Moments with the consoling Christ/Christ Our Safe Refuge
Christ our Safe Refuge
Our God is our refuge and strength — a helper in troubles. — Ps. 45:1.
I BLESS Thee, heavenly Father, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, because Thou has vouchsafed to be mindful of me, poor as I am.
O FATHER of mercies, and God of all consolation, I give thanks to Thee, that sometimes Thou art pleased to cherish with Thy consolation, me who am unworthy of any consolation.
I BLESS and glorify Thee evermore, together with Thy only-begotten Son and the Holy Ghost the Comforter, forever and ever.
O LORD God, my holy lover, when Thou shalt come into my heart, all that is within me shall be filled with joy.
THOU art my glory and the exultation of my heart.
THOU art my hope and my refuge in the day of tribulation.
BUT because I am as yet weak in love and imperfect in virtue, therefore do I stand in need of being strengthened and comforted by Thee. Wherefore do Thou visit me often and instruct me in Thy holy discipline.
FREE me from evil passions and cure my heart of all disorderly affections; so that inwardly healed and well purified, I may become apt to love, courageous to suffer, and steadfast to persevere.
O MY God, my Love, Thou art all mine, and I am all Thine.
ENLARGE Thou me in love, that I may learn to taste with the interior mouth of the heart how sweet it is to love, and to be dissolved, and to bathe in love.
LET me be possessed by love, mounting up above myself through excess of fervor and ecstasy.
LET me sing the canticle of love, let me follow Thee, my Beloved, on high, let my soul quite lose herself in Thy praises, jubilant in Thy love.
LET me love Thee more than myself, and myself only for Thee, and all others in Thee, who truly love Thee, as the law of love commandeth, which shineth forth from Thee.