Iesu dulcis memoria

“Jesus sweet memory.” This expression represents all that the heart feels. The memory of a past that has produced the present. A hymn to rediscover and to begin singing again in our communities.


Iesu dulcis memoria
Dans vera cordis gaudia
Sed super mel et omnia
Eius dulcis praesentia.

Nil canitur suavius
Nil auditur iucundius
Nil cogitatur dulcius
Quam Jesus Dei Filius.

Iesu, spes paenitentibus
Quam pius es petentibus
Quam bonus Te quaerentibus
Sed quid invenientibus?

Iesu dulcedo cordium
Fons vivus lumen mentium
Excedens omne gaudium
Et omne desiderium.

Nec lingua valet dicere
Nec littera exprimere
Expertus potest credere
Quid sit Iesum diligere.

Iesu Rex admirabilis
Et triumphator nobilis
Dulcedo ineffabilis
Totus desiderabilis.

Mane nobiscum Domine
Et nos illustra lumine
Pulsa mentis caligine
Mundum reple dulcedine.

Quando cor nostrum visitas
Tunc lucet ei veritas
Mundi vilescit vanitas
Et intus fervet Caritas.

Iesum omnes agnoscite
Amorem eius poscite
Iesum ardenter quaerite
Quaerendo in ardescite.

Iesu flos matris Virginis
Amor nostrae dulcedinis
Tibi laus honor numinis
Regnum beatitudinis.

Iesu summa benignitas
Mira cordis iucunditas
In comprehensa bonitas
Tua me stringit Caritas.

Iam quod quaesivi video
Quod concupivi teneo
Amore Iesu langueo
Et corde totus ardeo.

O Iesu mi dulcissime
Spes suspirantis animae
Te quaerunt piae lacrymae
Et clamor mentis intimae.

Sis, Iesu, nostrum gaudium,
Qui es futurus praemium:
Sit nostra in te gloria
Per cuncta semper saecula. Amen. JESU, the very thought of Thee,
with sweetness fills my breast,
but sweeter far Thy face to see,
and in Thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
nor can the memory find
a sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,
o Savior of mankind!.

O hope of every contrite heart
o joy of all the meek,
to those who fall, who kind Thou art!
how good to those who seek!

O Jesu! Light of all below!
Thou font of life and fire!
surpassing all the joys we know,
and all we can desire.

But what to those who find? Ah this
nor tongue nor pen can show:
the love of Jesus, what it is
none but His loved ones know.

O Jesu, King most wonderful!
Thou Conqueror renowned!
Thou Sweetness most ineffable!
in whom all joys are found!

Stay with us, Lord, and with Thy light
illume the soul's abyss;
scatter the darkness of our night
and fill the world with bliss.

When once Thou visitest the heart,
then truth begins to shine;
then earthly vanities depart;
then kindles love divine.

May every heart confess Thy name,
and ever Thee adore;
and seeking Thee, itself inflame
to seek Thee more and more.

Jesu, the Virgin- Mother’s flower
The sweetest love we crave,
To Thee be praise and honour
In the kingdom of the blest.

Jesu, Thou art our highest good
The best joy of our heart
Thy Charity embraces me
Thy bounty holds me fast

I see what I always sought
I hold what I longed for
I languish in Jesus’ love
And my heart is on fire.

O my sweet Jesus! hear the sighs
which unto Thee I send!
to Thee my inmost spirit cries
my being's hope and end!

Jesu, our only joy be Thou
As Thou our prize must be
May all our glory be in Thee
For all eternity, Amen.


His sweet presence.
Iesu dulcis memoria: Jesus, sweet memory. This expression of prayer in the Church represents all that the heart feels.
Iesu dulcis memoria: Jesus: sweetness for the memory, because it is the memory of a past that has produced the present.
Be sure to remember Jesus who is so sweet for the heart. He is everything, every person and everything, as the finest hymn I know affirms. Everything becomes like honey in the mouth, but it is His presence that brings about the world’s fulfilment, it is for his Presence that the heart of the world is waiting.
Dans vera cordis gaudia, sed super mel et omnia [but sweeter than honey and any other thing] is his sweet presence. This is the subject, the true subject of this light or of this sound, of this song or of this commitment that has come to hover on the horizon of our life.
True joy in our heart is given only by this Jesus, by the Lord Jesus, by this man whose exceptional nature revealed itself at once. It could be forgotten in anger, overcome by much distraction, but it remained in the heart.
I beg Our Lady to listen to our prayers, and to seal our bond with this Jesus, to keep it alive always, so that there may never come a day, or an hour, nor any circumstance that will not make it grow.
O sweetest Jesus, hope of the awareness that sighs. The clamour is the power of the voice, is a cry, the cry of our interior awareness, our most intimate awareness, our clearest and most longing awareness. May our heart, which is at the origin of our actions, be truly defined by these words, which, once grasped by the heart with which we grasp the things that are true, can no longer be suppressed in life, and make us conquerors, become glory and the mark of our glory.
My wish for you and for myself is that every day these words said to Jesus be confirmed, in other words, reproduced in us, whether in confusion or in clarity (it doesn’t matter how).
May Our Lady help us to look at this presence, O King, this presence of Yours, O Lord, as she looked at You, as she looks at You still, because He is the content of happiness, which He makes everything in us long for…
Fr Giussani