1 — Do Nome de Jesus
Excertos do livro sobre o Nome de Jesus, de2
A POEM ON THE LOVABLE NAME OF JESUS
Jesus is the soul’s abyss
Is sweeter far than earthly bliss:
A tower strong is that Name mild
Ne’er disturbed by tempest wild.
Far lovelier than a diamond bright,
That Name of Jesus sweetly rings
Like rarest zither’s silver strings.
Ah, Jesus, for your Name’s blest sake,
Forgive my sins, exceeding great.
Grant, dear Lord, that your fair Name,
May wound my heart with holy pain.
Jesus, choicest Lover mine,
May my heart’s love be ever thine.
Bless me Jesus, God of power,
Now and in death’s departing hour.
A LETTER ON HOW A PERSON SHOULD PRACTICE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED NAME OF JESUS
The eternal God asks a favor of the pure soul: “Hold me close to thy heart.”
A true friend of God should always keep some good images or thoughts in his soul’s mouth and chew on them in order to inflame his heart with love or God. The most perfect thing we can do in this life is to think frequently of God’s love, to languish for his love; to speak often about him, to meditate on his words, to do all our actions for him, and to think of him alone. The eye should look at him; the ear should listen to his desires; the heart, soul, and emotions should embrace him tenderly. If we have offended him, we should supplicate him; if he exercises us, we should bear with him; if he hides himself, we should seek our Beloved and not desist until we have found him. And when we have found him, we should embrace him tenderly and reverently.
Whether we walk or stand still, eat or drink, we should at all times wear the golden locket IHS upon our hearts.
If we are unable to do anything else, we should press it upon our souls with our eyes and revolve this gracious Name in our mouths. We should think of it so often during the day so that we will dream of it during the night.
Say with the prophet Jeremiah (Lam. 3:25): “Good is the Lord to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him.”
Behold this is the best practice you can acquire. The crown of all spiritual exercises is fervent prayer, and everything else must be subordinated to it as to the final goal.
What else do they do in heaven except contemplate and love the gracious Beloved, love and praise him? Therefore, the more tenderly we press the divine love to our hearts, and the oftener we gaze upon it and embrace it with the arms of our heart, the more will we be embraced by him here and in eternal bliss.
Take, for example, the great lover of God, St. Paul. He lovingly inscribed the sweet Name of Jesus in the deepest depths of his heart. At his martyrdom, when his head had been severed from his holy body, the head spoke three times: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!.” During his excruciating martyrdom, St. Ignatius repeated the Name of Jesus with intense fervor. When he was asked the reason for this, he replied that the Name of Jesus was engraved in his heart. After his death, the astonished executioners opened his heart and found written there in golden letters: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”
AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEVOTION TO THE MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS
The Servitor sent this last letter to his spiritual daughter. This ardent lover of God had often noticed the intense devotion and firm faith which her spiritual father had in the lovable Name of Jesus. She had also heard from his own lips the manner in which he had engraved this same Name into his heart. She cultivated in her own heart a burning desire and love for this holy Name, and in order to increase her devotion she embroidered the Name with red silk on a small piece of white cloth in this fashion: IHS. She carried this namesake always with her, and embroidered countless others in the same way.
When the Servitor of Wisdom came to visit her, she devoutly begged him to touch all these names to his heart and then to return them to her. And he did so.
Then she took the one she had made for herself and sewed it to her underclothing, so that no one could see it. Her purpose herein was to augment her love of God and to obtain his perpetual blessing. The other names which she had prepared she sent to his numerous spiritual children, asking them to wear them for the same intention, and they did so. She wore this Name secretly the rest of her life; it was buried with her.
It happened shortly before her death that the Servitor came to visit her for the last time. She addressed him thus: “Dear father, may God be praised for all the blessings I have received from him through you. Now, my dear spiritual father, I ask one more favor from your virtuous heart. Please do not refuse me. And I confide to you that I have often been admonished by God in prayer to ask this of you. It is his wish that you grant it.”
He spoke: “Dear daughter, whatever you desire in God shall be done.”
She answered: “Father, whoever knows your loving heart as God and I do, and hears or reads your enthusiastic words, will observe the fiery and profound devotion you have towards this sacred Name and the immense benefit all persons should derive from this same devotion. Therefore, I, a poor suffering creature, beg you in God’s stead and for the sake of this sublime Name, that before you die, you would in the this hour lay your anointed hand against the saving Name which you engraved upon your heart. Then, with the same hand make the Sign of the Cross over all of us who because of you holy instructions venerate this Name and daily repeat the morning prayer which God taught you as a means of honoring him and encouraging all people to practice this same devotion. If they are prevented from saying this prayer, they will say a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria, accompanied with a venia to honor him before whom all knees bow, in heaven and on earth. This will assure them of God’s protection in all life’s events, and help them to conquer all obstacles to Gods praise and their eternal welfare.”
Seeing in her earnestness and devotion sign of God’s will in the matter, the Servitor devoutly placed his hand upon his heart, touched the Name of Jesus, and then in the almighty power of that same Name he made the Sign of the Cross and blessed all those who would devoutly repeat the aforementioned morning prayer in honor of the sacred Name. He begged God to grant them a holy death and eternal blessedness. And may God help all of us to attain this through the merits of his Holy Name! Amen.
MORNING PRAYER
This is the aforementioned praiseworthy greeting and excellent morning prayer which a person should say in order to honor God and ward off from himself all harm:
“O Thou most beautiful, most brilliant Eternal Wisdom, my soul has yearned for you during the night. Now in this early morning hour, my heart and soul have awakened to thee, my love. I beg thee, my gracious Lord, that your coveted presence will drive all evil far from my body and soul, pour precious graces into every dark nook of my being, and inflame my cold heart with the fire of divine love. Ah, Sweetest Jesus Christ, turn your gracious countenance kindly toward me, because this morning my soul turns to you with all its faculties. I tenderly greet you from the deepest depth of my heart and desire that the thousand times a thousand angels who serve you would today greet you for me, and that the ten thousand times a hundred thousand heavenly spirits who dwell with you would praise you worthily. May the fair loveliness of all creatures praise you today in union with me, and gratefully bless your sacred Name, our comforting shield, now and throughout the ageless eternity. Amen.”
PÁGINAS: toc
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