Prayer before the Holy Rosary.
dr Wojciech Kosek
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Meditations led by eight people
L, P, W, Z – men; A, B, D, J – women
(Duration of the meditations with songs: about 57 minutes)
This translation was published here on 14 Sep 2023.
To see the original Polish text ← click, please!
J Be glorified, O Beloved Jesus Christ, on another day of Lent, another day of grace, as we try to win ourselves to you. We have come from our homes to you… We have come as members of the parish community and representatives of many families and communities, including members of the Guard of Honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the slowly emerging new community, the prayer group of Saint Padre Pio. We have come here, to the temple of the Lord, to the parish church of Divine Providence, such dear to us, in order to participate with You, O beloved Jesus, in the Holy Mass, and after it is over, together in community, to remain in prayer of sacramental union with You. We are here with You and for You, O Jesus, to love you as You desire to be loved… (1:31)
J Song: Here in this Sacrament – 1–2 stanza (1:46)
Z Be glorified, Jesus Christ, the most holy God, hidden in the mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, come to us under the species of the Most Holy Host! Be exalted, our beloved Savior, performing a miraculous transformation of every one of us throughout our lives and with particular intensity during the Eucharist and the prayer immediately following it! Be exalted in our hearts, be exalted in our thoughts and desires, be exalted in our actions! Be exalted in the love with which we love You! Be exalted in the love with which we love the whole Trinity! Be exalted in the love with which we love the Immaculate Mary, Your and our Mother! Be exalted in love with which we love one another as sisters and brothers, as daughters and sons of God… (1:27)
Z Song: O the Silent White Host – 1–2 stanza (2:12)
D Beloved Savior! We desire not to waste the time you have given us today to meet You in the Eucharist and adoration. Therefore, we ask You for the grace to focus our hearts on You, on Your poignant presence. At the Holy Mass, we received You in Holy Communion, and thanks to this, we are now in such unspeakable communion with You. Therefore, we ask you, O Beloved, to guide us along the paths of love by which, with the help of Your grace, we are able to pass into the depths of our hearts. (0:56)
D Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 1–2 stanza (1:40)
L Beloved Jesus! We desire to kindle in our hearts a mighty flame of that love which You expect of us, which You longingly await from us. We desire to abide with You in prayer in the Garden of Olives; we desire to listen to the anguish of Your Heart; we desire to know what pains You most deeply. We desire to be with You in the Garden of Gethsemane, to be there for You in those poignant hours of agony… In prayerful meditation, in union with You, we desire to know the paths by which we can pass to win ourselves to You, to love You as You desire to be loved. (1:07)
L Song: Garden of Olives – 1–2 stanza (1:20)
A Beloved Jesus! On 6 February 2014, we marked the 250th anniversary of Pope Clement XIII’s establishment of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. We remember that the Pope did this at the request of the Polish bishops. Therefore, we feel an inner urge to take up the spiritual heritage of our Fathers and to read with attention the content of those revelations that formed the basis of the papal decision. Therefore, we remember the revelations you gave to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. O Jesus! In the so-called Fourth Great Apparition, which took place in 16 June 1675, You showed Saint Margaret Mary once again Your Heart and said: (1:16)
W “Behold this Heart that has so loved men that it has spared nothing even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to show them its love. And in return I receive from most men only ingratitude, by their irreverences and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show to Me in this Sacrament of love. But what wounds Me yet more deeply is that this is done by souls who are consecrated to Me. That is why I ask that the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi shall be kept as a special Feast in honor of My Heart, that on that day Communion shall be offered as a special act of reparation for the indignities committed. And I promise that My Heart will pour out abundantly the power of its love upon those who pay it, or who cause others to pay it, honor.” [1] (1:34)
W Song: O my Jesus in the Host Hidden – 1–2 stanza (2:06)
B Beloved Savior! You told St. Margaret that in response to Your love, You receive nothing from most of us humans except ingratitude. How poignant it is that You want our love and give Your love, but most of us not only do not give You love but humiliate You. O Dearest Jesus! You confessed to St. Margaret that although all human sins hurt You, the most painful heartache comes from the humiliations that You suffer from our sins aimed at the mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, the greatest mystery of Your loving presence with us and for us. We are here with You, O Jesus, present in the Most Holy Sacrament, wanting to comfort You. We are here to open ourselves to Your confession, to Your waiting, to Your longing for true love… our love… my love, O Jesus… (1:38)
