A Visit to the Most Holy Sacrament.
An Act of Adoration.
I MOST humbly adore Thee, O uncreated Father, and Thee, O only-begotten Son, and Thee, O Holy Ghost the Paraclete, one almighty, everlasting, and unchangeable God, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. I acknowledge in Thee a true and ineffable Trinity of persons, a true and indivisible Unity of substance. I glorify Thee O ever-serene effulgent Trinity, one only Deity, my most compassionate Lord, my sweetest hope, my dearest delight, my most desired repose, my joy, my life, and all my good. To Thy most merciful goodness I commend my soul and body, to Thy most sacred Majesty I wholly devote myself, and to Thy divine will resign and yield myself eternally. All honor and glory be to Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
O HEAVENLY Father, O most forgiving Father, O Lord God, have mercy upon me a wretched sinner, have mercy upon all men. In fullest reparation, expiation, and satisfaction for all my iniquities and negligences, and for the sins of the whole world, and perfectly to supply the deficiency of my good works and merits, I offer to Thee Thy beloved Son, Christ Jesus, in union with that sovereign charity with which Thou didst send Him to us and give Him to us as our Saviour. I offer His transcendent virtues, and all that He did and suffered for us. I offer His labors, sorrows, torments, and most Precious Blood. I offer the merits of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, and of all Thy Saints. Assist me, I beseech Thee, O most merciful Father, through the same Thy Son, by the power of Thy Holy Spirit. Have mercy on all unhappy sinners, and graciously call them back to the way of salvation. Grant to all living pardon and grace, and to the faithful departed eternal light and rest. Amen.
O HOLY Spirit, sweetest Comforter, who proceedest from the Father and the Son in an ineffable manner, come, I beseech Thee, and sink into my heart. Purify and cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my soul. Wash away its defilements, moisten its dryness, heal its wounds, subdue its stubbornness, melt its coldness, and correct its wanderings. Make me truly humble and resigned, that I may be pleasing to Thee, and Thou mayest abide with me forever. O most blessed Light, O most amiable Light, enlighten me! O ravishing Joy of Paradise, O fount of purest delights, O my God, give Thyself to me, and kindle vehemently in my inmost soul the fire of Thy love. O my Lord, instruct, direct, and defend me in all things. Give me strength against all immoderate fears and a cowardly spirit; bestow upon me a right faith, a firm hope, and a sincere and perfect charity; and grant that I may ever do Thy most gracious will. Amen.
The Reparation of Honor to the Sacred Heart.
O MOST amiable and adorable Heart of Jesus! centre of all hearts, glowing with charity, and inflamed with zeal for the interest of Thy Father, and the salvation of mankind! O Heart ever sensible of our misery, and ever in motion to redress our evils, the real victim of love in the Holy Eucharist, and propitiatory sacrifice for sin on the altar of the cross! seeing that the generality of Christians make no other return for these Thy mercies, than contempt of Thy favors, forgetfulness of their own obligation, and ingratitude to the best of benefactors, is it not just that we Thy servants, penetrated with the deepest sense of the like indignities, should enter upon a due and satisfactory reparation of honor to Thy most sacred Majesty? Prostrate therefore, in body, and humbled in mind before heaven and earth, we solemnly declare our utter detestation and abhorrence of such conduct. Inexpressible, we know, was the bitterness which the multitude of our sins brought on Thy tender heart; insufferable the weight of our iniquities, which pressed Thy face to the earth in the Garden of Olives; and insurmountable Thy anguish, when expiring with love, grief, and agony, on Mount Calvary, in Thy last breath, Thou wouldst reclaim sinners to their duty and repentance. This we know, O dear Redeemer! and would most willingly redress these Thy sufferings by our own, or share with Thee in Thine.
O merciful Jesus! ever present on our altars, and with a heart open to receive all who labor and are burdened! O adorable Heart of Jesus, source of true contrition! impart to our hearts the true spirit of penance, and to our eyes a fountain of tears, that we may bewail and wash off our sins and those of the world. Pardon, divine Jesus! all the injuries, reproaches, and outrages, done Thee, through the course of Thy holy life and bitter passion. Pardon all the impieties, and irreverences, and sacrileges, which have been committed against Thee in the sacrament of the Eucharist, from its first institution. Graciously receive the small tribute of our sincere repentance, as an agreeable offering in Thy sight, and in requital for the benefits we daily receive from the altars continual sacrifice, and in union with that bloody Holocaust Thou didst present to Thy eternal Father on Mount Calvary from the cross.
Sweet Jesus! give Thy blessing to the ardent desire we now entertain, and the holy resolution we have taken of ever loving and adoring Thee, after a proper manner, in the holy Eucharist, Thy Sacrament of Love; thus to repair, by a true conversion of heart, and a becoming zeal for Thy glory, our past negligence and infidelity. But Thou, O adorable Heart! who knowest the clay of which we are formed, be Thou our mediator with Thy heavenly Father, whom we have so grievously offended. Strengthen our weakness; confirm our resolution; and with Thy charity, humility, meekness, and patience, cover the multitude of our iniquities. Be Thou our support, our refuge, and our strength, that nothing henceforward, in life or death, may separate us from Thee. Amen.
A Devout Aspiration to the Sacred Heart.
MOST amiable Heart of Jesus, beloved object of our most tender affections, may all honor, glory, love, and benediction, be ever given to Thee! Be thou our prosperity, our safety in dangers, and protection against all our enemies, visible and invisible. Amen.