As the wearied stag pants after the fountains of water, so does my soul languish after thee, the ocean of all sweetness; it thirsts after thee with the most vehement desire, and longs to drink plentifully of those fountains which issue from the inexhaustible source of thy infinite goodness for my comfort and refreshment. O sweet Jesus! permit me now to experience the multitude of thy tender mercies. Have compassion on me and save me, for thou never forsakest such as place their hope in thee. Purify my heart with the fire of divine love, that it may this day become a fit abode for thy reception; O come and make it thy dwelling-place for ever. I am sorry, and will be sorry as long as I live, for having ever offended thy infinite goodness; forgive me, dear Lord, my past trespasses, and be thou my keeper for the time to come, that I may never more offend thee.
Hail, saving victim, who for me and all mankind was offered on the cross! Hail, precious blood flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord, and washing away the sins of the world! As I now desire to receive thee, veiled in this sacrament, so I hope hereafter to behold thee, face to face, in the kingdom of heaven.
O all ye blessed Angels and Saints of God, I humbly beg the assistance of your prayers and intercession, that I may with a clean heart and a pure conscience, approach the Holy of Holies, and receive this divine sacrament with such reverence and humility as may be for my soul's salvation.
Acts Of Virtue,
Which may be used with great spiritual advantage before Communion, according to each person's leisure and devotion.
Imagine that our Saviour invites yon into the same room in which he ate his last supper with his apostles, to be witness of the miracle he is there going to perform, and to give you the communion with his own sacred hands. How fervent soever your sentiments might have been on that solemn occasion, they ought not to be less so at present: for as he ordained that this divine food should be daily renewed for the nourishment of the faithful, till his second coming to judge mankind at the end of the world, so he gives himself no less to us at present, than he did at that time to his apostles. Take them now for your model. The account which we have in the gospel, of this last mysterious supper, will furnish you with proper acts for communion. Read them attentively; make them your own by reflection; and let them sink deeply into your heart.
An Act Of Adoration.
The Gospel of St Luke, chap, xxii., informs us, that our Saviour sat down, and his twelve apostles with him, to eat the Paschal Lamb, or accomplish the Supper of the Old Law, and institute that of the New in its stead. Who could be otherwise than astonished at seeing a God admit his creatures, nay, even his very enemies, to partake of his adorable body? "When he loved his own who were in the world," says his beloved disciple, St. John, "he loved them unto the end." But this was loving them, not merely to the end of this mortal life, but even beyond it, to the very end of ages with the utmost excess, and to the farthest limits of love. Contemplate, therefore, with the most attentive recollection, the excellence, the depth, and the extent of the boundless love of our divine Redeemer, of which this mystery is an epitome.
Could we ever believe, O Lord, or even imagine, that thy love for us was so excessive, had not thine own infallible word convinced us of its truth? Hadst thou, when thou wert about to quit this world, left us thy adorable heart as a pledge of thy affection; or hadst thou, when thy side was pierced, ordered thy precious blood to be distributed throughout thy church; such favours would have justly claimed our most grateful acknowledgments. But this would not satisfy the extent of thy love; thou didst choose, in a god-like manner, to penetrate into the very centre of our hearts, and give thyself to each of us particularly, entirely, and for ever. With what amazement, then, must not the angels and the whole hierarchy of celestial intelligences, have beheld such a prodigy! Were they not in some measure jealous to see mankind thus uncommonly favoured? But what didst thou discover in me, O Lord, that could thus attract thee? Or what couldst thou possibly expect from my indigence? Can I become the dwelling-place of him who is the delight of the blessed? Alas! had I even the innocence of thy beloved disciple John, or the ardent love of thy zealous apostle St Peter, I should then have some little claim to sit down at thy table; but since I am removed at so great a distance from such holy dispositions, vouchsafe, O Lord, to supply my deficiency by the effusion of thy grace. Whence is this favour to me, O my merciful Redeemer? "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou shouldst visit him?" Psalm viii.