Another Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament, or at Benediction

I. O Sovereign Majesty, who residest upon our altars to receive our homage, and dost there annihilate and immolate thyself in honour of thy eternal Father, to come and reign in our hearts, I adore thee! I profoundly pay thee all the homage due to a God who is to decide my eternal doom. I prostrate myself before thee, I desire to join in the profound adorations of the seraphim, who assist around the altar, and I beseech thee to accept their recollection and their love, to supply for the wanderings of my mind, and the indifference of my heart,

II. Penetrate me with sorrow and confusion for the irreverences and indecencies which I have dared to commit in thy presence, and for those also of all other Christians, I most humbly crave pardon for them, and am resolved to make amends for them by appearing before thee with all that modesty, all that reserve, all that respect, and all that spirit of religion with which I ought to present myself in thy presence. I desire to satisfy thy justice for all the outrages thou hast received from impious libertines and heretics in the most holy sacrament: Forgive them, O Lord, for they know not what they do; and cause me to suffer the temporal punishment which they have deserved, rather than abandon and punish them for ever.

III. While the angels lie prostrate before thee, O great God, and struck with humble fear, fervently pay thee their tribute of profound respect and ardent love, shall we mortals, who are the work of thy hands, and the price of thy blood, appear in thy presence with wandering eyes and dissipated minds, with cold and indifferent hearts, without addressing thee, and almost without thinking of thee? O my Saviour! suffer me not to be thus wanting in the respect and love which I owe to thy greatness, and which thou dost so much the more deserve, as thou dost the more humble thyself for the love of me.

IV. Inspire me with the sentiments of the publican, who dared not to lift up his eyes towards God, penetrated with sorrow and confusion for his sins; and of the prodigal son, when he returned to his father’s house, and grant that, like them, I may be restored through thy bounty and my sorrow, to thy grace and favour.

V. O my soul, behold thy God who died for thee, and of whose death thou wert the cause: how canst thou refrain from testifying thy love and gratitude towards him? O my heart, burn with love in the presence of Jesus Christ, like the lamp which hangs before his altar, and like it, consume thyself in his honour. No, I desire never to depart from thy sacramental presence, my Saviour, without being converted and becoming wholly thine. Amen.

Live, Jesus, live, and let it be
My life, to die for love of thee!