from 12 midnight to 1 a.m.
EIGHTH HOUR
The Arrest of Jesus
Preparation for each HOUR
And for those hours that I cannot reflect on, I offer you my willingness to remember them, and I intend to consciously reflect on them whenever I have to devote time to pfulfilling their duties or sleeping.
Accept, O merciful Lord, my loving intention and make it beneficial for me and for all, as if I had effectively and sanctimoniously accomplished what I wish to do.Meanwhile, I thank You, my Jesus, that through prayer You call me to unite myself with You. And to please You even more, I take Your thoughts, Your language, Your Heart, and I intend to pray with them, merging my whole self into Your Will and Your Love. I stretch out my arms to embrace You, I lay my head on Your Heart, and I begin...
Oh my Jesus, it is midnight. You hear your enemies approaching. You accept their arrival, wipe away your Blood, and, strengthened by the consolation you have received, you go back to your disciples. You call them, admonish them, take them with you, and go to meet your enemies, wanting to make up for my slowness and laziness in acting and suffering out of love for you, and for my unwillingness to act and suffer out of love for you.
But, sweet Jesus, my Goodness, what a moving scene I see! The first person you meet is the treacherous Judas. He approaches you, throws his arms around your neck, greets you, and kisses you. And You, fiery Love, do not despise the kiss of those devilish lips. You embrace him and hold him close to Your Heart, wanting to snatch him from hell, and You give him signs of new love... My Jesus, how is it possible not to love You? The tenderness of Your Love is so great that it should move every heart to love You, and yet they do not love You! O my Jesus, by enduring Judas' kiss, You make reparation for the betrayals, falsehoods, and deceits committed under the guise of friendship and holiness, especially by priests. Moreover, Your kiss shows that You will not refuse Your forgiveness to any sinner, provided that he comes to You humbled.
My most tender Jesus, you are giving yourself into the hands of your enemies, giving them the power to inflict on you whatever suffering they desire... I too, my Jesus, give myself into your hands, so that you may freely do with me whatever you wish. Together with You, I want to imitate Your Will and Your reparations and endure Your sufferings. I want to be with You always, so that there will be no insult that I have not atoned for, no bitterness that I have not sweetened, no spitting or striking that You receive that is not accompanied by my kiss and caress. When You fall, my hands will always be ready to help You up. So I want to be with you always, my Jesus, I don't want to leave you alone even for a minute. And so that I can be more certain, place me within yourself, and I will be in your mind, in your gaze, in your Heart and in your whole being — then whatever you do, I will also be able to do. In this way, I will be able to keep you faithful company, and I will not miss any of your sufferings, and I will repay you for everything with my love.
My sweet Goodness, I will be with you to defend you, learn your teachings, and count each and every one of your words... Oh, how sweetly the words you addressed to Judas penetrate my heart: friend, why have you come? I hear that you are also addressing the same words to me, not calling me friend, but by the sweet name of daughter: daughter, why have you come? Because you want to hear my answer: Jesus, to love you.
Why did you come? – you ask me when I pray, why did you come? – you repeat to me from the Holy Host, why did you come? when I work, eat, suffer, and sleep… What a wonderful call for me and for everyone! But how many respond to your question: I come to insult you. Others, pretending not to hear You, commit all kinds of sins and respond to Your "Why have you come?" with "I'm going to hell..."
How I sympathize with you, my Jesus! I would like to take the ropes with which your enemies bind you and tie up those souls to spare you this pain.
But when you go out to meet your enemies, I hear your tender voice again, saying, "Whom are you looking for?" They answer: Jesus of Nazareth, and You answer them: I AM. With this one word, You say everything and reveal who You are, so that Your enemies tremble and fall to the ground as if dead. And you, my Love, who has no equal, repeating I AM, bring them back to life and give yourself into the hands of your enemies... They, perfidious and ungrateful, instead of falling at your feet with humility and trembling and asking you for forgiveness, abuse your goodness, and despising your graces and miracles, they seize you and bind you with ropes and chains. They squeeze You, knock You to the ground, put You under their feet, and pull out Your hair... With unparalleled patience, You remain silent, suffer, and reward the insults of those who, despite miracles, do not surrender to Your grace but become even more stubborn. With these ropes and chains, you implore the Father to break the chains of our sins and bind us with the sweet chain of Love. You tenderly admonish Peter, who wants to defend you and even cuts off Malchus' ear. In this way, you want to make amends for good deeds that are not done with holy prudence or become sinful because of excessive zeal.
My exceedingly patient Jesus, it seems that these ropes and chains add something particularly beautiful to Your Divine Person. Your forehead becomes more majestic, so that it attracts the attention of even Your enemies. Your eyes shine with a stronger light, and Your Divine Face takes on an expression of such deep peace and sweetness that it enchants even Your tormentors. With your gentle and penetrating words, though only a few, you make them tremble so much that if they dare to insult you, it is only because you yourself allow them to do so... O my chained and bound Love, how can you allow yourself to be bound for me, showing me even greater love, while I, your little daughter, remain without chains? No, no, on the contrary, bind me with your most holy hands, using your own ropes and chains. So I kiss your divine forehead and ask you to bind all my thoughts, eyes, ears, tongue, heart, my feelings, and my whole being, and together with me, bind all creatures, so that, feeling the sweetness of your loving chains, they will no longer dare to insult you.
My sweet Goodness, it is already one o'clock... My mind is beginning to fall asleep. I will do everything I can to stay awake, but if sleep overtakes me, I will remain in You to do what You do, or rather, You Yourself will do it in me. I leave my thoughts in You to defend You from Your enemies, my breath as Your retinue and company, my heartbeat to constantly tell You that I love You and give You the love that others do not give You, and the drops of my blood to make amends to You and restore the honor and respect that others will deprive You of with their insults, spitting, and slapping. My Jesus, bless me and let me fall asleep in Your glorified Heart. And Your heartbeats, accelerated by love or suffering, will often wake me up, and in this way the connection between us will never be broken. Let this be our agreement, O Jesus!
Thanksgiving after every HOUR
My beloved Jesus, You called me in this HOUR of Your Passion to keep You company, and I came. It seemed to me that I could hear You praying in agony and pain, making reparation, suffering, and you ask for the salvation of souls with the most moving and convincing voice. I have tried to accompany you in everything. And since I must now leave you to attend to my work, I feel obliged to to say thank you and bless you.
Yes, Jesus, I thank You a thousand times over and bless You for everything You have done and suffered for me and for everyone. I thank You and bless You for every drop of blood You shed, for every breath, for every heartbeat, for every step, word, glance, bitterness, and insult You suffered. Everything, O my Jesus, I intend to mark with my thank You and bless You. O my Jesus, make a continuous stream of thanksgiving and blessings flow to You from my whole being, so that I may draw upon myself and upon everyone the stream of Your blessings and Your graces. Oh, Jesus, hold me close to Your Heart and mark every part of my being with Your most holy hands with Your blessing, so that nothing but a constant hymn of praise to You may flow from me.