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

† Eighth Hour: From Midnight to 1 AM †

Jesus Is Arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane

Preparation before Each Hour

My Jesus, it is midnight. Your enemies are approaching. You, who have regained Your composure, dried Your blood and been strengthened by heaven, go again to Your disciples, call them, admonish them, take them with You and go to meet Your enemies. Thus, with Your willingness, You compensate for my laxity, unwillingness and sluggishness in work and suffering. But, my sweet good, what a touching scene presents itself to the eye! The first to appear is the faithless Judas. He approaches You, embraces You, greets and kisses You. You, love incarnate, do not consider it beneath Your dignity to allow Yourself to be kissed by these devilish lips. You still embrace him, press him to Your heart, want to snatch him from hell by giving him a new sign of Your love. How is it possible not to love You, Jesus! The tenderness of Your love is so great that it should powerfully attract every heart to love You too. And yet You are not loved!

... By letting Judas kiss You, You atone for the betrayal, the dissimulation, the deceit under the mask of friendship and holiness, especially of those souls who are consecrated to You. You implore forgiveness for every sinner who truly repents and humbly takes refuge in Your Heart.

Jesus, my sweet good! I will be at Your side and defend You. I will receive Your teachings and heed all Your words, one by one. Oh, how good it does my heart to hear Your words to Judas: “Friend, what have you come for?” It seems to me that You also addressed this word to me, but not to call me friend, but by the sweet name of 'child'. “Child, what have you come for? ' You ask, only to hear the answer: ”Jesus, I have come to love you." "What have you come for? ” You say to me when I wake up in the morning; You say to me when I pray; You say to me from the consecrated host when I come to receive You into my heart. What a beautiful call for me and for all other souls! But how many answer Your question with: “I have come to offend You.” Others, pretending to know nothing about You, indulge in every kind of sin and answer Your question: “I'm going to hell!”

How I pity You, my Jesus! I want to take the ropes with which Your enemies are ready to bind You, to bind those souls to You and spare You this pain.

Again I hear Your gentle voice which, as You go to meet them, asks Your enemies the question: “Whom do you seek?” And they answer: “Jesus of Nazareth.” And You: “It is I!” With these few words you say everything and reveal Yourself as the One You really are, so that Your enemies tremble with terror and fall to the ground as if dead. You, my love, who have no equal, call them back to consciousness with a second "It is I! ” and deliver Yourself into their hands. But instead of humbling themselves and prostrating themselves at Your feet in shock, the faithless and ungrateful mistrust Your goodness, disregard Your graces and miracles, lay their hands on Your back, bind and tie You with ropes and chains, throw You to the ground, trample You underfoot and tear out Your hair. But You remain silent with unheard-of patience, enduring and atoning for all these indignities, which are inflicted on You with ever greater obstinacy, despite Your miracles. With the cords and chains that bind You, You break the chains of our guilt of sin and bind us to You with the sweet bonds of love. You lovingly rebuke Peter, who wants to defend You with the sword and cuts off one of Malchus' ears, but You heal it again. In this way, You want to make amends for those good works that are not done with holy prudence and atone for those who fall into sin out of excessive zeal.

My most patient Jesus! It seems to me that these ropes and chains have added a special beauty to Your divine person. On Your forehead is enthroned a majesty to which even Your enemies pay attention. Your eyes are radiant, Your divine countenance takes on the expression of deepest peace and highest goodness, capable of making an impression even on Your executioner's servants. Your few penetrating and yet so mild words make them tremble. If they dare to approach You, it is only because You allow it.

O my love! Will You ever be able to admit that You will be bound and chained for me, and I, Your creature, should not wear chains? No, no! So bind me with Your own cords and chains, bind me with Your own hands. Therefore, while I kiss Your adorable hands, I ask You to put chains on all my thoughts, my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my heart, my inclinations, my whole being. At the same time as me, bind all the children of men, for they will no longer have the audacity to offend You when they feel the sweetness of Your loving chains.

My Jesus! You have already delivered Yourself into the hands of Your enemies because You gave them the power to do with You what they want. I too, my Jesus, surrender myself into Your hands so that You can do with me in full freedom what You please. With You, I want to place myself in the followship of Your will, imitate Your atoning works and endure Your sufferings. I want to be always close to You, so that there may be no insult for which I do not atone, no bitterness that I do not sweeten, no cheek strokes, no defilement of Your face that are not accompanied by my caresses and affections. If You fall on Your path of suffering, my hands will always be ready to pick You up. I will always be with You, never leaving You alone for a moment. To be more assured of this, let me enter into You. If I am in Your spirit, in Your eyes, in Your heart, in Yourself, then what You do, I can do too. In this way, I will be able to follow You faithfully. None of Your sufferings will escape me, for all of them I will give You my love in return.

Jesus, my sweet good, it is one o'clock at night. My spirit is beginning to fall asleep. But I will do what I can to keep myself awake. But should sleep overtake me anyway, he will leave me in You. From now on, I will leave my thoughts in You to defend You against Your enemies, every breath to follow You and keep You company, every beat of my pulse to tell You: "I love You! ” and to compensate You for the love that others do not give You. I leave every drop of my blood in You to compensate You and to give You back the honor and respect that Your enemies deny You through their insults, their pranks and defilements, and finally I leave my whole being in You as a protective guard. Jesus, caress, embrace and bless me. If You want me to surrender to a little rest, let me rest in Your heart, so that I may be awakened often and often by Your heartbeats, quickened by love and suffering, to keep You company without interruption.

Reflections and Practices

by St. Fr. Annibale Di Francia

Jesus promptly gave Himself into the hands of the enemies, seeing the Will of the Father in His enemies.

In the deceptions, in the betrayals of creatures, are we ready to forgive as Jesus forgave? Do we take from the hands of God all the evil that we receive from creatures? Are we ready to do all that Jesus wants from us? In the crosses, in the strains, can we say that our patience imitates that of Jesus?

My chained Jesus, may Your chains bind my heart and keep it still, to make it ready to suffer everything You want.

Sacrifice and Thanksgiving