P Do I love You? Do I wish to love You as You desire to be loved, that is, not according to my ideas and preferences, but according to how You reveal this through the teaching of the Church? How necessary it is for us now, in this hour of grace, in this hour of so close, loving being with You, in Your presence, to reflect in the depths of our hearts on our love for You. Jesus! Does it not concern every one of us personally with these words which You address through Saint Margaret, that we as humans, and especially we as chosen persons, hurt You immeasurably by the lack of reverence, by the sacrilege, the coldness, and contempt we have for You in the Eucharist… Surely we do not tear Your Heart by sacrilege, contempt, and lack of reverence… Surely not… However, what is the temperature of our love? Is it not cold, is it not frigidity?… (1:38)
P Song: The Hidden Jesus – 1st stanza (0:53)
J Beloved Jesus! Is my love for You warm? Is it not instead a frigidity – a frigidity which You list in revelation as one of the four most grievous wrongs? Jesus! Is not our love for You in the Most Holy Eucharist a frigidity, an insensitivity, an inability to delight in the gift of Your Eucharistic presence, an inability to remain unhurriedly with You when we receive You in Holy Communion?… Is my love for You a delight in who You are and how You are? What is my love for You, O Beloved? (1:03)
Z O Jesus! Is not my love a frigidity that cares little for discovering Your expectations regarding the time that begins at the very end of the Mass, that is, when, under cover of the Most Holy Host, You come to me as a true Man, as a Man truly in love, as a Man truly in love with me, thirsting for the reciprocation of love?… You come to love, You come to kindle love, You come to give Yourself… And I?… What is my response to love? What is my response to Your love, O Jesus? (1:03)
Z Song: The Hidden Jesus – 2 stanza (0:53)
D Beloved Jesus, hidden under the species of the Holy Host! How common is it for us not to remain in church after the Eucharist is over, to be with You and to talk to You precisely in this fascinating situation, when You are with us and for us, for our community of uttering love, our community of singing songs of love… Do we not lose too much by abandoning You to other persons or things at a time that is naturally the sacred time and the time of God, just as every Sunday is? Is it not so exceptional to have God come to me as my beloved? Can I fail again and again to notice this uniqueness of it? What is my love for you, Jesus?… (1:19)
L Dearest Jesus! Would any of us be happy if the person whose love he desires used to receive him as we do for You? Would any of us be happy if the person whose love he desires used to receive him as we do for You coming in Holy Communion with the heart yearning for presence, our presence? Would any of us be delighted if the time of his friendship, fiancé, or marriage encounters were limited each time to a few minutes, hurriedly ended by the departure of his beloved towards other people or things, still requiring to be dealt with?… Would such love be a source of happiness, a sense of worth, a sense of being chosen? Probably not… (1:21)
L Song: I Want to Give You Everything – 1st stanza (0:47)
A Dearest Jesus! I ask in the depths of my heart: Would I be happy if, as I do towards You, I were received by the person whose love I desire? Would a love realized in this way be a source of happiness for me, a sense of worth, a sense of being chosen? Probably not… However, this is how you must feel, O Beloved, when almost every day immediately after receiving You in Holy Communion, I have no time to meet after the Eucharist with You in prayer, to look into Your eyes, to listen to the rhythm of Your Heart … Dearest Jesus! Does it have to be this way? Can it be like this? After all, You desire my love, as You confessed to Your beloved St. Margaret during the apparition: (1:18)
W “I thirst with such a terrible thirst to be loved by men in the Blessed Sacrament that this thirst consumes Me. Yet I find no one trying to quench it according to My desire by some return of My love.” [2] (0:27)
B Beloved Jesus! I read in Your words a great desire that can only be satisfied by the love that gushes forth from the spring that is my heart… I read the profoundly touching words of Your confession… I read them and tremble with emotion, intimidated by the confession, because You profess Your love for me with these words: I desire that you love Me… I desire that you love Me in the Blessed Sacrament… I desire that you love Me in the Blessed Sacrament with a desire so fervent that it burns Me… I desire that you love Me in the Blessed Sacrament according to My good pleasure, giving Me the time to love in return for My love… (1:07)
P Dearest Jesus! I am aware that I must make an effort, again and again, to discover what Your desire is, according to which I am to respond to Your love. In the apparition that was read just now, I notice that you confess to St. Margaret Your desire for us to love You in the Most Holy Sacrament. Yes, You desire to be loved by us in the Blessed Sacrament. Do we love You in the Blessed Sacrament? Do we notice You in the Blessed Sacrament…? Do I love You, O Jesus…? (0:59)
P Song: I Want to Give You Everything – 2 stanza (0:47)
