Inspired by St. Basil the Great and St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Dearest
Guardian Angels,
Be with us;
Stay with us.
Through God’s
Bountiful love,
Please protect us!
Please guard us!
Please guide us!
Please teach us!
Save us from
The dark night,
And lead us into
The Holy Light.
Jesus, I trust in You!
Amen.
Inspired by Pompeo Batoni’s masterpiece
The lecherous elders saw her,
with eyes wanton and wicked
they saw the lovely Susannah
as she innocently bathed in the
warm water of the silent garden,
but when she rejected the lurid
scheme of these unjust judges,
their vicious vile hearts burned
with lust and anger, and so
they perniciously plotted to
melt down her golden reputation
in the fiery furnace of calumny;
but still, she trusted,
Susannah trusted in God --
then, the Spirit of the Lord rushed
upon a youth named Daniel
who, though very humble,
spoke with the authoritative
passion of the prophets of old,
and his wondrous wisdom
amazed the people who listened --
and, lo, in the twinkle of an eye,
Justice struck down the elders
like a holy hammer from Heaven.
Inspired by Caravaggio’s masterpiece
David, youthful and ruddy,
God’s brave little warrior,
Bends over to see the stupefied
Expression on Goliath’s face;
The beheaded giant attempts to
Utter one last word to the victor,
But the smooth stone piercing
His bloody brain prevents him;
The future king is as calm and
Collected as a sage prophet,
Truly he is God’s holy champion,
The faithful and fearless one.
Inspired by Jacopo Bassano’s masterpiece
Just a moment ago,
before I struck the rock,
the people used their mouths
to stone me with sarcasm,
to run me through with ridicule,
to crucify me with cruelty --
but if they would see You here,
the Holy One, the great I AM,
they would never do this to You;
yet now, with those same mouths,
they thirstily drink the water,
refreshing their parched throats,
strengthening their tired bodies --
but what they really need,
what they really and truly need,
to refresh and purify their souls,
is Your gracious gift of Living Water,
an endless ocean of Divine Mercy.
Inspired by Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece
As Jesus sits at table,
He lovingly shares with us
Clusters of nine grapes,
One for each fruit of the Spirit;
We eat them and they are
Sweeter than moscato,
And they lovingly burst forth in
Wonderful fireworks of flavor;
But then we see others in need
At the far end of the table,
And so, in Love, we share
Our delightful fruit with them too,
So that Love is all in all,
And the more we share this
Most excellent fruit with others,
The more Jesus shares it with us.
Inspired by Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto’s masterpiece
A lonely little baby in a basket
floats freely in the current of
the Nile River, his brown eyes
wandering to and fro, innocently
wondering where his mother is;
the Spirit delicately leads the
young one towards his new home,
and in a short time the babe feels
his journey come to a gentle halt;
when the basket opens, he looks up
and sees a pretty face, but unlike
any that he has seen before, painted,
but with a light, elegant touch;
then the Egyptian woman’s
eyes open wide in wonder,
and her beautiful lips curve
into a warm, sweet smile,
and for the first time in
her life, she is in love.
Inspired by Paolo Veronese’s masterpiece
Our Lord looks at Mary
With sweetness and gentleness,
And she looks back at him,
Incredulous, that He could
Forgive and pardon
Her many many grave sins;
She gazes into the eyes of Love,
Her heart pierced by the lance of
Sincere heartfelt contrition, and
As He breaks the chains of her sin,
She experiences the Good,
She experiences the True,
She experiences the Beautiful —
And, lo, she is a new creation!
O Mystical Rose,
Surrounded by the
Dazzling and brilliant Light,
You open your little lantern
And fill it to the brim
With the Light of Love,
Then you humbly and gently
Shine it upon the whole world,
Transfiguring it,
With His glorious goodness,
With His transparent truth,
With His benevolent beauty!
Inspired by Antonio Castillo Saavedra’s masterpiece
Stripped of his ornamental tunic
By his jealous, impulsive brothers,
Joseph sits cramped inside a dry well,
As if inside a cavernous dungeon,
Bewildered, like a lost lonely sheep;
Then, he’s startled by a falling rope --
He instinctively grips it and
Suddenly, he’s jerked upwards,
His eyes observing the misty clouds
That seem to be swirling in confusion
Above him in the cold dark sky;
After being yanked out of the well
And thrown roughly to the ground
By one of his very own brothers,
He wearily looks up at an
Astonished Midianite merchant,
Who carefully looks him over
With a shrewd business-like eye
Before buying him, on the spot,
For a bargain of twenty shekels;
As Joseph slowly walks alongside
This cheerful good-natured trader,
He wonders what God’s plans will be
For him in the distant land of Egypt.
Inspired by Paolo Veronese’s masterpiece
Abraham simply can’t wait any longer:
His heavy heart thunderously thumps
Deep down inside his big broad chest,
And his body trembles with terror.
He hesitates as if he is hopelessly lost,
As if wandering in a wasteland of worry,
Yet when he closes his weary eyes,
He finds God’s gift of faith in his heart.
Little Isaac gazes upward towards the sky,
Wondering why the clouds are so grey,
He completely trusts his good father,
And knows not his own impending doom.
Abraham’s hopeful hand grips the knife,
Then very slowly, and ever so silently,
He raises its bloodless blade in the air,
Preparing for the swift stroke of death.
But an angel in white stops him and
Abraham’s body crumbles to the ground,
Like fallen fragments of unleavened bread,
And Divine Mercy warmly smiles upon him.
Inspired by Frans Francken II’s masterpiece
The people were far more
advanced in technology than
their predecessors, and they
built a tower soaring to the skies;
their minds were filled with
grand new dreams of progress,
and each of them envisioned
a great new world in which
their creative ingenuity
would supply all of their needs --
they no longer needed God.
The Spirit slowly circled overhead,
saddened that He had been
forgotten by the people,
so He sighed deeply, wishing
His children to know how much
they needed Him, wishing
them to know how greatly and
how passionately He loved them;
so He withdrew and gave them
what they wanted: independence --
and then they babbled like idiots.
Why are dust and ashes proud?
Why is it that we accomplish
great things, and then we
forget the One who gave us
the gifts in the first place?
Even stubborn donkeys
understand that although
they wear a very beautiful
diamond-studded saddle,
it is absolutely nothing that
they earned or deserved.
Inspired by Francis Danby’s masterpiece
Far, far away,
on the stormy grey sea,
Noah’s grand wooden ark
slowly and gently bobs
up and down, up and down,
in the waves of Divine Mercy,
but as I turn to the right,
my heart stops when I see
dark cascades of rain all around,
pouring madly out of the turbulent
black clouds like cool liquid lava.
I stand atop what was once a tall
mountain, surrounded by the
devastating deluge and flood,
and clusters of screeching
men and women encircle me,
clinging like crabs to the wet rocks,
but many have already fallen
into the swirling sea below and
clutch desperately to the feeble
branches of submerged oak trees,
hoping the tempest will cease.
Only hours later, I’m the only
survivor, but I won’t last much
longer since the water is up to my
waist, and it is more and more
difficult to maintain my hold of the
wet boulder I’ve been sitting on all
day, and as I hopelessly look
around, I only see grey water and
black skies, and the relentless rain
that brings with it God’s justice.
Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus,
My inmost soul with the most joyous
And healthful wound of your love,
And with true, calm, and most holy apostolic charity,
That my soul may ever languish and melt
With entire love and longing for you,
May yearn for you and for your courts,
May long to be dissolved and to be with you.
Grant that my soul may hunger after you,
The Bread of Angels,
The refreshment of holy souls,
Our daily and super substantial bread,
Having all sweetness and savor
And every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after
And feed upon you,
Whom the angels desire to look upon,
And may my inmost soul be filled
With the sweetness of your savor;
May it ever thirst for you,
The fountain of life,
The fountain of wisdom and knowledge,
The fountain of eternal light,
The torrent of pleasure,
The fullness of the house of God;
May it ever surround you,
Seek you, find you,
Run to you, come up to you,
Meditate on you, speak of you,
And do all for the praise and glory of your name,
With humility and discretion,
With love and delight,
With ease and affection,
With perseverance to the end;
And be you alone ever my hope,
My entire confidence, my riches,
My delight, my pleasure, my joy,
My rest and tranquility, my peace,
My sweetness, my food, my refreshment,
My refuge, my help, my wisdom,
My portion, my possession, my treasure;
May my mind be ever fixed on you,
And may my heart be ever firm
And rooted in you immovably.
Amen.
Inspired by Jacopo Bassano’s masterpiece
Old Noah and his family,
shunned and mocked by
their know-it-all neighbors,
diligently gather the animals
into the cozy confines of
the grand wooden ark;
when all are on board and
they lock up the vessel,
from very high in the sky
a peaceful dove looks down and
the ark looks like a giant oyster,
protecting its treasure from
the swiftly advancing storm.
Inspired by Our Lady
Be courageous! Fear not.
The Divine Mercy is your victory!
Amen.
Inspired by Tiziano Vecellio’s masterpiece
As the serpent seductively
smiles at Adam and Eve,
their teeth tear the flesh
of the juicy fruit -- and, oh!
the intense sweetness
and overwhelming delight!
but very suddenly they
shudder and convulse
in their deadly disobedience,
as their souls are poisoned
by the black sugar of sin.
Inspired by Thomas Cole’s masterpiece
Adam and Eve gratefully gaze
in awe and wonder at the
beauty of God’s holy creation;
beyond the sublime peace
of the verdant meadow and
the fresh tropical fruit trees
that lovingly embrace it,
a whispering waterfall sparkles
like aquamarine crystal in
the warm welcoming sun
and gracefully pours into
the pristine lake below;
rising majestically behind it
is a towering mountain of rock
that stands in stately grandeur,
piercing the serene blue sky,
joyfully pointing to the realm
of the Heavenly Homeland.
God, merciful Father,
in Your Son, Jesus Christ,
You have revealed Your love
and poured it out upon us
in the Holy Spirit,
the Comforter.
We entrust to You today
the destiny of the whole world
and of every man and woman.
Bend down to us sinners,
heal our weakness,
conquer all evil,
and grant that all peoples of the earth
may experience Your mercy.
In You, the Triune God,
may they ever find the source of hope.
Eternal Father,
for the sake of the sorrowful Passion
and Resurrection of Your Son,
have mercy on us,
and upon the whole world!
Amen.
Father, I abandon myself
into your hands.
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all; I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me
and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul.
I offer it to you
with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands
without reserve
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my father.
Amen.
The storm strikes
In the hour of terror,
And the dark one
Ferociously temps me,
Speedily swirling
In the winds around me,
Faster and faster,
Roaring loudly,
Trying to intimidate me
And make me act rashly.
But Our Lord Jesus
Takes His time,
And asks me to surrender,
To focus in a special way
On His sorrowful passion,
To have great trust
In His divine mercy —
And so he transfigures
The hour of terror into
The Hour of Divine Mercy.