it is next for those pure And ardent spirits that thou remainest for love in the holy Eucharist; it is for us, it is for all creatures, even for those who are most unmindful of all thy mercies. But though all the world* should forget thee, G divine victim of charity! surely we at least should return thee love for love, since then hast loved us with an eternal charity, and selected us, long before our existence, as the favourites of thy divine heart, the objects of Its tenderest affection and peculiar favours. Penetrated with the confidence which should arise from the recollection of all thou hast already done for us, and art willing to do for those who trust in thee, we humbly represent our present necessities to thee, O adorable heart! the fountain of all graces! the ocean of mercy, and exhaustless source of consolation and strength! we most fervently entreat of thee to infuse into our hearts the dispositions thou requirest, and then, for thy own sake, to grant the earnest petitions of this Novena.
Thou art, O furnace of love! a public victim: thy mercies and graces are now peculiarly offered to all who will only ask that they may receive; but thy tenderest compassion seems peculiarly directed to all unhappy sinners. For them thou wert overwhelmed with sorrow in the Garden of Olives, and wounded on the cross; for them we most particularly pray, and most earnestly entreat the grace of conversion . For ourselves, whatever particular graces thou knowest to be most necessary for each of us, but particularly that ardent charity and sincere humility which we know to have been the favourite virtues of thy adorable heart.
Animate us with thy zeal for the salvation of those, committed to our care; model their hearts on thine,
