A prayer before the Tabernacle

H/T to The Unprofitable Servant for this wonderful prayer

Dear Lord,

Here You sit, all alone, no one to keep You company. 

 I have You and the angels who bow before You all to myself in the perfect quiet of this chapel and yet I cannot keep my mind fixed on the Gospel Mysteries. 

 I am reminded of Your words to Peter, James and John in the garden at Gethsemane:  "Could you not stay awake with Me one hour?"

I have not been with You yet even a quarter of an hour and my thoughts wander.  

The Son of God humbled Himself to the form of bread so that I would not be fearful to approach Him.  

And yet I cannot even keep my mind fixed on the supreme gesture of love that happens when You descend to be present to me, body, blood, soul and divinity.  

So many souls need my prayers.  It's as if I have the only life boat available and have set aside the oars, going adrift with no direction.

Lord, so many times we read in the Gospel of the nights You spent in prayer to Your Heavenly Father. 

 What is it You said to Him, dear Jesus?  

 We have the prayer You left us, but what is it You said to Him during those long vigils as Your disciples slept, oblivious to their Master?  

Did You ask Him for anything?  

Did You simply tell Him that You loved Him? 

 Did You mention me when You prayed to Him, and did You ask Him to overlook my countless faults, which You knew I would commit over and over again?

In all humility Jesus, I beg of You to send me the graces necessary to pray to You as I should. 

 Lend me some of Your love for the Heavenly Father, so that I may try to imitate You in Your love for Him. 

 Send the Holy Spirit to assist me so that every part of my being is present to You when I sit before You, the Divine Prisoner of Love confined to Your gilded prison, the tabernacle.

Some day, my Lord, I may not be able to come to this chapel.  

Then I will look back at these squandered precious moments and ask myself why I did not do more to console Your Sacred Heart when I had the opportunity.  

Grant me the grace I need to treat every minute in Your Divine Presence as I would a precious gem that I would guard with my life and all my attention.

And if I forget to say so with words, Lord, permit my every action to say over and over again that I love You.

Picture: Caritas in Veritate