J Jesus! Over and over again, we must make an effort to perceive this unappreciated and yet extraordinary reality of Your presence in the Most Holy Eucharist and the opportunity to encounter You sacramentally – when You are present with us in a way that cannot be compared to any other way of Your presence with us. We remember, instructed by the Second Vatican Council, that You are with people in many ways – in every person in a state of sanctifying grace, in the liturgical assembly, in the reading of Scripture, in the person of the celebrant, in a brother in need of help… At the same time, we remember that the Council, in the Constitution on the Liturgy, [3] underlines that among these many different ways of Your presence, there is one absolutely unique, absolutely distinguished. It is Your substantive, truly fully human – spiritual and bodily – presence in the Blessed Sacrament. (1:40)
Z Beloved Jesus! Although our senses cannot convince us that You are here not only spiritually but truly bodily, our hearts, seized by the teaching of the Church, faithfully profess gratitude to You for being here in such a unique way. You came physically, just as we came here physically from our homes. You came, and you are. You are, and you love… You are because you love… (0:43)
Z Song: I Know in Whom I Believe – 1st stanza (0:37)
D O Beloved Lord Jesus! Here we are gazing at You, hidden behind the whiteness of the Sacred Host placed in a golden monstrance, and even more so within ourselves, for after all, we have just received You in Holy Communion at Mass. We know that the entire Mass is a great thanksgiving to God. We also know that between the end of receiving Communion and the final blessing, there is the part explicitly dedicated to thanksgiving – thanksgiving for God’s gift of Communion. This part is marked by the fact that, according to liturgical norms, we sit down to sing a song of praise, a song of praise to our Lord…. (1:07)
L We know, O Beloved, that while still during the Eucharist, there is a part after Communion specifically dedicated to thanksgiving – thanksgiving for the Divine gift of Communion. Therefore, we ask ourselves now, as we abide in union with You in adoration after the end of the Holy Mass: do You, O Divine Master, want us to celebrate thanksgiving after the Holy Mass? Do You care about it? Are we not wasting time while prolonging our encounter with You after the Eucharist, thirsting to bestow love on You, thirsting to thank You for love? (0:59)
L Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 1st stanza (0:43)
A As we ask these questions about love for You, O Jesus, we bring out from memory the testimony of the life of the holy Italian Capuchin, Padre Pio, who was raised to the altars to be a model for us on our way to holiness, and therefore a model for celebrating thanksgiving after Mass. He is a model for us all the more so because, by the orchestration of Your Divine Providence, his relics are kept here in our parish church. (0:45)
W Accounts of St. Padre Pio usually emphasize that You endowed him with stigmata – signs of his special love for You in a state of sacrificial offering for us. We are also familiar with how extremely deeply St. Pio experienced the Holy Mass and how long he prepared in concentration for its celebration. What we do not often consider, however, is how long the holy Capuchin lasted in prayer after the celebration was over. (0:47)
W Song: I Know in Whom I Believe – 2 stanza (0:37)
B Czesław Ryszka [4] wrote about the saint’s thanksgiving during and after the Holy Mass: “Padre Pio … did not skimp time on prayer. He considered it a sacred and inviolable thing, the inner sphere of man, which everyone should respect in the other man… Thanksgiving did not end with the end of the Holy Mass. Padre Pio would first kneel for a long time in the sacristy and then go to his place in the choir. He wrote to Fr. Augustine in a letter: ‘After the Holy Mass, I stayed with Jesus in thanksgiving. What a heavenly conversation it was! Jesus’ heart and my heart merged into one. There were no longer two hearts beating but only one. My heart disappeared like a droplet absorbed by the ocean’ ” (18.04.1912). (1:13)
P Another author, Father Majka, Padre Pio’s co-brother, recorded in his book: [5] “In April 1926, another inspector was in San Giovanni Rotondo… It was found that Padre Pio fulfills his duties normally, devotes much time to personal prayer and takes part in the spiritual exercises of the religious community. He celebrates the preparation for the Holy Mass and thanksgiving in the monastic choir, not the sacristy. Thanksgiving sometimes lasts an hour or even longer. Then, he celebrates meditation for half an hour. The Holy Mass … is celebrated with great piety. It lasts from 25 to 35 minutes” (p. 37). (1:01)
J In an account from another period of the saint’s life, we read: “He would go to the choir systematically for morning prayers. (…) Then, he would go downstairs to celebrate the Holy Mass. Then he would return to the choir for thanksgiving, which usually lasted more than an hour” (pp. 37-38). Moreover, in another place: “15 July 1933 [noted] …: He always celebrated the Holy Sacrifice with the greatest piety. After the Holy Mass, he celebrated thanksgiving, which lasted an hour or even two” (p. 44). (0:50)
Z “O. Pio was … an excellent director of souls … He only reproached himself that in devoting to the ministry of confession, he devoted too little time to thanksgiving after the Holy Mass. He once said: Let us be careful that cannot does not turn into do not want, for one should always give thanks to God…” (p. 86) (0:34)
Z Song: Be Hail, Living Host – 2 stanza (0:43)
