Dr. Wojciech Kosek
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Meditations led by six people:
B, G, M – women; P, W, Z – men.
This translation was published here on 19 Dec 2023.
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(Duration of meditations with songs: about 52 min.)
Introduction
W Beloved Savior, Jesus Christ! Obedient to the call of our hearts, thirsting to be with You, we attended the Holy Mass. We know that the Holy Mass is an invaluable gift of Your love to each of us. Love is thirsty for the presence of the Beloved… Love is not satisfied by a hurried exchange of sentences or glances. Love wants abiding…, gazing into the eyes, listening to the voice, breathing the presence of the One who assures it about the reciprocation of heartfelt intimacy. That is why we are here. Moreover, above all, what is important is that You are here with us. You are because You love us. (1:05)
B Jesus! According to the custom of our Thursday adorations, first we are on the prayer with You in Gethsemane. We are there with You by the power of our sacramental union in Holy Communion. We are there so that You are not alone when You suffer, crushed by thoughts of human weaknesses and sins, frigidity towards God and His love. When You are doused in the bloody sweat of grief and sorrow, we desire in the spirit of this union to gaze upon You and get to know this very anguish we caused. We want to comfort You not so much with words but with the transformation of our hearts. After all, we are counting on Your grace, which is capable now, during our Eucharistic union, of making us new people who love You as You Yourself desire. (0:53)
B Song: Garden of Olives – 1st stanza (0:40)
Z Jesus! We desire to console You not so much with words but with the transformation of our hearts. After all, we count on Your grace, capable right now, at the time of our Eucharistic union, of making us new people, loving You as You Yourself desire. Reciting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we will now be close to You in Gethsemane. In the dozens that follow, we will follow You on the way that leads to new life through suffering and Death. A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE Our Father…, Hail Mary…, I believe in God… (0:56)
Meditation 1.
Lord Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane
Z Song: Garden of Olives – 2nd stanza (0:40)
M Jesus dearest! Behold, our meeting with You during the Holy Mass has come to an end. However, we remained in the temple to extend the time of love and to once again attempt to open our hearts more fully to an extraordinary gift… What gift is that? – The gift of Your sacramental, intimate presence with each of us who have received You in Holy Communion. We are aware that every gift, and even more so the gift of Your presence, requires gratitude to the Giver. (0:51)
P Every gift, and even more so the gift of Your presence, requires gratitude… For otherwise – when we, as the recipients, do not respond with an appreciative heart to the signs of Your extraordinary kindness – our bonds with You not only fail to strengthen but begin to weaken and, in time, turn into anguish for You. If we are frigid at the time of greatest bestowal, then You suffer the most at that time, O Beloved! Jesus, what is my love for You?… (0:51)
G A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the first ten of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, we unite with You, kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane before the Face of the Father. (0:20)
Meditation 2.
Scourging of the Lord Jesus
W Song: Let us Love the Lord – 1st stanza (0:42)
W O Dearest Jesus, O Jesus scourged by Pilate’s soldiers! Or maybe not only by soldiers? Maybe I also inflict pain on You, O Beloved… How is it, after all, that You come with a loving heart and a thirst for love and receive so little from me… Maybe it is a few words of a recited prayer and added at the end, “Bye, I am running because they are waiting for me!” O Jesus, we are too hasty to leave the Eucharistic time of love… We have too little time for You, so You cannot be happy in Your loving relationship with us. (0:58)
B We have too little time for You after the Eucharist… After all, You come from far away to this meeting, paying dearly with Your blood for such an opportunity to see us… Yes, You come from Jerusalem, from the 33rd year of the Christian era. You paid for such an opportunity with Your own life, given out of love for us in the extremely painful situation of a convict, accused of blasphemy against God, of sowing confusion among the People… And me… how do I pay for the opportunity to participate in the Eucharist? Am I able to forgive, as You forgive me?…. (0:56)
Z A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the second tenth of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, who accept the punishment of scourging for our intentions with humble obedience to the Father’s Will. (0:23)
Meditation 3.
