Sixteenth Visit.

From St. Alphonsus Liguori, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament (New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1870). Wording reflects its time. Public domain; the text is given word for word as printed.

Oh! if men always sought from Jesus in the holy sacrament, a remedy for their evils, they certainly should not be so miserable as they are! "Is there," exclaims the prophet Jeremias, "no balm in Galaad? or is there no Physician there?" Jer. viii. 22. Galaad, a mountain in Arabia, abounding in aromatic ointments, is, as Venerable Bede remarks, a figure of Jesus Christ, who has prepared in this sacrament all the remedies of our souls. Why then, (the Redeemer seems to cry out to us,) O children of Adam, do you complain of your miseries, when you have in this sacrament the Physician and the remedy of all your maladies: "Come to me, all you that labor,... and I will refresh you." Matt. xi. 28. With the sisters of Lazarus I will say to thee, O Lord, "Behold he whom thou lovest is sick." Lord, I am that miserable creature whom thou lovest; my past sins have covered my soul with wounds; O, my divine Physician, I come to thee that you mayest heal me! If thou willest, thou canst cure all my diseases; "heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." Ps. xl. 5.

O my most sweet Jesus, draw me to thyself by the most amiable attractions of thy love. I would rather be united to thee than be made the lord of all the earth. I desire nothing in this world but thy love. I have nothing to give thee, but were it in my power to possess all the kingdoms of the earth, I would wish to have them only to renounce them for the love of thee. I renounce, then, for thy sake, all that it is in my power to renounce. I renounce all relatives, all advantages, all pleasures, and even all spiritual consolations; I renounce my liberty and my will. To thee I desire to give all the affections of my heart. I love thee, O infinite goodness. I love thee more than myself, and I hope to love thee for eternity.

Ejac. I give myself to thee, O my Jesus, accept me.

The Spiritual Communion.

SIXTEENTH VISIT TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

Prayer of St. Peter Damian.

O holy Virgin! come to the assistance of those who call upon thee: cast a look of pity on us. Hast thou, in the close alliance thou holdest with the Deity, forgotten thy fellow creatures? Ah! certainly not. Thou knowest too well the misery of our condition, and the dangers to which we are exposed, and it would ill become clemency and compassion like thine to forget us. Exert thy influence in our behalf. Nothing is impossible to thee, and thou canst, by thy prayers, obtain for the most grievous sinner, the sweet hope of salvation. The greater thy power is, the greater ought also to be thy mercy.

Ejac. O Mary! thou canst by thy intercession cleanse me from my sins, and I look for this favor from thee.

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