D Beloved Jesus! A poignant testimony of persistent prayer after the Holy Mass, not limited to a few moments but lasting an hour or an hour and a half, was given throughout his priestly life by St. Padre Pio. He stands out in this regard both in his religious order and in the Church. We have not reached the saint’s notes, in which he explains his holy distinctiveness in detail. However, a particular event shortly after his ordination to the priesthood allows us to understand his determination. By Your grace, O Jesus, quite recently, two months ago, we too became acquainted with the description of this event. It is presented by the Italian writer Marcello Stanzione, who describes it in detail in the book “Padre Pio and the Purgatory Souls.” [6] (1:23)
L The author reports that after his priestly ordination, Padre Pio stayed in his hometown of Pietrelcina due to his serious health condition. One day, Father Salvatore, the provost there, confessed to him that he had been seeing the late Father Giovanni, his predecessor as provost of this parish, every day for some time – seeing him kneeling behind the altar during the entire Holy Mass. In addition, the late Father Giovanni was also seen in another church by the wife of a sacristan, who noticed him kneeling before the Holy Mass on the steps leading to the main altar. She looked at him closely and noticed that he was the late provost! While celebrating the Holy Mass, Padre Pio also saw a priest kneeling in that church, but since he could not get a good look at him, he did not pay much attention to the event; he thought it was simply a priest immersed in prayer. (1:38)
A It turned out that the late Father Giovanni had been seen in such situations for about a month. The last time, he said to the current provost: “Salvatore, now I am leaving you; I will not return. How terrible it was for me and how much it cost me to participate in the Corpus Christi procession after Mass without proper thanksgiving.” (0:38)
A Song: Your Heart, Jesus, is Burning with Love – 3rd stanza (0:50)
W What did the late Provost Giovanni mean when he confessed that it cost him a great deal to participate in the Corpus Christi procession after the Holy Mass without proper thanksgiving? Father Salvatore explained it. All the townspeople knew that the late Provost Giovanni was an honest priest with a good soul, but he was lazy in giving thanks to the Lord after the liturgy. He usually left the church immediately after the Holy Mass and indulged in conversation with the apothecary or some other acquaintance, discoursing politics or recent events. It was not appropriate. Indeed, immediately after the Holy Mass, the Eucharistic species had not yet been assimilated by his body – they were intact. Therefore, his body was like a living monstrance, carrying Jesus within it – just as it is during the Corpus Christi procession. It is known that during the procession, the attention of the priest carrying Jesus in the monstrance and the attention of all believers is focused on Jesus… (1:50)
B However, although the late provost was like a living monstrance after the Holy Mass and carried Jesus within him, his focus was not on Jesus but on other people and things. Being the living monstrance carrying Jesus in the Eucharist, he should have been burning with love for Jesus and not talking about mundane matters with friends, thus not setting a good example. For this behavior, he went to purgatory after his death. It was not until just Padre Pio, with his fervent prayers, shortened the good-natured provost’s punishment and freed him from the torments of purgatory.” (1:02)
B Song: The Hidden Jesus – 3rd stanza (0:53)
P Dearest Jesus! As a young priest, Padre Pio received from You the grace of meeting during one month with a priest suffering in purgatory for not paying attention to the sacred duty of abiding prayerfully with You after the end of the Holy Mass. One can assume that thanks to this grace, Padre Pio had the spiritual power to persist in this salutary practice of thanksgiving throughout his entire life. The grace You gave to the saint is also given to us today, for being a priest elevated to the altars, he shows us the way to holiness. (0:52)
A In this hour of our prayerful abiding in Eucharistic union with You, we ask You, our Savior, to help ourselves and all the believers of our parish so that we may all be able to imitate St. Padre Pio in loving being with You, not only during the Holy Mass but also in the time immediately following it. We earnestly ask you to forgive us for these omissions, the seriousness of which we were probably not fully aware. The priest’s testimony, coming from purgatory, moves us to the depths and mobilizes us to undertake a change in our lives, in our relationship to You. (1:06)
A Song: Jesus, Veiled in the Sacred Host – 1st stanza (0:30)
Z Lord Jesus! In order to be able to consciously imitate St. Padre Pio in heartfelt prayerful intimacy with You coming in Holy Communion, we will now pray the Holy Rosary with the awareness that we are now in sacramental union with You. Therefore, we are not only in the Church of Divine Providence of the year 2015, but also, in some mysterious way, we are experiencing what, from the point of view of our human nature, has already irretrievably passed away – we are participating in Your way that You pass from the Cenacle of the Last Supper towards the Hill of the Skull, where You offer the Father the saving sacrifice of love of Your life. (1:05)
D We desire to participate with You in this going, so poignant with trepidation, to be the consolation and reassuring that You have the right to expect from us as Your friends. We go with Your Immaculate Mother Mary; we go with You and the Apostles, leaving the Upper Room and going down to the brook Cedron to climb up the slope of the Mount of Olives to enter the Garden of Olives. Here is the first stage of your and our way together. We are with You, Savior! (0:52)