Archive for September, 2008

Prayer of St. Pio of Pietrelcina after Holy Communion

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to haveYou present so that I do not forget You.

You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength,that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life,and without You, I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light,and without You, I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You,

a nest of love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes;

death, judgment, eternity approaches.

It is necessary to renew my strength,so that I will not stop along the way

and for that, I need You.

It is getting late and death approaches,

I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows.

O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all it’s dangers.

I need You.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread,

so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness,

the force which sustains me,

the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death,

I want to remain united to You,if not by communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me,Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation,because I do not merit it, but the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You.!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart,Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and saints.

I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the grace which You never cease to bestow on me.

O Giver of all supernatural gifts, who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to grant me the gift of holy fear, so that it may act on me as a check to prevent me from falling back into my past sins, for which I beg pardon.

Grant me the gift of piety, so that I may serve You for the future with increased fervor, follow with more promptness Your holy inspirations, and observe your divine precepts with greater fidelity.

Grant me the gift of knowledge, so that I may know the things of God and, enlightened by Your holy teaching, may walk, without deviation, in the path of eternal salvation.

Grant me the gift of fortitude, so that I may overcome courageously all the assaults of the devil, and all the dangers of this world which threaten the salvation of my soul.

Grant me the gift of counsel, so that I may choose what is more conducive to my spiritual advancement and may discover the wiles and snares of the tempter.

Grant me the gift of understanding, so that I may apprehend the divine mysteries and by contemplation of heavenly things detach my thoughts and affections from the vain things of this miserable world.

Grant me the gift of wisdom, so that I may rightly direct all my actions, referring them to God as my last end; so that, having loved Him and served Him in this life, I may have the happiness of possessing Him eternally in the next.

Amen.

( This too is wisdom, to know whose is the gift… 21 Sept 2008 -Is 55,6-9 Ps 145,2 Ph 1,20-27 Mt 20,1-16- during homily)

Found it!

St. Augustine, Confessions

CHAPTER XXIX 40. My whole hope is in thy exceeding great mercy and that alone.

Give what thou commandest and command what thou wilt.

Thou commandest continence from us, and when I knew,

as it is said, that no one could be continent unless God gave it to him,

even this was a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was. [346]

For by continence we are bound up and brought back together in the One, whereas before we were scattered abroad among the many.[347]

For he loves thee too little who loves along with thee anything else

that he does not love for thy sake, O Love, who dost burnforever and art never quenched.

O Love, O my God, enkindle me!

Thou commandest continence; give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt.

CHAPTER XXX 41. Obviously thou commandest that I should be continentfrom “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and thepride of life.”[348] Thou commandest me to abstain fromfornication, and as for marriage itself, thou hast counseledsomething better than what thou dost allow. And since thou gavestit, it was done — even before I became a minister of thysacrament. But there still exist in my memory — of which I havespoken so much — the images of such things as my habits had fixedthere. These things rush into my thoughts with no power when I amawake; but in sleep they rush in not only so as to give pleasure,but even to obtain consent and what very closely resembles thedeed itself. Indeed, the illusion of the image prevails to suchan extent, in both my soul and my flesh, that the illusionpersuades me when sleeping to what the reality cannot do when I amawake. Am I not myself at such a time, O Lord my God? And isthere so much of a difference between myself awake and myself inthe moment when I pass from waking to sleeping, or return fromsleeping to waking? Where, then, is the power of reason which resists suchsuggestions when I am awake — for even if the things themselvesbe forced upon it I remain unmoved? Does reason cease when theeyes close? Is it put to sleep with the bodily senses? But inthat case how does it come to pass that even in slumber we oftenresist, and with our conscious purposes in mind, continue mostchastely in them, and yield no assent to such allurements? Yetthere is at least this much difference: that when it happensotherwise in dreams, when we wake up, we return to peace ofconscience. And it is by this difference between sleeping andwaking that we discover that it was not we who did it, while westill feel sorry that in some way it was done in us. 42. Is not thy hand, O Almighty God, able to heal all thediseases of my soul and, by thy more and more abundant grace, toquench even the lascivious motions of my sleep? Thou wiltincrease thy gifts in me more and more, O Lord, that my soul mayfollow me to thee, wrenched free from the sticky glue of lust sothat it is no longer in rebellion against itself, even in dreams;that it neither commits nor consents to these debasing corruptionswhich come through sensual images and which result in thepollution of the flesh. For it is no great thing for theAlmighty, who is “able to do . . . more than we can ask orthink,”[349] to bring it about that no such influence — not evenone so slight that a nod might restrain it — should affordgratification to the feelings of a chaste person even whensleeping. This could come to pass not only in this life but evenat my present age. But what I am still in this way of wickednessI have confessed unto my good Lord, rejoicing with trembling inwhat thou hast given me and grieving in myself for that in which Iam still imperfect. I am trusting that thou wilt perfect thymercies in me, to the fullness of that peace which both my innerand outward being shall have with thee when death is swallowed upin victory.[350]