| Speak
to me now as you would to your dearest friend. Tell me all
that now fills your mind and heart. Are there any you wish
to commend to me? Tell me their names, and tell me what
you wish me to do for them. Do not fear; ask for much; I
love generous hearts which, forgetting themselves, wish
well to others.
Speak
to me of the poor you wish to comfort; tell me of the sick
that you wish to see relieved. Ask of me something for those
who have been unkind to you, or who have crossed you. Ask
much for them all; commend them with all your heart to me.
Ask
me many graces for yourself. Are there not many you would
wish to name that would make you happier to yourself, more
useful and pleasing to others, more worthy of the love of
me? Tell me the whole list of the favors you want of me.
Tell me them with humility, knowing how poor you are without
them, how unable to gain them by yourself; ask for them
with much love, and that they may make you more pleasing
to me.
With
all a child's simplicity, tell me how self-seeking you are,
how proud, vain, irritable, how cowardly in sacrifice, how
lazy in work, uncertain in your good resolutions, and then
ask me to bless and crown your efforts. Poor child, fear
not, blush not at the sight of so many failings; there are
saints in heaven who had the faults you have; they came
to me lovingly, they prayed earnestly to me, and my grace
has made them good and holy in my sight.
You
should be mine, body and soul; fear not, therefore, to ask
of me gifts of body and mind, health, judgment, memory and
success-ask for them for my sake; that God may be glorified
in all things. I can grant everything, and never refuse
to give what may make a soul dearer to me and better able
to fulfill the will of God.
Have
you no plans for the future which occupy, perhaps distress,
your mind? Tell me your hopes, your fears. Is it about:
- your
future state?
- your
position among my creatures?
- some
good you wish to bring to others?
In what
shall I help and bless your good will?
And
for me you must have-have you not-some zeal, some wish to
do good to the souls of others. Some, perhaps, who love
and care for you, have ceased almost to know or care for
me. Shall I give you strength, wisdom and tact, to bring
these poor ones close to my heart again? Have you failed
in the past? Tell me how you acted. I will help you and
will guide you to lead others to me.
And
what crosses have you, my child? Have they been many and
heavy ones? Has someone:
- caused
you pain?
- wounded
your self-love?
- slighted
you?
- injured
you?
Lay
your head upon my breast, and tell me how you suffered.
Have you felt that some have been ungrateful to you and
unfeeling toward you? Tell me all, and in the warmth of
my heart you will find strength to forgive and even to forget
that they have ever wished you pain.
And
what fears have you? My providence shall comfort you; my
love sustain you. I am never away from you, never can abandon
you. Are some growing cold in the interest and love they
had for you? Pray to me for them; I will restore them to
you if it be better for you and your sanctification.
Have
you not some happiness to make known to me? What has happened
since you came to me last, to console you, to gladden and
give you joy? What was it, a:
- mark
of true friendship you received?
- success
unexpected and almost un-hoped for?
- feat
suddenly taken away from you?
And
did you not remember the while, that in all it was my will,
my love that brought all that your heart has been so glad
to have? It was my hand, my dear child, that guided and
prepared all for you. Look to me now, my child, and say,
"Dear Jesus, I thank you."
You
will soon leave me now; what promises can you make me? Let
them be sincere ones, humble ones, full of love and desire
to please me. Tell me how carefully you will avoid the occasions
of sin, drive from you all that leads to harm, and shun
the world-the great deceiver of souls.
Promise
me to be kind to the poor; loving for my sake to friends;
forgiving to your enemies, and charitable to all, not in
word alone and actions, but in your very thaough5ts. When
you have little love for your neighbors, whom you see, you
are forgetting me who am hidden from you.
Love
all my saints; seek the help of your holy patrons. I love
to glorify them by giving you much through them. Love, above
all, my own sweet glorious Mother-she is your Mother; O,
love her, speak to her often, and she will bring you to
me, and for her sake I will love and bless you more each
day.
|
| Prayer
to Jesus the Redeemer
O Jesus,
Son of the living God, my savior and redeemer, behold me
prostrate at thy feet. I beg pardon and make this act of
reparation for all the blasphemies uttered against thy holy
name, for all the outages committed against thee in the
most holy sacrament of the altar, for all irreverence shown
to thy most blessed and immaculate mother, and for all the
calumnies spoken against thy spouse, our holy mother the
Catholic Church. O Jesus, who didst say, "Whatever
you shall ask the Father in my name that I will do."
I pray and beseech thee for our brethren who are living
in danger of sin, that thou wouldst preserve them from the
seductions of apostasy. Save them who stand over the abyss;
give them light and knowledge of the truth, power and strength
in the conflict against evil, and perseverance in faith
and active charity. And therefore, most merciful Jesus,
do I pray to the father in thy name, with whom thou livest
and reignest in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without
end. Amen. |
