The Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations/Acts before Communion
ACTS BEFORE COMMUNION.
1. Direct your attention. — O Lord Jesus Christ, King of everlasting glory, behold I desire to come to thee this day, and to receive thy body and blood in this heavenly sacrament for thy honour and glory, and the good of my soul. I desire to receive thee, because it is thy desire, and thou hast so ordered: blessed be thy name for ever. I desire to come to thee, like Magdalen, that I may be delivered from all evils, and embrace thee, my only good. I desire to come to thee, that I may be happily united to thee, that I may henceforward abide in thee, and thou in me; and that nothing in life or death may ever separate me from thee.
2. Commemorate the Passion of Christ. — I desire in these holy mysteries to commemorate, as thou hast commanded, '“all thy sufferings, thy agony and bloody sweat, thy being betrayed and apprehended, all the reproaches and calumnies, all the scoffs and affronts, all the blows and buffets thou hast endured for me; thy being scourged, crowned with thorns, and loaded with a heavy cross for my sins, and for those of the whole world; thy crucifixion and death, together with thy glorious resurrection, and triumphant ascension. I adore thee and give thee thanks for all that thou hast done and suffered for us; and for giving us, in this blessed sacrament, this pledge of our redemption, this victim of our ransom, this body and blood, which were offered for us.
3. Make an Act of Faith. — I most firmly believe, that in this holy sacrament thou art present, verily and indeed; that here is thy body and blood, thy soul and thy divinity; I believe that thou, my Saviour, true God and true man, art really here with all thy treasures; that here thou communicatest thyself to us, makest us partakers of the fruit of thy passion, and givest us a pledge of eternal life. I Relieve there cannot fee a greater happiness than to receive thee worthily, nor a greater misery than to receive thee unworthily. All this I most steadfastly believe, because it is what thou hast taught us by thy word, and by thy Church.
4. Conceive a great fear, and humble yourself. — But, O my God, how shall I dare approach to thee? so wretched a worm, to so infinite a Majesty! so filthy a sinner, to such infinite purity and sanctity ! Alas ! my soul is covered with a universal leprosy, and how shall I presume to embrace thee ! My whole life has been nothing but misery and sin; and it is only by thy mercy that I have not been long since in hell, which I have deserved a thousand times: and how shall I venture so much as to lift up my eyes to thee, much less to receive thee within my breast! I tremble at the sentence of thy apostle: he that receives unworthily receives his own damnation; for I cannot but acknowledge myself infinitely unworthy; nor should I dare ever to come to thee, were I not excited by thy most loving and pressing invitation, and encouraged by thy infinite goodness and mercy: it is in this mercy, which is above all thy works, I put my whole trust; and in this confidence alone that I presume to approach thee. O! grant that it may be with a contrite and humble heart; for this, I know, thou wilt never despise.
5. Make an Act of Contrition. — Lord, I detest with my whole heart all the sins by which I have ever offended thy divine Majesty, from the first moment that I was capable of sinning, to this very hour. I desire to lay them all down here at thy feet, to be cancelled by thy precious blood. What can I do for them, but humbly confess and lament them all my lifetime! and this I heartily desire to do, and from this moment continually to cry to thee for mercy. Hear me, O Lord, by that infinite love by which thou hast shed thy blood for me: Oh! let not that blood be shed in vain. All my sins displease me now exceedingly, because they have offended thy infinite goodness. By thy grace I will never commit them any more: I am sorry for them, and will be sorry for them as long as I live; and according to the best of my power will do penance for them. Forgive me, dear Lord, for thy mercy’s sake; pardon me for all that is past; and be thou my helper for the time to come, that I may never more offend thee.
6. Make an Act of Divine love. — O sweet Jesus, the God of my heart, and the life of my soul, as the hart pants after the fountains of water, so does my soul pant after thee, the fountain of life, and the ocean of all good: I am overjoyed at the hearing of these happy tidings, that I may go to the house of our Lord; or rather, that our Lord is to come into my house, and take up his abode with me. Oh ! happy moments, when I shall be admitted to the embraces of the living God, for whom my poor soul languishes with love ! O come, dear Jesus, and take full possession of my heart for ever ! I offer it to thee without reserve; I desire to consecrate it eternally to thee. I love thee with my whole soul above all things: at least, I desire so to love thee: it is nothing less than infinite love that brings thee to me. Oh ! teach me to make a suitable return of love.
7. Humbly beg God's grace. — But, O my God, thou knowest my great poverty and misery, and that of myself I can do nothing; thou knowest how unworthy I am of this infinite favour, and thou alone canst make me worthy. Oh! since thou art so good as to invite me thus to thyself, add this one bounty more to all the rest, to prepare me for thyself. Cleanse my soul from' its stains, clothe it with the nuptial garment of charity, adorn it with all virtues, and make it a fit abode for thee. Drive sin and the devil far from this dwelling, which thou art here pleased to choose for thyself, and make me one according to thy own heart, that this heavenly visit which thou designest for my salvation, may not, by my unworthiness, be perverted to my damnation. Oh ! let me never be guilty of thy body and blood, by an unworthy communion. For the sake of this same precious blood, which thou hast shed for me, deliver me from so great an evil. O rather let me die ten thousand deaths, than thus presume to crucify thee again.
8. Implore the prayers of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints. — O all ye blessed angels and saints of God, who see, face to face, him whom I shall receive under these humble veils; and thou most especially, ever •Blessed Virgin, Mother of the same God and Saviour, in whose sacred womb he was conceived and borne for nine months; I most humbly beg the assistance of your prayers and intercession, that I may in such manner receive him here in this place of banishment, as to be brought one day to enjoy him with you in our true country, and there to praise him and love him for ever.