Chapter 83: Of the appearance of Angels in white garments

I BLESS and praise You, O most sweet Jesus Christ, and on this holy day devoutly do I thank You for having (after Your departure from the Apostles and Your entrance with the Angels into Heaven) sent two Angels clad in white, messengers of the Court of Heaven, to comfort Your bereaved ones who were looking up after You into Heaven, but were unable to follow You. " You men of Galilee" they said to them, " You men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to Heaven? Why marvel you at this astounding miracle, the like of which was never seen? With God all things are possible; God, made Man, has gone up with a shout, even as in the psalm it was foretold of Him. Be it yours therefore to carry the tidings, and to bear witness, to others, of the things which you have heard and seen, even as it was commanded you. This Jesus Who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him going into Heaven. But He Who till now, in order that He might lead to the realms above those who humbly followed Him upon earth, here showed Himself to you as One meek and lowly, will then come in great power and glory to judge the living and the dead."

O my Jesus, Whom I love above all things, remember, I beseech You, in Your glory, me, poor sinner that I am. Remember and have mercy on me, left a stranger and an exile in this vale of tears, mourning and weeping amid the many temptations and troubles of this present life, which so often keep back my heart from thinking of the joys of Heaven. Draw me, then, after You, O most blessed Jesus, so that, unable as I am to follow You with my bodily feet, I may at least go after You in spirit, by the path of holy desire and burning love. All unworthy, all unable, as I am, to behold You in the unfathomableness of Your Divine Majesty, give me grace to follow the example of humility which in Your Human Nature You did set me.

O blessed sight, to behold God face to face, as He is in Himself, as He is even now perfectly seen in Heaven by the Angels and all the Saints. And now I know of a truth that never can all my desires be satisfied or set at rest by any earthly good. That can only be when I am united to You, my God, in Heaven, and am purged from all that is evil. But for this it was that You did go before me to the Father, to prepare the way and a place where I may dwell with You; and to obtain for me, by the scars of Your Wounds, the pardon of my sins, that so I may have great confidence before You, both in this life and in that which is to come, by reason of the abundance of Your mercies, the all-sufficiency of Your merits, and the assistance of the prayers of all the Saints and Angels.

Ah, good Jesus, forsake me not! You Who in the power of Your might have wrought great marvels. You are my love, and that which my soul longs for; You are my Saviour and Redeemer, my hope from my youth up, my expectation, and that in which I place all my trust even unto old age. Thanking You from the bottom of my heart for all Your benefits, I will, with all Your Saints, love You and praise You above all things, all the days of my pilgrimage and of my exile here on earth.

And now, O my soul, go back with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and with His Apostles, from the Mount of Olives to the City of Jerusalem, there to seek peace of heart and rest from all the cares of the world. Go up with them to that large Upper Room, where the Passover of the old Law was superseded by the institution of the adorable Sacrament of the Body of Christ, there ordained and given to the Apostles. Recollect yourself therefore; remain quietly alone and in silence; wait upon God in prayers and devout meditation, and so prepare yourself, against the approaching feast of Pentecost, for receiving, as did the Apostles, with a fervent heart the Holy Spirit of God. They took no thought of earthly comfort, but awaited, in the privacy of that Upper Room, the new pledge of love to be sent by Christ from Heaven. Call to mind meanwhile the good gifts of God from the beginning of the world until now, and chiefly occupy yourself in conferring with the Blessed Virgin Mary about the Incarnation of Christ: think over all the sayings and doings of Jesus her Son, as recorded in the Gospels, from the day of His Birth to the day of His Glorious Ascension to the Father; and remember that even then He did not abandon His Mother who was so dear to Him, but specially left her to be the comforter of the faint-hearted, and to confirm in the faith the Apostles and the rest of the faithful; for she it was who knew more fully and more exactly than anyone else the works and the miracles which Jesus had wrought upon earth.