Explanation
"When the priest strikes his breast, and says the Agnus Dei, (that is, O Lamb of God, &c.) he reminds us of the Centurion and many others striking their breasts with sorrow, and bewailing their offences, when they beheld Christ expiring on the cross, and were eye-witnesses of the prodigies which happened at his death. The Prayer for Peace, before the communion of the priest, signifies, that to communicate worthily, we must be in peace with God and our neighbour, and approach with a clean heart and pure conscience. The priest's communion is a sign of the burial of Christ's body, which was taken down from the cross, wrapped up in clean linen, and laid in a new monument, cut out of a rock, near Mount Calvary. The purifying and covering of the chalice represents Christ's sepulchre, shut and covered with a stone. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is represented by the priest going to the corner of the Epistle, and reading the Post Communion, the mass-book being brought back to the right side of the altar, to signify that the Jews are to be converted to the Christian faith at the end of the world. Dominus vobiscum represents Christ appearing to his disciples, and giving them his peace. The last Collect represents Christ conversing forty days with his disciples, and speaking to them of the kingdom of God. The last Dominus vobiscum, represents Christ's last apparition to his disciples; and the blessing given by the priest to the people, denotes that Christ lifted up both his hands, and blessed his apostles and other disciples before he left them, and in their sight ascended into heaven. The Ite Missa est, and the reading of the Gospel at the left corner of the altar, denote that Christ came not to call the just, but sinners, to repentance: and sent his apostles to teach all nations; and that they preached the gospel with amazing success in all parts of the known world, after the descent of the Holy Ghost."
Prayer At The Agnus Dei.
O Innocent Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on me; for nothing is more pleasing to thee than to have compassion on those that are miserable. Give me tears of repentance, that I may mourn for the evil I have committed. In thee I place all my hope, because thou alone art my salvation, my strength, my refuge, and the fountain of all my good. I most humbly beseech thee, by the anguish of thy passion, and by thy sufferings on the cross, especially at that hour when thy blessed soul left thy body, to spare me in that dreadful moment, and have mercy on my soul. Let me experience the multitude of thy tender mercies, when I shall be in conflict with the pangs of death. Let thy passion and death stand then between my soul and thy justice. I accept the sentence of my death, in whatever manner I am to suffer it, in union with thy death on the cross. I humbly submit to it, and now offer it to thy divine majesty as a sacrifice and a just punishment due to my sins. I commend my soul into thy hands, and most earnestly entreat thee to give me thy blessing this day, and to grant me perseverance in thy service, that on the day of judgment I may be ranked in the happy number of those blessed souls, who are to be invited by thee to take possession of the kingdom of thy glory. During the time of my sojourn here on earth, preserve me from thirsting after the false goods of this world.—May I always remember thy vinegar and gall, and rest contented with what is sufficient to support nature. May I every day increase in thy love, and may all created objects be of little account with me, that thou mayest be the only delight of my soul and my everlasting joy.
Prayer At The Communion.
I Adore, O dear Jesus, thy sacred body and blood, soul and divinity, here present on the altar under the sacramental forms. Praised be this most holy sacrament with as many praises as there are stars in the heavens, atoms in the air, drops of water in the ocean, sands in the sea, sparks in the fire, motes of dust upon the earth, flowers in the spring, grains of corn in the summer, leaves in the autumn, flakes of snow and hailstones in the winter, or creatures in the universe. O that I had the necessary dispositions of a worthy communicant! how willingly would I unite myself to my divine Redeemer in this sacrament of love! O may I receive it worthily at the hour of my death, that it may serve me as a viatic to a happy eternity. Though I am unworthy to receive it now sacramentally, yet I wish to receive it spiritually into my soul by faith, love, and devotion. Enter then, O divine bridegroom, into this poor lodging: you vouchsafed to lodge in a stable, you did not refuse to enter into the house of Zachæus, the publican; enter into my house as into the house of another Zachæus, and give a blessing to my soul, as thou didst to the house of Zachæus: say unto me, as thou saidst unto him: Salvation is this day come to this house.—Luke, xix.
A Prayer At The Last Collects, &c.
Praise, honour, and glory be to thee, O blessed Redeemer, who coming forth out of the grave, didst rise triumphantly from the dead, and having conversed with thy disciples for forty days, didst ascend into heaven, where thou sittest at the right hand of thy eternal Father. Inflame my heart and soul with thee, that I may seek nothing but to be united to thee for ever in heaven.
Hear, O eternal Father, whatever the holy Catholic Church asks of thee in the name of thy beloved son. We beseech thee, that this our sacrifice may be acceptable in thy sight, and become profitable to us and to thy whole church. Receive my unworthy prayers, supply all my defects, pardon all my indevotions, distractions, and irreverences. Engrave in my heart the rules and maxims of thy gospel, and give me grace to live according to them. Teach me to follow thy example, that rising with thee to a new life of piety and holiness, and walking in thy footsteps, I may live to thee alone, and advance every day towards everlasting happiness. Amen.