The crowning of the Lord Jesus with thorns
Z Song: Adoro Te Devote – 1st stanza (0:42)
M Jesus, our Eucharist! You come from Jerusalem, from the 33rd year of the Christian era. The payment for this opportunity to meet with us is Your life, which You gave out of love for us in the extremely painful situation of a convict… You were accused of blasphemy against God and killed… It is an extremely high price… You love us so much… And me?… how do I pay for this opportunity to meet with You in the Eucharist? Do I treasure this time… Do I see with the eyes of the spirit You, thirsty for love… my love?… (0:52)
P I see You today with the eyes of the spirit, Jesus crowned with thorns… However, do I always see the value of the time of Your close bridal presence? Do we as a community have good spiritual sight? Lord…, probably not… Behold, it is usually the case that we barely touch the Bread of Your love with our lips… barely having passed a few moments, we already move away with haste, demanding from You forbearance for our hustle… Our thoughts move away from You; our attention is focused on someone else, and our heart no longer beats whole for You… We do this daily and think it should be enough for You since it is enough for us… (1:05)
G A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the third tenth of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves to You, who accept with humble obedience to the Will of the Father the cruelty of crowning with thorns for our intentions. (0:24)
Meditation 4.
The Way of the Cross of the Lord Jesus
W Song: Here in this Sacrament – 1st stanza (0:31)
W Lord Jesus! We look at the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance and know You are here with us. You are the One who is God and was born as a Man of the Blessed Virgin Mary two thousand years ago. How extraordinary it is that we are so close to You, God! Moreover, we look into our hearts with the eyes of the spirit and are getting to know that You are even closer to us than You in the Sacred Host in the golden monstrance. Each of us is genuinely very close to You… O Jesus, my Jesus… O my Beloved! How You long for the loving sigh of my heart… I love You… I love You very much… (0:59)
B Jesus, Jesus, beloved Jesus… Behold, now we bear together the cross of our commitment to Your work of changing me into a holy man, indeed conformed to the Holy God… Behold, now is truly a wonderful time of our mutual love, of our union in sacramental, whole love, in the love that creates me, transforms me, conforms me to You… O Jesus! This time is a time of grace, a time of my growth toward the fullness of humanity, a time in which You carry me toward a more Divine life. It is a pity that I too often do not remember this… Today, I want to change that. (1:04)
Z A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the fourth tenth of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, who are undertaking with humble obedience to the Father’s Will 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)
M “It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon 45 because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. 46 Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit”; and when He had said this He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:44-46) A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE Dearest Jesus! With Mary, I participate in the heartbreaking drama of Your dying on the cross at Calvary… You love me very much, and that is why You have hidden in the Blessed Sacrament not only Yourself but also the mysterious possibility of mine truly participating in Your life and Your dying… (1:05)
P Jesus, my Jesus! You know the degree of my faith in the sacramental presence with You, giving Your life at Calvary. Am I with You, O Beloved Jesus?… Do I desire with all my heart to be with You when You are suffering so much?… (0:25)
G Sister Faustina noted in her Diary: “… my spirit was snatched up into the mysterious bosom of God and I saw what determines the greatness of a soul and what is of value in the sight of God: it is love, love, and once again love. … Happy is the soul that can love without reservation, for in that is its greatness.” (Faustina’s Diary, No. 997) (0:31)
W A MOMENT OF SILENCE Beloved Jesus! As we recite the fifth tenth of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we unite ourselves with You, who are giving up Your life with humble obedience to the Will of the Father to save us from eternal death. (0:24)
The prayer after the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
G Jesus! We desire, with Your help in this time of grace, which now, by the power of our sacramental proximity, is given to us by You, to prepare ourselves for profound encounters with You during the Holy Mass and the prayer immediately following it in the following days of our lives. Please breathe the Holy Spirit into our hearts and minds, so that by His power we may gain a new quality of love for You! (0:44)
Z Song: Come Holy Spirit – 1st stanza (0:32)
Z Jesus! We will now listen with You to the text from the Book of Song of Songs. This fragment is composed of two parts. In the first part, we will hear a beautiful dialogue of the man and woman in love who are not yet married. In light of the words coming from the bride’s heart, one gets the impression that her love for her bridegroom is mature, deep, and constant. Jesus the beloved! The lovers’ conversation from the Song of Songs is an example, given by the Holy Spirit, of the dialogue each of us can have with You when we approach the priest giving Holy Communion. (1:00)
B Song: Here in this Sacrament – 2nd stanza (0:31)
