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Before Holy Communion
266. 1) Place yourself humbly in the presence of God.
2) Renounce your corrupt nature and dispositions, no
matter how good self-love makes them appear to you.
3) Renew your consecration saying, "I belong entirely to
you, dear Mother, and all that I have is yours."
4) Implore Mary to lend you her heart so that you may
receive her Son with her dispositions. Remind her that her
Son's glory requires that he should not come into a heart so
sullied and fickle as your own, which could not fail to
diminish his glory and might cause him to leave. Tell her that
if she will take up her abode in you to receive her Son -which she can do because of the sovereignty she has over all
hearts - he will be received by her in a perfect manner
without danger of being affronted or being forced to
depart."God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved."
Tell her with confidence that all you have given her of
your possessions is little enough to honour her, but that in
Holy Communion you wish to give her the same gifts as the
eternal Father gave her. Thus she will feel more honoured than
if you gave her all the wealth in the world. Tell her,
finally, that Jesus, whose love for her is unique, still
wishes to take his delight and his repose in her even in your
soul, even though it is poorer and less clean than the stable
which he readily entered because she was there. Beg her to
lend you her heart, saying, "O Mary, I take you for my all;
give me your heart."
During Holy Communion
267. After the Our Father, when you are about to receive our
Lord, say to him three times the prayer, "Lord, I am not
worthy." Say it the first time as if you were telling the
eternal Father that because of your evil thoughts and your
ingratitude to such a good Father, you are unworthy to receive
his only-begotten Son, but that here is Mary, his handmaid,
who acts for you and whose presence gives you a special
confidence and hope in him.
268. Say to God the Son, "Lord, I am not worthy", meaning that
you are not worthy to receive him because of your useless and
evil words and your carelessness in his service, but
nevertheless you ask him to have pity on you because you are
going to usher him into the house of his Mother and yours, and
you will not let him go until he has made it his home. Implore
him to rise and come to the place of his repose and the ark of
his sanctification. Tell him that you have no faith in your
own merits, strength and preparedness, like Esau, but only in
Mary, your Mother, just as Jacob had trust in Rebecca his
mother. Tell him that although you are a great sinner you
still presume to approach him, supported by his holy Mother
and adorned with her merits and virtues.
269. Say to the Holy Spirit, "Lord, I am not worthy". Tell him
that you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of his love
because of your lukewarmness, wickedness and resistance to his
inspirations. But, nonetheless, you put all your confidence in
Mary, his faithful Spouse, and say with St. Bernard, "She is
my greatest safeguard, the whole foundation of my hope." Beg
him to overshadow Mary, his inseparable Spouse, once again.
Her womb is as pure and her heart as ardent as ever. Tell him
that if he does not enter your soul neither Jesus nor Mary
will be formed there nor will it be a worthy dwelling for
them.
After Holy Communion
270. After Holy Communion, close your eyes and recollect
yourself. Then usher Jesus into the heart of Mary: you are
giving him to his Mother who will receive him with great love
and give him the place of honour, adore him profoundly, show
him perfect love, embrace him intimately in spirit and in
truth, and perform many offices for him of which we, in our
ignorance, would know nothing.
271. Or, maintain a profoundly humble heart in the presence of
Jesus dwelling in Mary. Or be in attendance like a slave at
the gate of the royal palace, where the King is speaking with
the Queen. While they are talking to each other, with no need
of you, go in spirit to heaven and to the whole world, and
call upon all creatures to thank, adore and love Jesus and
Mary for you. "Come, let us adore."
272. Or, ask Jesus living in Mary that his kingdom may come
upon earth through his holy Mother. Ask for divine Wisdom,
divine love, the forgiveness of your sins, or any other grace,
but always through Mary and in Mary. Cast a look of reproach
upon yourself and say, "Lord, do not look at my sins, let your
eyes see nothing in me but the virtues and merits of Mary."
Remembering your sins, you may add, "I am my own worst enemy
and I am guilty of all these sins." Or, "Deliver me from the
unjust and deceitful man." Or again, "Dear Jesus, you must
increase in my soul and I must decrease." "Mary, you must
increase in me and I must always go on decreasing." "O Jesus
and Mary, increase in me and increase in others around me."
273. There are innumerable other thoughts with which the Holy
Spirit will inspire you, which he will make yours if you are
thoroughly recollected and mortified, and constantly faithful
to the great and sublime devotion which I have been teaching
you. But remember, the more you let Mary act in your Communion
the more Jesus will be glorified. The more you humble yourself
and listen to Jesus and Mary in peace and silence - with no
desire to see, taste or feel - then the more freedom you will
give to Mary to act in Jesus' name and the more Jesus will act
in Mary. For the just man lives everywhere by faith, but
especially in Holy Communion, which is an action of faith.
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