The 24 Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
From 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Jesus takes leave of His Most Holy Mother.
O heavenly Mother, the hour of separation draws near, and I come to You, O Mother, give me your love, your reparations, and your sorrows. Together with You, I want to follow adored Jesus step by step.
Here Jesus comes. With your soul overflowing with love, you run to meet him. But your heart aches with grief to see him so pale and sad. Your strength fades away, and you are about to fall at his feet. O my sweet Mama, do You know why adorable Jesus has come to You? Ah, He has come to say good-bye to You for the last time, to impart His last Word, to share with you this last embrace! O Mother, I cling to You with all the tenderness of which my poor heart is capable, so that holding You tightly, I too may receive the embraces of adored Jesus. Would you perhaps look down on me, or isn't it perhaps a comfort to your heart to have a soul near you, to share your pains, affections and reparations?
Jesus, in this hour so bitter for your tender Heart, what instruction You give us of innocent, loving obedience to your Mother! What a sweet enchantment of love rises up to the throne of the Eternal One, extending salvation to all creatures of the earth!
O my heavenly Mama, do You know what adored Jesus wants from You? Nothing but your last blessing. From every particle of your being only blessings and praises flow to your Creator; but, in taking leave of You, Jesus wants to hear the sweet words, I bless You, O Son. That I bless You deflects every blasphemy from his hearing and descends sweetly and gently into his Heart. Jesus wants your �I bless You� to shield against all the offenses of creatures.
I too join with you, O sweet mother. On the wings of the wind, I want to travel through heaven to ask the Father, the Holy Spirit, all the angels for an I bless you for Jesus, so that, going to him, I can bring their blessings. I want to go to all creatures here on earth and ask from every whisper, heartbeat, step, breath, glance, thought, and word�blessings and praises for Jesus. And, if anyone does not want to give them to me, I will do it on their behalf.
O sweet Mama, after going round and round, to ask the Most Holy Trinity, the Angels, all creatures, the light of the sun, the fragrance of the flowers, the waves of the sea, every breath of wind, every spark of fire, every moving leaf, the twinkling of the stars, every movement of nature, for an �I bless You�, I come to You and I place all my blessings together with yours. My sweet Mother, I see that You are comforted by them, and I offer Jesus all my blessings to atone for the blasphemies and curses that He receives from creatures.
But, while I offer You everything, I hear your trembling voice saying, �Son, bless Me too!� My sweet Love, bless me with your Mother. Bless my thoughts, my heart, my hands, my steps, my deeds, and�with your Mother�all creatures. O my Mother, You gaze upon the Sorrowful Face of Jesus, so pale, sad, and tormented, and You envision the sorrow that He will soon have to suffer. You see his Face covered with spit, and You bless It. You foresee his face covered with spit and you bless it. You see his head pierced by thorns, his eyes blindfolded, his body tortured by lashings, his hands and feet pierced by nails, and you follow him with your blessings everywhere he is about to go. And I too will follow Him together with You. When Jesus is struck with the whips, pierced by the nails, slapped, crowned with thorns, he will find my I bless you everywhere, together with yours. O Jesus, O mother, I give you compassion.
Your sorrow is immense in these last moments. It seems that the heart of one rends the heart of the other. O mother, tear my heart from the earth and bind it tightly to Jesus, so that pressed to him, I can take part in your pains. And being between your two hearts, I will receive your last kisses and your last embraces while you look at each other for the last time. Don�t You see that I cannot be without You, in spite of my misery and my coldness? Jesus, Mama, keep me close to You; give me your love, your Will. Pierce my poor heart with arrows, and hold me in your arms. Together with you, O sweet mother, I want to follow adorable Jesus step by step, with the intention of giving him comfort, relief, love and reparation for everyone.
O Jesus, with your Mother, I kiss your left foot, and I beg You to forgive me and all creatures for the many times we have not walked toward God. [Glory be to the Father, etc.].
I kiss your right foot. Forgive me and everyone for the many times we have not sought the perfection that You desired for us. [Glory be to the Father, etc.]
I kiss your left hand. Communicate your purity to us. [Glory be to the Father, etc.]
I kiss your right hand. Bless all my heartbeats, thoughts, and affections so that all may be confirmed by your blessing, and all may be sanctified. And as you bless me, bless all creatures as well, and seal the salvation of their souls with your blessing. [Glory be to the Father, etc.]
O Jesus, I embrace You together with your Mama, and kissing your Heart, I pray You to place my heart between your two Hearts, that it may be nourished continuously by your love, by your sorrows, by your very affections and desires, and by your own Life. Amen. [Glory be ...]
Reflections and Practices.
Reflections and applications regarding the Hours of the Passion, so that we may copy the life of Jesus within ourselves, aligning our life with His in everything: His breath, His heartbeat, etc. so that He once again lives among His creatures.
Before entering his Passion, Jesus goes to his Mother to ask for her blessing In this act he teaches us how we must be obedient, with both interior and exterior obedience, in order to correspond to the inspirations of grace. Sometimes we are not ready to put into practice a good inspiration, either because we are held back by love of self united to temptation, or because of human respect, or in order not to use holy violence on ourselves. But rejecting the good inspiration of exercising a virtue, of accomplishing a virtuous act, of doing a good work, or of practicing a devotion, makes the Lord withdraw, depriving us of new inspirations. On the other hand, the prompt correspondence, pious and prudent, to holy inspirations attracts more lights and graces upon us. In the cases of doubt, one should turn promptly and with righteous intention to the great means of prayer and to upright and experienced advice.
In this way, God will never withhold light from our souls so that we can pursue our good inspirations and multiply them, reaping the greatest possible benefits. Our prayers, actions, and the Hours of the Passion should be done with Jesus� own intention his Will, sacrificing ourselves as He did for the glory of the Father and for the good of all souls. We should be disposed to sacrifice ourselves in everything out of love for our beloved Jesus, surrendering to his Spirit, acting with his own sentiments, and abandoning ourselves to Him�not only in all our sorrows and external misfortunes, but even more in our interior lives. In this way, in any situation, we will be ready to suffer. When we act in this spirit, we give our Jesus little sips of sweetness. If all that we do remains in the Will of God�which contains all sweetness and delight to an infinite degree�we will console the Divine Heart of Jesus and give Him big sips of sweetness to ease the effects of the poison that other creatures give Him.
Before starting any action, let us always invoke the blessing of God, so that our actions may have the touch of the Divinity, and may attract His blessings not only on us, but upon all creatures.
My Jesus, may your blessing precede me, accompany me and follow me, so that everything I do may carry the seal of your I bless you.