B The bride: (Song 4:16): “Arise, north wind! Come, south wind! blow upon my garden that its perfumes may spread abroad. Let my lover come to his garden and eat its choice fruits.” (0:23)
P Bridegroom: (Song 5:1): “I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh and my spices, I eat my honey and my sweetmeats, I drink my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; drink! Drink freely of love!” (0:26)
G Jesus! Invited by the bride, You come as the Bridegroom with Your friends, that is, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and probably also with Immaculate Mary, with the saints, and with the angels, in order to savor a time of joy in the garden of the chosen one, of quiet conversation at a table set with food and drinks, of rest in her company. Therefore, You say thus: “Eat, friends; drink! Drink freely of love!” This idyllic scenery, outlined by the author of the Song, illustrates – as we will soon see – only the bride’s idea of her great love for the Bridegroom. (1:01)
W Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 1st stanza (0:50)
Z In the fragment that now follows, the invited Bridegroom does arrive in the garden of his chosen one and, standing at the door of her home, announces that he is. Her response to his voice, however, is surprising. The truth about the gradual development of her love is revealed here – love must pass from the stage of imagination to maturity. Let us listen… (0:43)
B The bride: ² I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil; I heard my lover knocking. (0:09)
P The bridegroom: “Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the moisture of the night.” (0:17)
B The bride: ³ I have taken off my robe, am I then to put it on? I have bathed my feet, am I then to soil them? 4 My lover put his hand through the opening; my heart trembled within me, and I grew faint when he spoke. 5 I rose to open to my lover, with my hands dripping myrrh: With my fingers dripping choice myrrh upon the fittings of the lock. 6 I opened to my lover—but my lover had departed, gone. I sought him but I did not find him; I called to him but he did not answer me. 7 The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city; They struck me, and wounded me, and took my mantle from me, the guardians of the walls. 8 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my lover—What shall you tell him?—that I am faint with love. (1:18)
B Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 2nd stanza (0:50)
M The bride’s love is subject to hesitation, not allowing her to receive the Beloved then, when he, responding to her beautiful invitation, came from afar, entered her garden, and, traversing the distance separating him from her home, finally stood at her door! The bridegroom, with a beating heart, speaks from the door of his chosen one, and she hesitates whether it is worth accepting him now… (0:40)
P Song: The Hidden Jesus – 1st stanza (0:53)
P The bride’s love is subject to hesitation… However, when she finally overcomes her inner heaviness and runs to open the door to Him, she no longer finds Him there… He is now physically somewhere else… The suffering the bride experiences is immense – so near was the One she loves. It remains for her to sing to Him again the song of love, asking Him to come… (0:35)
G Song: The Hidden Jesus – 2nd stanza (0:53)
G O Beloved Lord Jesus! Each of us is similar to the bride from the Song of Songs. Here we are, almost every day, planning to attend the Holy Mass, and through this, we invite You-Bridegroom to ourselves, to a house nestled in a garden. As the sacred celebration begins, You enter the garden of our souls with thankful love. As the liturgical action progresses, Your closeness becomes more and more intense. (0:45)
Z Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 3rd stanza (0:50)
Z For behold, first, we hear Your voice in the liturgy of the word – in the Scripture readings and the homily. Then comes the liturgy of the Sacrifice: Transubstantiation and Holy Communion are the pinnacle of bestowal. You are now standing at the door of my house in the garden, standing and gently knocking. You desire to enter to enjoy an encounter with the one who loves You… From inside the house, however, there is no answer… The deafening silence is the only witness to Your, O Jesus, love and longing for Your bride… You leave with a heart filled with pain… (0:58)
W Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 4th stanza (0:50)
W Why, O Jesus, do You have to leave without deep and long encountering the one You love and who professed to love You? You must leave because almost immediately after the distribution of Holy Communion, the Mass ends, the priests take off their liturgical vestments, and it seems that this is the end of the encounter with You. You speak with love to the Bride: (0:32)
W You speak with love to the Bride (0:05)
P The bridegroom: “Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the moisture of the night.” (0:17)
W And to Your voice, she answers: (0:05)
P The bride: I have taken off my robe, am I then to put it on? I have bathed my feet, am I then to soil them? (0:12)
G Jesus, how often this happens in our lives, too! The celebration is over; the robe is taken off, feet washed, no time for You now… Later, when the bride has already decided to start up and run to the door, having regained the inner ability to meet with You – this happens when she begins prayer at a time far from the end of the Holy Mass – she no longer finds You there, physically present in body and blood, present in such a way for her… (0:49)
G Song: The Hidden Jesus – 3rd stanza (0:53)
