Wk 3 - Day 1 - "seeking to understand Jesus Christ better""

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we begin our final week, preparing to consecrate or re-consecrate ourselves totally to Jesus through Mary. St. Louis De Monfort wrote:

1. During the third week they should seek to understand Jesus Christ better. They may read and meditate on what we have already said about him. They may say the prayer of St. Augustine which they will find at the beginning of the second part of this book. Again with St. Augustine, they may pray repeatedly, “Lord, that I may know you,” or “Lord, that I may see.” As during the previous week, they should recite the Litany of the Holy Spirit and theAve Maris Stella, adding every day the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus.

In “True Devotion”, chapter 2, the Prayer os St. Augustine is included in paragraph 67:

1. So that I may obtain from your mercy a genuine devotion to your blessed Mother and spread it throughout the whole world, help me to love you wholeheartedly, and for this intention accept the earnest prayer I offer with St. Augustine and all who truly love you.

Prayer of Saint Augustine

O Jesus Christ, you are my Father, my merciful God, my great King, my good Shepherd, my only Master, my best helper, my beloved friend of overwhelming beauty, my living Bread, my eternal priest. You are my guide to my heavenly home, my one true light, my holy joy, my true way, my shining wisdom, my unfeigned simplicity, the peace and harmony of my soul, my perfect safeguard, my bounteous inheritance, my everlasting salvation.

My loving Lord, Jesus Christ, why have I ever loved or desired anything else in my life but you, my God? Where was I when I was not in communion with you? From now on, I direct all my desires to be inspired by you and centred on you. I direct them to press forward for they have tarried long enough, to hasten towards their goal, to seek the one they yearn for.

O Jesus, let him who does not love you be accursed, and filled with bitterness. O gentle Jesus, let every worthy feeling of mine show you love, take delight in you and admire you. O God of my heart and my inheritance, Christ Jesus, may my heart mellow before the influence of your spirit and may you live in me. May the flame of your love burn in my soul. May it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart. May it glow in my innermost being. May it spread its heat into the hidden recesses of my soul and on the day of my consummation may I appear before you consumed in your love. Amen.

We ask that all of us sinners, who do not love Jesus as we ought, be filled with bitterness for our sins that we may truly repent and truly ask for forgiveness and learn from Him, through Mary, to be Meek and Humble of Heart.

 

[Greenfields]

Thank you MariaChristi for all that you post .I’m reading this on Sunday night, which is kind of special.
God bless

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks for your reply, dear Greenfields,

Yes, Sundays are special for many reasons, it is the Lord’s Day! The Day of His Rising from the Dead! Most of us can participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receive the Resurrected Jesus in Holy Communion.

As I was praying the Glorious Mysteries this Morning, before Mass, I was remembering how St. Teresa of Avila wrote in one of her books, that Jesus appeared first to Mary after His Resurrection, for He knew she needed to be consoled. It is so good to receive Him through and with Mary our Mother.

I though also of St. Augustine’s prayer – especial these words from his prayer:

…Where was I when I was not in communion with you? …