THIRTEENTH HOUR

My Prisoner Jesus, I wake up and cannot find you. My heart beats strongly and longs with love... Tell me where you are. My angel, lead me to Caiaphas' house. But I wander back and forth, searching everywhere, and I cannot find You... My Love, hurry, move with Your hands the chains with which You have bound my heart to Yours, and draw me to You so that I may fly and throw myself into Your arms. Jesus, my Love, wounded by my voice and thirsting for my company, you are already drawing me to you. I see that they have put you in prison... While my heart is beside itself with joy at having found you, it is at the same time pierced with pain at the sight of the state you have been brought to.

 I see that your hands are tied behind you to a column, and your feet are bound and shackled. I see your Most Holy Face bruised, swollen, and bleeding from the terrible blows that were inflicted upon it... Your innocent eyes are bruised, your gaze tired and sad from keeping watch, your hair completely disheveled, your Most Holy Person completely broken, and on top of that, you cannot help yourself or clean yourself because you are bound... And I, my Jesus, bursting into tears, embrace Your feet and say to You: Oh, what a state they have brought You to, Jesus!

 And Jesus, looking at me, replies: Come closer, my daughter, and pay attention to what you see Me doing, so that you may do it together with Me and thus continue My Life within yourself.

 And to my amazement, I see that instead of dealing with your own suffering, you think with indescribable love of glorifying the Father, to give Him what we owe Him. You call all souls around you to take upon themselves all their evil, and give them all your goodness. And as a new day dawns, I hear your gentle voice saying: Holy Father, I thank you for all that I have suffered and for what I still have to suffer. And just as this dawn brings forth the day, and the day allows the sun to rise, so let the dawn of grace appear in all hearts. And as the day dawns, let Me, the Divine Sun, rise in all hearts and reign over them all. Do you see these souls, Father? I want to answer before You for each of them, for their thoughts, words, deeds, and steps, at the price of blood and death.

 My Jesus, Love without limits, I join You and I also thank You for all the suffering I have received from You and for what I still have to suffer. I ask You to make the dawn of grace appear in all hearts, so that You, Divine Sun, may rise in all hearts and reign over them all.

 But I also see, my beloved Jesus, how you make reparation for all the first thoughts, feelings, and words that were not offered to you at the beginning of the day to honor you. I see how you gather the thoughts, feelings, and words of creatures to make reparation to the Father and give him the glory that is due to him.

 My Jesus, Divine Master, since we have one free hour in this prison and we are alone, I not only want to do what You do, but I also want to clean You, dry Your hair, and merge myself completely into You.

 So I approach Your Most Holy Head and, arranging Your hair, I want to make amends for so many twisted minds, so filled with earthly matters that they do not think of You at all. Blending myself into your mind, I want to gather all the thoughts of creatures in you and blend them into your thoughts, to find sufficient reparation for all the evil thoughts and for so many stifled lights and inspirations... I would like to weave all the thoughts of creatures into one with yours, to give you true satisfaction and perfect glory.

 My tormented Jesus, I kiss your eyes, sad and full of tears... With your hands tied to the column, you cannot wipe them or wipe away the saliva that has been spat on you. And because the position in which you are tied is tiring, you cannot close your tired eyes to rest... My love, how I wish my arms could be a bed for you, so that you could rest. I want to wipe your eyes and ask your forgiveness. I want to make amends for all the times we did not seek to please you and did not try to look at you to see what you expected of us, what we should have done, and where you wanted us to go. I want to merge my eyes and the eyes of all creatures with yours, so that I can make amends with your own eyes for all the evil we have done with our gaze.

My merciful Jesus, I kiss Your Most Holy ears, tired from mockery throughout the night, and even more so from the echoes that reverberate in them because of all the insults from creatures. I ask Your forgiveness and I offer You reparation for all the times You called us and we were deaf or pretended not to hear You. And You, my exhausted Goodness, repeated Your calls, but in vain! I want to merge my ears and the ears of all creatures with Yours, to give You constant and complete reparation.

 My loving Jesus, I adore and kiss Your Most Holy Face, bruised and battered. I ask Your forgiveness and offer You reparation for all the times You called us to make reparation to You, and we, joining Your enemies, struck You and spat on You... My Jesus, I want to melt my face into Yours to restore Your natural beauty and give You complete reparation for all the contempt shown to Your Most Holy Majesty.

 My bitterly nourished Goodness, I kiss Your sweetest lips, sore from blows and chapped from love. I want to melt my tongue and the tongues of all creatures into Yours, to make amends with Your own tongue for all sins and for all evil conversations that are spoken. I want, my thirsty Jesus, to unite all voices into one with Your voice. In this way, when creatures insult You, Your voice, flowing in their voices, will drown out the voices of sin and transform them into voices of glory and love.

 Chained Jesus, I kiss your neck, weighed down by heavy chains and ropes that run from your chest, across your shoulders, and down your back, fastening you firmly to the column... Your hands are swollen and blackened from the tight ropes, and in many places blood flows from them. Oh, let me free you, my bound Jesus, and if you want to be bound, I will bind you with chains of love, whose sweetness will soothe you instead of causing you pain...

 And when I untie you, I want to melt into your neck, your chest, your shoulders, your hands, and your feet, so that together with you I can make amends for all attachments and give everyone the chains of your Love; so that together with you I may make amends for all coldness and fill the hearts of all creatures with your fire, for I see that there is so much of it that you cannot keep it within yourself; so that together with you I may make amends for all forbidden pleasures and love of comfort, and thus impart to all the spirit of sacrifice and love of suffering.

 I want to blend into your hands to make amends for all evil deeds and for good deeds done in a bad way and with pride, and to give everyone the aroma of your deeds. I want to melt into your feet to enclose within myself all the steps of creatures and make amends for them, and give your steps to everyone so that all may walk in a holy manner. Finally, my sweet Life, as I melt into Your Heart, let me enclose within myself all feelings, heartbeats, and desires, so that together with You I may make amends for them, and give everyone Your feelings, Your heartbeats, and desires, so that no one will ever offend You again.

 But I hear the sound of a key turning. It is your enemies coming to take you out of prison. And I tremble, Jesus, I feel frozen. You will be in the hands of your enemies again. What will happen to you? ... I think I can still hear the clatter of keys turning in the tabernacles. How many profane hands will come to open them, and perhaps cause you to descend into sacrilegious hearts! How many unworthy hands are you forced to remain in! My Prisoner Jesus, I want to be in all your prisons of love to witness when your priests take you out, to keep you company, and to make amends for the insults you may suffer.

 I see your enemies approaching while you greet the rising sun on this last day of yours. When they untie you and see all your Majesty and that you look at them with love, they strike you so hard in the face that it becomes red with your precious Blood. Jesus, my Love, before you leave prison, I ask you to bless me in your suffering, so that I may receive the strength to accompany you in your further Passion.