W Jesus! The time of Your sacramental, physical, extremely close expectation for love lasts only as long as the sacramental species of the Eucharistic Food last in the bowels of the chosen one. Moreover, by God’s will, they are not imperishable; they are pretty quickly digested… Thus, if the bride does not want to pray immediately after the Holy Mass, she still does not feel chosen and loved – she has no inner power to unite with You fully… Is not this why so many leave the Church… is not this why so many abandon their sacred vows?… (0:59)
W Song: O Unspeakable Happiness Shone Forth – 1st stanza (0:53)
B However, it can be the other way around: when You, O Jesus, invited into the home’s interior, find the chosen one’s love and openness to intimately be with You precisely when You have physically arrived and are there for her. In such a situation, Your physical presence does not end in the moment when the Sacred Host is digested. It lasts as long as that person’s particularly intense time of loving you, a time of God’s grace and responding to it, a time for which the Bible found a unique word in Greek: kairos. (0:56)
B Song: O Unspeakable Happiness Shone Forth – 2nd stanza (0:53)
Z St. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament wrote about it this way, “Today, I understood a lot of God’s mysteries. I learned that Holy Communion lasts in me until my next Communion. God’s living and palpable presence persists in my soul; the awareness of this keeps me in profound recollection, without the slightest effort on my part… My heart is a living tabernacle in which the live Host is kept. I have never looked for God somewhere out there, far away, but in my own interior; it is in the depths of my being that I abide with my God.” (Faustina’s Diary, No. 1302) (0:56)
Z Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 1st stanza (0:43)
M It is worth taking up a reflection: does my repeated reception of Jesus in Holy Communion not resemble the story from the Song of Songs? Do I not run immediately after the end of the Holy Mass to other people, leaving the invited Jesus in front of a closed door? However, it may be otherwise: it is enough to arrange one’s schedule in such a way that one always has time after the Holy Mass to feast with the physical – in Body and Blood – coming Bridegroom, to meet in the interior of one’s soul’s home or more broadly in the prayer community. (1:00)
P Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 2nd stanza (0:43)
P It is enough for a man not to immediately throw off the dress in which he receives the Holy Drink and Food. It is enough to remain in the robe of waiting to respond to the Bridegroom’s voice by immediately standing at the wide open door… Is it not worth feasting in such a company? Is it not worth being the chosen one whose presence is a delight for Jesus, the Almighty Lord of history? (0:42)
G Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 3rd stanza (0:43)
G How wonderful is the love You bestow upon us, O Jesus! How wonderful is the love You experienced in the heart of Saint Faustina! How wonderful is the love You also thirst to experience in our hearts! And we? And we are still on the way to that love; we still seek strength from You to love You more and more fully… (0:36)
W Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 4th stanza (0:43)
W Jesus! Sister Faustina recorded in her Diary (No. 1385) the words with which You showed her how much You desire to come into people’s hearts. You spoke these words immediately after coming to her in Holy Communion: (0:23)
B “I want to unite with human souls; it is my delight to unite with souls. Know this, My daughter, that whenever I come into a human heart in Holy Communion, My arms are full of all manner of graces and I want to give them to the soul, but some souls do not even pay any attention to Me, they leave Me on My own and are busy with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls have not recognised Love. They treat Me like an inanimate object.” (0:44)
Z I answered Jesus, “O Treasure of my heart, the only object of my heart, delight of my soul, I want to worship You in my heart, just as You are worshipped on Your throne of eternal glory. My love wants to recompense You [30] at least in part for the coldness of such a large number of souls. O Jesus, here is my heart, a dwelling for You and You alone, to which nothing else has access, You alone may rest in it as in a beautiful garden.” (0:47)
Z Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 5th stanza (0:43)
M Jesus! You desire love… You desire a response to the love with which You come to each person at the moment of Holy Communion. However, how often it is not the love desiring to meet the Bridegroom but the callousness that welcomes You into the threshold of human hearts! Jesus, You know that not only Your love suffers humiliation in this moment but also a person with such a heart does not live the fullness of his humanity. Probably, many believers, once they come to the end of their life, will remember with sadness their hastily concluded Eucharistic meetings… (0:44)
P Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 6th stanza (0:43)
P Jesus! What will satisfy the longing of souls for God, the longing for union with Love… Is it not true that every woman and every man thirsts for true love?… Despite this, it is a tiny group of those who have discovered the extraordinary opportunity to unite with Divine Love during Mass and Holy Communion, and even smaller those who love You, physically present in them still after the liturgy is over… Isn’t it worth discovering when the time of love strikes on the clock of life?… (0:55)
The end of meditations
Isn’t it worth discovering when the time of love strikes on the clock of life?…