of new hearts, the gift of enlightened eyes, the gift of love for You… Oh, how much we need the gift of love awaiting You, the love capable of abiding in the prayer of waiting for You after the Eucharist is over… (0:44)
W Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 3-4 stanza (1:40)
J Jesus! St. Luke cites in the Gospel Your parable of the unjust judge. This judge had been refusing to help the poor widow but was inclined in the end to do so due to her importunity. We read further that You, O Beloved, confessed, starting from this example, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:7–8) (0:56)
P “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones? … But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” With these words, O Jesus, you show us the way to happiness. Behold, to fully open our hearts to the transforming, saving presence of the Holy Spirit, we must abide in prayer – in fervent prayer. It is necessary for us, above all, to be able to discern the time of Your coming. Yes, we must gain wisdom of heart, the ability to discern the time of grace – the time when You come to take us into Your defense, strengthen us for the struggle, and bestow the Holy Spirit upon us. (1:09)
P Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 5-6 stanza (1:40)
D “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Dearest Jesus! A particular time when we need this fervor of prayer is the time of celebrating the Eucharist with the time of prayer that follows it. It is a time when we store the sacramental species in the bowels of our bodies and when simultaneously You, O Jesus, powerfully enliven our spirit in a way imperceptible to the senses. Unfortunately, we rarely pay attention to the extraordinariness of this very time – the time of storing the sacramental species in ourselves. We got used to doing so, even though it is not difficult for a man to perceive that each of us then becomes like a living tabernacle, storing a priceless treasure – the Blessed Sacrament… (1:14)
D Song: The Hidden Jesus – 1-2 stanza (1:46)
L “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones? … But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Beloved Jesus! We do not always remember that the moment the priest gives us You in Holy Communion, an extraordinary time of grace begins. We do not always want to remember that this time does not end at the end of the Holy Mass, but later – at the difficult-to-know moment of the complete digestion of the sacramental species… Why, then, don’t we plan our days always to have time for You when You are so close as at no other time? – this is the secret of our spiritual sluggishness, a sad secret… However, does it have to be like this?… Jesus, help!… Holy Spirit, rebuild love in us… (1:21)
L Song: Veni Creator Spiritus – 1-2 stanza (0:40)
B Most beloved Savior! When we store sacramental figures in our bowels, we are in the closest union of love with You – this is when the time of grace, a time of especially intense encounter, strikes the clock of our lives. Unfortunately, we do not always remember this; we do not always want to imitate the saints in this regard. We do not remember that St. Padre Pio was endowed with many spiritual gifts because he lasted an hour / an hour and a half in prayer after the Holy Mass. Similarly, St. Charbel, a hermit from Lebanon, known after his death as an extraordinary miracle worker, prayed for two hours. And we? (1:04).
B Song: Veni Creator Spiritus – 3-4 stanza (0:40)
W Beloved Jesus! A special grounding for the extraordinariness of the time of storage of sacramental species in ourselves is the biblical concept of “reminder.” To understand this, we must go back in memory to the Last Supper. Behold, then, at the Transubstantiation of the bread into Your Body and the wine into Your Blood, You spoke to the Apostles: “Do this into My reminder.” With these words, You defined the essential meaning of this miraculous sacramental Transubstantiation and the purpose of receiving this extraordinary Food, viz Your Body and Your Blood, viz You Yourself, physically present in flesh and blood under the Eucharistic species. So, how is this “reminder” related to Your presence and coming to us? (1:14)
W Song: The Hidden Jesus – 3rd stanza (0:53)
J “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones? … But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” We ask, O Jesus, how, then, does this “reminder” relate to Your physical presence, to Your coming to us after the passage of the Abyss, to Your coming after the victory gained over the devil as the hitherto ruler of the Abyss? Behold, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul, citing Your command to receive Holy Communion as Your Memorial Sacrifice, explained it thus: “For as often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes” (11:26). (1:06)
P Dear Jesus! Before leaving the Upper Room, You offered the Memorial Sacrifice to the Father and commanded the Apostles to consume it as Your Memorial Sacrifice. The Apostle Paul explained the meaning of this command by referring to a religious-military custom common at the time, which required that a memorial offering be made before battle, the offering by which God would remember the offerer during battle and come to his aid. So when You came out of the Upper Room to fight the battle for eternal life against the devil, it was the Heavenly Father as God who intervened precisely on Your behalf, O Jesus: The Father granted You victory during Your battle in the Abyss, during Your passage through its darkness. The Letter to the Hebrews puts it this way (13:20), “The God of peace … brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord” (1:32)
