CHAPTER IV A Prayer of thanksgiving to Christ for His Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Mission of the
CHAPTER IV
A Prayer of thanksgiving to Christ for His Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Mission of the Holy Ghost with a fuller bestowal of gifts
O MOST sweet Lord Jesus Christ, Who desirest my everlasting Salvation, I, a man poor and weak, and undeserving of any comfort or any good thing, would bless Thee; and, together with Thy Saints and Thy Elect, would glorify for ever Thy most Holy Name.
Chiefly do I thank Thee for having, of Thy great love and pity, willed to become man for me, to take my nature upon Thee, outside the course of nature to be conceived by the Holy Ghost, and to be miraculously born of Mary, a pure Virgin; to be suckled and nourished; to be circumcised; and to be presented in the Temple, in order that Thou mightest cleanse me from every impurity of mind and body, and mightest teach me to live soberly, righteously and chastely all my days.
Still more, and every day and hour of my life, do I thank Thee for Thy most holy and most bitter Passion; for it was for me that Thou didst vouchsafe to suffer, to be crucified, to die and to be buried, in order that by Thy sinless Death Thou mightest deliver me from everlasting death, and mightest by Thy example strengthen me to be patient under adversity.
Further, with a heart full of joy, do I thank Thee for having, for my consolation, risen on the third day from the Tomb, and given great joy to Thy disciples by appearing to them in the Upper Room when the doors were shut; doing this that I may not despair in any tribulation of my own, or when any harm or danger befalls me, but may trust in Thee for deliverance from my present trouble, and may have a sure hope of being at the last day raised by Thee, together with Thy elect, to everlasting life.
Yet again do I most devoutly thank Thee, rejoicing with them, not only with my lips, but from the bottom of my heart, for that august procession of Thine to Bethania, and for Thy glorious Ascension into Heaven, in the presence of Thy holy Mother, and of others Thy disciples. Thou didst go before to prepare for me a place with Thee; and to open to me by Thy Passion and Thy Cross the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, where with the Angels Thou now livest and reignest in the everlasting glory of Thy Father, until such time as Thou shalt return at the end of the world to judge both the living and the dead. This it was which was taught us by the two holy Angels clothed in white garments (a symbol of the joy of this sacred Feast) who at that time appeared to Thy disciples, as they were looking up after Thee to heaven. Oh how blessed were the eyes which were found worthy to behold Thee in the Flesh; and how blessed were the ears which heard Thee speaking of the Kingdom of God, than which nothing can be found more delightful to hear about, nothing more blessed to enjoy!
It was for me that Thou didst ascend into the highest Heavens, above the Angels in their serried ranks, to that place where dwell those blessed ones who even now reign with Thee in Thy excellent Glory. Thou didst thither ascend, in order that all my hope might be set on things above, and might be lifted up to Thee, instead of being fixed on things earthly, and seeking its delight in them. Apart from God there is nothing which is not empty and transient, worthless and of no account. Everything which keeps me back from God, and stands in the way of devout prayer and meditation upon heavenly things, is to be spurned and put aside.
I beseech Thee, therefore, O most loving Jesus, King of everlasting glory, that in the Kingdom of Thy Father Thou wouldst remember me, the least of all Thy servants, and wouldst send to me now from Heaven the Holy Ghost the Paraclete, to be my true Comforter, and to give me renewed zeal and a larger outpouring of spiritual gifts. Amen.