St. Joseph's manual/Prayers and Meditations

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St. Joseph's manual (1877)
by Rev. James Fitton

Prayers and Meditations

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4241345St. Joseph's manual — Prayers and Meditations1877Rev. James Fitton

PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS.

A PARAPHRASE ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

"Our Father who art in heaven."

O ALMIGHTY Lord, and maker of heaven and earth, infinite in majesty, is it possible that thy love and goodness for us should be so great as to suffer such poor worms as we are to call thee Father? O, make us ever dutiful children to such a Parent. O most holy Father, who dwellest in heaven, raise my heart to thee, and teach me, by thy interior grace, to pray to thee with attention, devotion, humility, and faith.

"Hallowed be thy name."

O Heavenly Father, honor and glory be to thy name. I rejoice that thou art infinitely glorious, and eternally adored, praised, and glorified by angels and saints in heaven. But alas! O Lord, how little art thou known, how little art thou loved, how little art thou served, in this miserable world! How is thy name blasphemed, even by those who call themselves Christians! How many millions of souls throughout the world, though made to thy image and likeness, and redeemed by the precious blood of thy only Son, live and die in infidelity, error, and vice! O, when shall this great evil be remedied? O that, like the blessed in heaven, we were all united in praising, blessing, and loving thee! But this must be the work of thy grace, O Lord: and this grace I this day beg of thee, that all may adore, praise, and love thee, and not in words only, but in deeds, show forth the glory of thy name.

"Thy kingdom come."

Heaven, O Lord, is the seat of thy eternal kingdom; there thou livest and reignest forever. But whilst we are here in this mortal life, thy kingdom is within us as often as thou reignest within our souls by thy grace and love. I earnestly beg, both for myself and for all others, a share in thy eternal kingdom, that we may there be witnesses of thy glory, and see, love, praise, and enjoy thee forever. In the meanwhile, I beg that the kingdom of thy grace and love may henceforth reign within us, and that we may nevermore rebel against thee, but be ever faithful servants and subjects of thy love.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

The blessed in heaven have no other will, O Lord, but thine. This they ever adore; this they eternally love; this they readily and cheerfully obey. O that we poor, banished children of Adam did equally adore, embrace, and love thy holy will! O Lord, it is my sincere desire and fervent prayer that thy holy will may be henceforth done in all things. Grant that, for the future, thy will be the rule of all our actions, and that in all our deliberations, like the blessed St. Paul, we may ever cry to thee, "Lord, what wouldest thou have me do?" O, grant that, in, all our sufferings, we may ever conform ourselves to thy holy will.

"Give us this day our daily bread."

The bread of our souls, which is to support us during this day of our mortality, and to nourish us to life everlasting, is no other, O Lord, than thy only Son, who has said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; he that eateth of this bread shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” This bread of life we earnestly beg of thee; this we desire often to receive sacramentally; this we desire daily to receive spiritually, for the nourishing of our souls with thy heavenly grace. O, come, dearest Jesus, to our poor souls; satisfy our hunger here with this heavenly bread, till we come to the more happy day of eternity, where all veils being removed, we shall forever feed upon thy divinity.

“ And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.”

Our sins, O Lord, are innumerable; the debt that we owe thee is infinite; and, poor and miserable, we are unable of ourselves to discharge the least part of this debt, or make satisfaction for the least of these sins. But, prostrate in spirit before thee, we humbly implore thy mercy. We desire to offer thee the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart. We offer thee the death and passion of thy only Son, which he suffered for us. And as he has promised forgiveness to them who forgive, we here, from our hearts, forgive all who have offended us, and hope through him to find forgiveness from thee.

“Lead us not into temptation."

Alas! O Lord, man’s life upon earth is a continual temptation. We are encompassed on all sides with mortal enemies — the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our only hope, in all these dangers and conflicts, is in thy protection. We believe that thou art faithful, and wilt not permit us to be tempted above our strength. Arm us, then, O Lord, both against the terrors and flatteries of the world, and the dangers of our passions and concupiscences. And, what ever trials thou art pleased to send upon us, let thy supporting grace ever assist us, that, In thy favor and mercy, we may be faithful till death, and thus merit to receive the crown of life.

"But deliver us from evil. Amen."