P Song: O Lord You are my shepherd – 1-2 stanza (1:12)
D O beloved Savior! We believe, instructed by the teachings of the Church, that You perform the work of salvation as a Man, viz solely based on Your human capabilities – those which God endows human nature. [5] Since our human nature is weaker than the nature of fallen spirit, Your victory over the devil was only possible as a gift from the Father, who remembered You during Your struggle for rule over the Abyss. Yes, we believe that the Father gave You, O Jesus, victory over the devil and a happy exit from the Abyss. He did it because He remembered Your Memorial Sacrifice – that Sacrifice You offered in the Upper Room before going out to fight against the devil. You offered this Sacrifice among the Apostles and not only the Apostles. Namely, You celebrated it among all Your disciples belonging to different points of historical time in a means that is realistic though impossible to comprehend. They all are participants of the Last Supper when they participate in the Holy Mass celebrated in their historical time. (1:33)
L “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones? … But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Beloved Savior! In every Holy Mass, we are carried back to a historical time from two thousand years ago. In every Holy Mass, therefore, we become witnesses to that offering “in Your reminder” which You made in the Upper Room before going into mortal battle against the ruler of the Abyss. In every Holy Mass, we are truly in the Upper Room, so that there, together with the Apostles, we hear the words: “Do this into My reminder.” What does this mean in light of the words of explanation given by St. Paul? (1:04)
L Song: O the Silent White Host – 1-2 stanza (2:12)
B Beloved Jesus! In every Holy Mass, we are truly in the Upper Room, so that there, together with the Apostles, we hear the words: “Do this into My reminder.” What does this mean in light of the words of explanation given by St. Paul? It means that all of us, consuming the Blessed Sacrament, become co-sacrificers with You – with You, we offer a memorial sacrifice to the Father. It means, therefore, that we pray together with You to the Father that He will lead You victoriously through the time of dying, through the very soon time of Your passing through the Abyss. (0:55)
B Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 1st stanza (0:43)
W Beloved Jesus! In every Holy Mass, we are truly in the Upper Room. Being together with You in the Upper Room, we ask the Father that He will lead You victoriously through the very soon time of Your passing through the Abyss. Furthermore, in asking thus, we are aware that whenever we eat this Bread and drink from this Chalice, we proclaim Your death, O Lord, until You come, until You come out of the Abyss and come to us as the Risen Lord, the giver of the Holy Spirit. (0:48)
W Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 2nd stanza (0:43)
J Beloved Jesus! Each time we eat Holy Communion, we confess that now, with You, we offer the Reminder Sacrifice to the Father. Our act of offering consists of eating the Bread and the Wine and burning them in our bowels. We do this after receiving the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood, viz You Yourself in the reality of Your dying and passing through the Abyss, i.e., fighting the life-and-death battle against the devil. According to St. Paul’s explanation, simultaneously with our eating/offering, we confess that You will soon return to us, to the Upper Room. You will come to us through the power given by the Father – the Father remembers You during Your struggle because the Reminder Sacrifice was offered before His Face by You and by all gathered in the Upper Room. Because of this, in receiving You in Holy Communion, we confess in faith that You are passing through death to return to us soon. (1:30)
J Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 3rd stanza (0:43)
P Beloved Jesus! When we received You in Holy Communion near the end of the Mass, we started to confess in faith immediately after the Mass ended that You are passing through death at this moment to return to us soon. Therefore, we decided to wait here for You until You victoriously passed through the Abyss and came to us – here, to the Upper Room, from whence You came out. Now we must confess: here You are, O beloved Jesus! You have returned to us, and here we are with You, O dearest Savior! With all our hearts, we thank You for the gift of Your presence. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank You for bestowing us the grace to endure in prayer. We thank You from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us to answer “Yes” joyfully to Your question, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones? … But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” To You, we sing the song of love… (1:26)
P Song: O Unspeakable Happiness Shone Forth – 1st stanza (0:55)
D Beloved Jesus! Now, until the Jasna Góra Appeal, we will remain in the silence of our hearts to listen to Your voice. Amen. (0:13)
[2] Letter No. 133a of St. Margaret Mary to Father Croiset, 3 November 1689.
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