Be sure to read the following prayer, which was composed by the very humble and holy "Priest of the Gallows." Meditate on it, and learn from it. Then, compose your own. During your next Holy Hour, delight God with your petition and great desire to know and love Him more.
Visits to the Blessed Sacrament
Saturday
"O my sweet Jesus, in addition to so many graces that I have asked of Thee during the week, I come today to ask Thee for this last one which I trust to obtain from Thee. Thou has said that whatever we ask Thy Eternal Father in Thy name would not be denied to us. Firmly relying on that promise of Thine which cannot fail to be fulfilled, I present myself at the throne of Thy Divine Majesty to ask for a grace which I know exceeds my merit, but does not exceed Thy power or Thy mercy. A day will come, and perhaps soon, when I shall leave this world and present myself before Thy divine tribunal. I hope through Thy mercy that Thou wilt not condemn me to Hell. Alas for me! Who knows what time I may have to remain in Purgatory to languish there and sigh for a glimpse of thy face and for Thy blessed vision? O Lord, I have delayed too long to begin to love Thee in this world for me to delay still more the time when I shall begin to love Thee in Heaven. I ardently desire to reach it immediately in order to make up, when I arrive there, for so many years miserably lost in the pursuit of the vanities of this world. O Jesus, crown the innumerable mercies that Thou hast shown me by granting me this still further one: to free me from those pains of Purgatory and lead me with Thee to Thy glory!" 1
~St. Joseph Cafasso
God is at work in you!
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Sources:
1. St. John Bosco, St. Joseph Cafasso: Priest of the Gallows (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1983), pp. 78-79.
Photos taken at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Photos © Joseph Karl Publishing.
