Ave Maria Meditations
Jesus speaks: As I offered Myself willingly to God the Father for your sins with hands outstretched and body naked on the cross, so that nothing remained in Me that did not become a complete sacrifice to appease the divine wrath, so are you to be willing to offer yourself to Me day by day in the Mass as a pure and holy oblation, together with all your faculties and affections, with as much inward devotion as you can?
What more do I ask than that you give yourself entirely to Me? I care not for anything else you may give Me, for I seek not your gift but you. Just as it would not be enough for you to have everything if you did not have Me, so whatever you give cannot please Me if you do not give yourself.
Offer yourself to Me, therefore, and give yourself entirely for God: your offering will be accepted. Behold, I offered Myself wholly to the Father for you, I even gave My whole Body and Blood for Food that I might be all yours, and you Mine forever… if you desire to attain grace and freedom of heart, let the free offering of yourself into the hands of God precede your every action.
From the Imitation of Christ