O sovereign Good, the Fountain of grace, deliver us from all evils; from our sins, and the punishments we deserve for them; from wars, plagues, famines, and such like visitations, which we have too much reason to apprehend hanging over our heads in consequence of our impenitence; from heresy and schism, and all blindness of soul to which self-conceit and pride expose us — in fine, from obduracy of heart, from final impenitence, and everlasting damnation. From all these evils, for thy own sake, O Lord, deliver us, through Jesus Christ thy Son. Amen.

MEDITATION'S ON THE PASSION OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

O GOOD and gracious Jesus, who, being most high in the glory of thy Father, and of one essence with him, didst vouchsafe of thy infinite love to be made man, to be born in a stable, to be laid in a manger, to be circumcised, and to fly into Egypt; afterwards to be baptized, to be tempted, to fast, to watch, to teach the ignorant, and to heal the diseased; in thy whole life to suffer continual afflictions and persecutions, and at length voluntarily to suffer death upon the cross; and all this for me and such wretched creatures as myself.

2. O good and gracious Jesus, who, having eaten the paschal lamb with thy dearly-beloved disciples, didst arise from supper, gird thyself with a towel, pour water into a basin, and on bended knees didst humbly wash the feet of thy disciples, and wipe them with thy own hands.

3. O good and gracious Jesus, who, when the time of thy death approached, didst bequeath a most excellent legacy to thy children, leaving us thy most sacred body to be our meat, and thy most precious blood to be our drink; no wit can teach, nor understanding penetrate, the bottomless depth of this thy charity.

4. O good and gracious Jesus, who, having entered into the Garden of Olives, begannest to fear and to be heavy; whereupon thou saidst to thy disciples, "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death; " and then, leaving them, kneeledst upon the ground, and falling flat on thy face, prayedst to thy Father, "If it be possible, let this chalice pass from me." And yet, with perfect submission, wholly resignedst thyself to him, saying, "Father, not my will, but thine be done;" and at length, through most painful agony, thy afflicted and fainting body sweated drops of blood.

5. O good and gracious Jesus, who, inflamed with an ineffable desire to redeem me, didst go to meet thine enemies, and sufferedst Judas the traitor to kiss thee, and thyself to be taken and bound with cords, and as a malefactor disgracefully led by the basest of the people to Annas, where, with admirable meekness, thou receivedst a cruel stroke on thy face, most unjustly given thee by a vile wretch and slave.

6. O good and gracious Jesus, who wast led, fast bound like a notorious malefactor, from Annas to the house of Caiaphas the high-priest, where the Jews most unjustly accused thee, and with barbarous insolence spat upon thy meek and amiable face, buffeting thy cheeks and blindfolding thine eyes, scornfully mocking, and maliciously affronting thee with injuries all that night.

7. O good and gracious Jesus, who in the morning wast brought to the presence of Pilate, and, with a most sweet and humble countenance, casting thine eyes down, stoodest before him in the judgment hall, and, when thou wast most falsely calumniated by the Jews, and many insults and provocations were given thee, thou meekly heldest thy peace, and patiently sufferedst their unjust proceedings.

8. O good and gracious Jesus, who wast sent from Pilate to Herod; he, out of vain curiosity, coveting to see some miracle at thy hand, demanded many things of thee, and the Jews continuing their perverseness against thee; but to all these thy meekness replied not a word; wherefore Herod and all his court despised thee, and, putting on thee a white garment in scorn and derision, sent thee thus back again to Pilate. O unspeakable humility and obedience to the will of thine enemies, thou wentest forth and returnedst again, and wast led up and down from place to place without gainsaying, but suffering them to do whatever they would.

9. O good and gracious Jesus, who, in the judgment hall, wast stripped naked, and, without any compassion, most cruelly scourged. There was thy blessed virginal and tender flesh torn with stripes, and altogether mangled and deformed, so that the streams of thy most precious blood ran down on every side upon the earth.

10. O good and gracious Jesus, after thy sharp and bloody scourging, to put thee to more shame and confusion, as also to increase thy torments, they clothed thee with an old purple garment, and platting a crown of thorns, pressed it on thy holy head, till the sharp points pierced thy temples, and thy most precious blood ran down and covered thy face and neck; they gave thee in derision a reed for thy sceptre, and, kneeling down before thee in scorn, saluted thee, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews;” then took they the reed out of thy hand, and with it struck thy sacred head, and again spat upon thy sacred face.

