the most beautiful prayer..

(St Liguori, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament)

"O my most sweet and beloved Jesus, You who are my life, my hope, my treasure and the only love of my heart, what has it not cost You to remain with us in the Blessed Sacrament! So as to be able to dwell among us on our altars, You had to die; and in ourder to help us by Your presence there, how many insults have You not had to endure since then! Your love for us, and the desire You have that we should love You, have outweighed everything.

Come then, O Lord, come into my heart! Close its doors forever so that for the future no creature may enter it to share the love with is due You, that love which I desire to bestow entirely on You. Do you alone, my dear Redeemer, rule me; do You alone possess my whole being. And if ever I do not obey You perfectly, punish me severely, that I may be more careful to please You for the future. Grant that I may never again seek any pleasure other than that of pleasing You, of visiting You often, of speaking with You and of receiving You in Holy Communion. Let all who wish for other treasures seek them; the only treasure I love, the only one I desire, is that of Your love.

It is for that alone I ask at the foot of the altar. Make me forget myself, so that I may remember only Your goodness. Blessed Seraphim, I envy you, not for your glory, but for the love you have for your God and mine. Teach me what I must do to love Him and to please Him.

My Jesus, I will love only You; YOu are the only one I wish to please."

(St. Liguori, "the Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ")

From St. Liguori's "The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ"

"O most lovable and loving Heart of Jesus, wretched is the heart that does not love You! O God, You died on the Cross, abandoned and wholly bereft, for the love of Your people! How then can we live so forgetful of You? O love of God! O human ingratitude! O you of short memory, look upon the innocent Lamb of God, agonizing on the Cross and dying for you, in order to satisfy divine justice for your sins, and so draw you to His love. Look how at the same time He prays to His Eternal Father to forgive you. Look at Him and love Him.

My Jesus, how few are those who love You! Wretch that I am, I, too, have lived for many years unmindful of You, and thereby greatly offended You. My beloved Redeemer, it is not so much the punishment I have deserved that makes me weep, as the love that You have borne me.

May the sorrows of Jesus, the ignominies of Jesus, the wounds of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the love of Jesus thrust themselves into my heart, and may their sweet memory remain there forever to wound me continually and inflame me with love.
I love You, my Jesus; I love You, my sovereign good; I love You, my love, more then my entire being: I love You, and I want that love for You to last forever.
Never let me leave You or lose You again.
Make me completely Yours, do it through the merits of Your death. In this I firmly trust.

And I have great confidence, too, in your intercession, O Mary, my Queen; make me love Jesus Christ and make me also love you, my Mother and my hope!

Amen.