Prayer Before Communion
Preces Gertrudianae, compiled by Thomas Alder Pope, 1861Source and notes
Source
| Printed in | Preces Gertrudianae: Prayers of St Gertrude and St. Mechtilde of The Order of St. Benedict. |
|---|---|
| Imprint | LONDON, BURNS AND LAMBERT, 1861 |
| Pages | pp. 214–216 |
| Scan | leaf 226, leaf 227, leaf 228 of the Internet Archive copy |
| Rights | Public domain in the United States. |
- Prayers for
- a worthy Communion
Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximilian, The Mass of St. Gregory, Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, about 1500. Cleveland Museum of Art.
When you are about to receive holy communion, follow the counsel which our Lord gave to St. Mechtilde, saying: When you approach to receive me, receive me with the intention of feeling all the glowing desire and love with which the heart of man has ever been inflamed. And I will accept this love, not as it is in thee, but as if it were what you desire it to be.
O JESUS most ardently desired and longed for, behold the moment draws near, the rapturous moment in which I shall receive thee my God into my soul. Behold, O my Jesus, I come unto thee, and run to meet thee with the utmost devotion and reverence of which I am capable. Stretch forth, therefore, thy most sacred Hands to embrace my soul, those very pierced Hands of thine which thou didst stretch forth amidst the anguish of thy Passion to embrace all sinners. O my crucified Jesus, I stretch forth not my hands only, but my heart and my soul, to embrace thee and to lead thee into the most inner and secret recess of my heart. Oh, would that I had within me such and so great devotion, such and so great love, such and so great purity, as heart of man has been ever adorned withal! Would that I were filled with all virtues, with all holy desires, with perfect and consummate devotion! Would that I had the purity of all thine angels, the charity of all thine apostles, the holiness of all confessors, the chastity and cleanness of heart of all virgins! Would that I could receive thee now with all that devotion, reverence, and love wherewith thy most blessed Mother received thee in thine Incarnation, and in thine adorable Sacrament! O would that I had thy most sacred and divine Heart, that I might therein receive thee as becomes thy ineffable Majesty!
O sweetest Jesus, I offer thee for my fitting preparation, and to make amends for all my unworthiness and all my negligences, all the preparation of heart, the devotion, the affections, the love wherewith all thy saints, and above all thy most blessed Mother, have ever received thee in this Sacrament. I offer thee, O most holy Jesus, thine own transcendently meritorious Heart, and all the ineffable virtues and graces which the most blessed Trinity bestowed without measure upon it, that therewith all my vileness and all my unworthiness may be covered, and that a befitting and most peaceful abode may be prepared for thee in my soul. Amen.