The late Fr Flavian Bonifazi, SAC, compiled a book on the life and spirituality of St Vincent Pallotti and it is titled “Yearning of a Soul”. In this excerpt from the Spiritual Diary of St Vincent we can appreciate a little of that yearning of his soul for union with God.

Let us pray using some invocations written by St. Vincent during a retreat he made in 1841 (OOCC X, p. 656- 681) 

“My Jesus … Your prayers will become my prayers. 

My Jesus … may the communication of Your holy life with all Your virtues and merits be in me and in all persons now and always.  

My Jesus, infinite Wisdom … may Your life be my life.

My Jesus … make Your conformity (to the working of Grace) my conformity.

My Jesus, my Judge … give me Your life, I want to live with it, I want to die with it and with Your life to present myself before Your divine tribunal.  

My Jesus … give me Your purity, thus Your purity will be my purity.

My Jesus … form in me the Eight Beatitudes through the communication of Your life, and thus I will possess them in true fullness. 

My Jesus … grant me all Your prayers and all the infinite merit of Your sacrifice. 

Jesus my Truth … give me all Your life which is Truth, is true and eternal light. 

My Jesus … give me Your charity, and transform me into Your charity so that I may live it.

Jesus is the most amiable, the most loving and is little loved. 

My Jesus … grant me and all persons, now and always all of Your love.

Jesus, the proof of love that You want from me is the salvation of Souls, therefore destroy in me all that stops me from being fully occupied and effective for the well-being of souls, give me all of Your life, all of Your virtues, all of your characteristics, all of Your energy, all of Yourself so as to bring the souls of every person living and who will be born to Your heart. 

My Jesus … give me Your life, and with Your life may I always work and exercise all the different parts and functions of the Gospel ministry. 

My Jesus … grant that the fullness of Your life may be in me and in all persons always so as to prepare all people for heaven. 

My Jesus with the holiness and perfection of Your life destroy all of my life, give me Your life and I will always live with Your life”. 

Amen.