Ave Maria Mediations
HOLY COMMUNION WITH MARY
(Meditating on the Hail Mary)
by Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI
O holy Virgin, I am about to receive your Jesus. I wish my heart were like yours when you became Mother of the Savior at the time of the Annunciation of the Angel.
Hail Mary:
I greet you, good Mother. Allow me to unite myself with you to adore Jesus. lend me your affections, your sentiments. Moreover I ask you, in fact, to adore Him for me. Hail, O true Body of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary: I believe, and I adore You.
Full of grace:
You, Mary, were worthy to receive the all-holy God, for you were full of grace from the first moment of your life. But I am poor and sinful. My evil ways make me unfit to go to Communion. O my Mother, cover me with your merits and lead me to Jesus.
The Lord is with Thee:
The Lord is with thee, O most Holy Virgin. By your ardent longing you drew Him down from Heaven into your heart. Instill also in my heart an ardent longing and an insatiable hunger for Jesus, so that I can truly say, “Come, O my Jesus, I long for You with the heart of Mary, Your Mother and mine”.
Blessed art thou among women:
Blessed art thou, O Mary, who have never known the remorse that comes from committing sin; for you are free of every kind of sin and imperfection. But I know I have sinned, and I am not sure that I have been sufficiently sorry. Make me understand the evil of my sins and the goodness of God whom I have offended. I weep for my sins. Present me thus penitent to your Jesus.
And blessed is the Fruit of thy womb:
Ah, good Mother! What a great gift you have given us in giving us our Savior, Jesus! And behold, He wants to come to me to make me an especially beloved child of your heart. I go with confidence to receive Him, and I say to Him: “My Jesus, I abandon myself to You. Come to give me strength to serve You faithfully, and the hope of enjoying You forever with Your Mother in Heaven.”
Jesus:
Grant, O Mother, that I experience those sentiments that you experienced as you lived in Jesus’ company, as you called Him by name. I am now about to receive Him. Allow me to be able to say to Him: “Come, O my Jesus. You will find in me the same welcome that You had from Your Mother on earth”. I hope that through Her intercession You will welcome me into Heaven.
Holy Mary, Mother of God:
O my Mother, how happy I am to be united with my Jesus! But how do I deserve to have my Lord come down to me? O Mary, who are holy and Immaculate, offer Him worthy thanks for me.
O thou who, from the first perceived the heartbeats of that Jesus Whom I now welcome within me, thou who loved Him more than all the Saints together have loved Him, and who lived for Him alone when you were on earth, grant that I may now share your sentiments and your love.
And Thou, a Jesus, accept the love of Your Mother as though it were my own and do not deny me a tender glance while I also say to Thee with all my heart, “I love Thee.”
Pray for us sinners:
Pray for me, O Mary. At this time unite your prayers to mine. And now that Jesus has come into my heart, ready to grant me all graces, I wish to ask Him above all that I never separate myself from Him by sin. And you, O Mary, preserve me from evil, and be my refuge in temptation.
Now:
For now and from now on, beloved Mother, I beg for all the graces that are profitable to my soul. Obtain for me this favor: that I be clothed with the virtues of goodness and meekness and that my life be one of spotless purity.
And at the hour of our death:
From now on my prayer, O Jesus, is that I may receive You worthily at the time of my death and that my death may be a holy one. I accept it, when and how You shall send it to me – I welcome it in union with Your sacrifice fulfilled on the Cross. I accept it in order to submit myself to the divine Will, for the glory of God, for my salvation, and for the salvation of souls. O Sorrowful Virgin, assist me as you have assisted Jesus in His last agony.
Amen:
“So be it.” O Jesus, here is the word that I want to repeat at every instant, both during my youth and throughout my life. May Thy Will be done always. And all that You provide is the best thing for me, and from now on I accept it and give You thanks. Amen.
Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI (Jesus, Our Eucharistic Love)
