Finis

In hora mortis meae voca me, et jube venire ad te.

At the hour of my death, call me,

and bid me come to you.

Thou inward Stranger/ Whom I have never seen/ Deeper and cleaner/ Than the clamorous ocean.../ Hold me in Thy Hand!

Thomas Merton, "Stranger"

...lo, I am with you always, even unto the end...(Matt. 28:20)

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

 Ne permittas me separari a te.

Never let me be separated from you.

Sunday is the feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of God with us.

"My church is never empty so long as the ruby burns in the sanctuary lamp; my church is filled with all times and all places." 

--Richard Rodriguez, "Irish Catholic," Political Passages, J. Bunzel, ed.

Intra tua vulnera absconde me.

Within your wounds, hide me.

Passio Christi, conforta me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

 

We see the word is "conforta." Perhaps we would better translate it as "form," or "shape," or "fashion." When we suffer, we are formed in Christ's image. And as Thomas Merton points out, without Christ, human suffering is just misery.

 

Aqua lateris Christi, lava me.
 








Water from the side of Christ, wash me.

Anima Christi

Anima Christi, sanctifica me.
Corpus Christi, salve me.
Sanguis Christi, inebria me.







Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.

 

"...and the late afternoon mingled with the sanctity of trees."

 (Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome)