The Twenty-Four Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The 24 Hours of the Bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Luisa Piccarreta, the Little Daughter of the Divine Will

†Second Hour: From 6 to 7 PM†

Jesus Separates from His Mother and Makes His Way to the Upper Room

Preparation before Each Hour

Adorable Jesus! As I have shared in the pain of Your parting and the pain of Your stricken Mother, I see that You are choosing to go where the Father's will calls You. And yet Son and Mother are united by a love that makes You inseparable. Thus, my Jesus, You leave Yourself behind in Your mother's heart, and Your kind mother leaves herself behind in You.

Blessing each other, You, Jesus, embrace Your Mother for the last time, instill in Her fortitude in the bitter suffering that awaits Her, give Her the last farewell and walk away. But Your pale face, Your quivering lips, Your voice overwhelmed with pain, as if You wanted to burst into tears as You said goodbye, tell me how much You love Your mother and how hard You suffer because You have to leave Her. However, in order to fulfill the will of the Father, You submit Yourselves, united in love, to this supreme will. You thus make reparation for those who do not care for the will of God because of too much attachment to relatives and friends, or because they cannot conquer the lawful and holy affections when they have to. They therefore do not correspond to the degree of holiness to which God calls them. Jesus, what pain do not those souls cause You who reject Your love from their hearts in order to be content with the love of creatures!

My love! While I am atoning with You, allow me to stay with Your Mother, comforting and holding Her up when You go away. Afterwards, however, I will hasten my steps to catch up with You again. But to my great sorrow I must see that my mother is trembling with fear. Her pain at parting is so great that her voice dies on her lips and she is unable to utter a word; she almost faints and speaks the words in an excess of love: “My son, I bless you!” What a painful separation, bitter as death! Desolate Queen of Sorrows! Let me lift You up, dry Your tears and share in Your bitter suffering.

My mother! I will not leave You alone. Oh take me with You. Teach me in this painful hour how to defend and comfort Jesus, how to atone, and whether I should lay down my life in His defense. I will remain calm under Your protective mantle. But at a glance from You I will fly to Jesus, bring Your love, Your affections, Your tendernesses, united with mine, to Him and put them into every one of His wounds, into every drop of His blood, into every sorrow and into every insult. The tender love of His mother and His daughter, which He sees in every suffering, will soothe His pain. Then I will take refuge under Your protective mantle again and bring You the tenderness of His love to soothe Your heart overwhelmed by pain. My Mother, my heart beats strongly, I want to go to Jesus. As I kiss Your motherly hands, bless me as You blessed Jesus and allow me to go to Him.

My sweet Jesus! Love shows me the path You are taking. I reach out to You as You walk the streets of Jerusalem with Your beloved disciples. I look at You and see You still pale, I hear Your gentle voice. But it sounds so sad that it cuts into the hearts of Your disciples and they are utterly dismayed. "This is the last time, You say, that I will walk this path with you. Tomorrow they will drag Me along it, bound, with a thousand insults." Pointing to the places where you will be mistreated and tormented the worst, you continue: "The sun of my life sets as the sun sets in the sky; tomorrow at this hour I will be no more. But as the sun rises, so will I rise again on the third day." At this statement, the apostles become even sadder and fall silent. They do not know how to answer. But you, my Jesus, add: "Courage, do not be downcast! I will not abandon you, but will always be with you. Only it is necessary that I die for the salvation of your souls." When You speak like this, my Jesus, You are deeply moved. With a trembling voice You continue to teach Your disciples. Before You shut Yourself away in the cenacle (Upper Room), You once again contemplate the setting sun. Your life is also coming to an end. -

You sacrifice all Your steps and kicks for those who are in the evening of their lives and grant them grace to go home in You. You also atone for those who, despite the sorrows and disappointments of life, stubbornly refuse to surrender to You. Then You will once again let Your gaze wander around Jerusalem, the scene of Your miracles and the place of Your favor. But Jerusalem is already preparing the cross for You as a reward for all Your goodness, sharpening the nails to carry out the murder of God. You shudder, your heart wants to break. You mourn the downfall of the city. In this way, You make reparation for so many souls consecrated to You, whom You have chosen with great care to form miracles of Your love from them, but who are ungrateful enough not to respond to Your love and in return give You the most bitterness to taste.

I want to atone with You in order to ease the torment of Your heart. Only I see that you feel horror at the sight of Jerusalem. You avert your gaze to enter the Upper Room.

My love! Press me to Your heart so that his bitterness may become mine and I may offer it up to the Father in union with You. But You look upon my soul with a glance of mercy, pour Your love into it and give me Your blessing.

Reflections and Practices

by St. Fr. Annibale Di Francia

Jesus promptly departs from His Mother, although His Most Tender Heart undergoes a shock.

Are we ready to sacrifice even the most legitimate and holy affections in order to fulfill the Divine Volition? (Let us examine ourselves especially in the cases of separation from the sense of the Divine Presence or from sensible devotion).

Jesus did not take His last steps in vain. In them, He glorified the Father and asked for the salvation of souls. We must place in our steps the same intentions that Jesus placed—that is, to sacrifice ourselves for the glory of the Father and for the good of souls. We must also imagine placing our steps in those of Jesus Christ; and as Jesus Christ did not make them in vain, but enclosed in His steps all those of the creatures, repairing for all their missteps, to give the glory due to the Father, and Life to all the missteps of creatures so that they might walk along the path of good—so we should do it in the same way, placing our steps in those of Jesus Christ with His own Intentions.

Do we walk on the street modest and composed, so as to be an example for others? As the afflicted Jesus walked, He talked to the apostles every once in a while, speaking to them about His imminent Passion. What do we say in our conversations? When the opportunity arises, do we make the Passion of the Divine Redeemer the object of our conversations?

In seeing the apostles sad and discouraged, Loving Jesus tried to comfort them. Do we place in our conversations the intention of relieving Jesus Christ? Do we try to do them in the Will of God, infusing in others the Spirit of Jesus Christ? Jesus goes to the cenacle. We must enclose our thoughts, affections, heartbeats, prayers, actions, food and work in the Heart of Jesus Christ in the act of operating; and by doing this, our actions will acquire the Divine Attitude. However, since it is difficult to always keep this Divine Attitude, because it is hard for the soul to fuse her acts continuously in Him, the soul can compensate with the attitude of her good will, and Jesus will be very pleased. He will become the vigilant Sentry of her every thought, of her every word and of her every heartbeat. He will place these acts as cortege inside and outside Himself, looking at them with great Love, as the fruit of the good will of the creature. Then when the soul, fusing herself in Him, does her immediate acts with Jesus, Good Jesus will feel so attracted toward that soul that He will do what she does together with her, transmuting the work of the creature into Divine Work. All this is the effect of the Goodness of God, which takes everything into account and rewards everything, even a tiny act in the Will of God, so that the creature may not be defrauded of anything.

O my Life and my All, may Your steps direct mine, and as I tread the earth, let my thoughts be in Heaven!

Sacrifice and Thanksgiving