11. O good and gracious Jesus, who wast brought forth from Pilate to the Jews to be gazed on, wearing the crown of thorns and purple garment, Pilate showing thee to the people, and saying, “Behold the man;” but they cried out with a loud voice and insatiable malice, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

12. O good and gracious Jesus, thou wast delivered up to the will and pleasure of the Jews, who immediately led thee to be crucified, laying thy heavy cross upon thy sore and bloody shoulders; thus didst thou humbly bear thy own cross, whose weight pained thee excessively, and coming to the place all weary and breathless, thou refusedst not to taste wine mingled with gall and myrrh, which was the only relief there given thee.

13. O good and gracious Jesus, being come to Mount Calvary, thou wast again stripped naked, when thy wounds were renewed by the violent pulling off of thy clothes. What bitter pains didst thou suffer, when thou wast fastened to the cross with rough nails, and the joints of thy limbs stretched as on a rack! O, with what love and sweetness of charity didst thou suffer thy hands and feet to be pierced through, whence, as from a fountain, thy precious blood gushed out!

14. O good and gracious Jesus, who, hanging on the cross between two thieves, wast assailed with blasphemies, and after so long a continuance of thy tortures, prayedst to thy Father to forgive them; and even when their fury was at the highest, didst exercise the greatest bounty, promising paradise to the repenting thief, and bequeathing thy dearly-beloved Mother (who, pierced with sorrow, stood by the cross) to thy beloved disciple John, and in him to us all; and after thou hadst suffered for three long hours intolerable pains and extreme thirst, they gave thee vinegar to drink, which, when thou hadst tasted, bowing down thy venerable head, thou yieldedst up thy spirit.

15. O good and gracious Jesus, O good Shepherd, thus thou bestowedst thy life for thy sheep; and even after death still thou wouldest suffer for us, the sacred side of thy dead body being opened with a spear, out of which flowed water and blood. Thus at last ended all thy sufferings; and thy enemies, having slaked their thirst for thy blood, and being gone away, thy disciples came and took thy immaculate body down from the cross, reposed it on the knees of thy blessed Mother, and after all imaginable expressions of piety, reverence, and love, wrapped it up in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre.

Prayer.

O MILD and innocent Lamb of God, thus heartily thou didst love me; these things thou didst for me; these pains most patiently and lovingly thou sufferedst for me. What shall I render unto thee? I adore and glorify thee, I praise thee and give thee thanks with all the powers of my soul. Jesus, Son of the living God, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hail, most glorious Redeemer of our souls, whose death quickens and gives life to the world.

O blessed Saviour, have mercy on me, for thy goodness sake; forgive me all my sins, destroy and mortify in me whatever displeaseth thee. Make me one according to thy heart, and grant that to the utmost of my power I may most diligently imitate thy holy life. O blessed Father of heaven, behold, I offer the most holy incarnation, life, and passion of thy dearly-beloved Son Jesus Christ, in full satisfaction for all my sins, and perfect amendment of my life. Grant, most merciful Father, for the merits of thy only-begotten Son, to the living mercy and grace, and to the souls departed rest and life everlasting. Amen.

THIRTY DAYS’ PRAYER

TO OUR BLESSED REDEEMER, IN HONOR OF HIS BITTER PASSION.

Glory, honor, and praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ; may all the world adore thee. Blessed be thy holy name, who for us sinners vouchsafedst to be born of a humble Virgin; and blessed be thine infinite goodness, who didst die upon the cross for our redemption.

O Jesus, Son of God, and Saviour of mankind, we beseech thee to have mercy on us, and so dispose our lives here by thy grace, that we may hereafter rejoice with thee forever in thy heavenly kingdom. Amen.

O DEAR Jesus, my blessed Saviour and Redeemer, the sweet comforter of all sad, desolate, and distressed souls, behold thy poor servant, humbly prostrate at the foot of thy holy cross, bewailing her misery', imploring thy mercy, and beseeching thee to take pity and compassion upon her in this her present and pressing affliction, (infirmity, poverty, temptation, trouble, or whatsoever other spiritual or corporal necessity.)