Posted on 05/07/2002 7:29:11 AM PDT by neocon
Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas Before Mass
Almighty, everlasting God, behold, I approach the sacrament of your Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I come sick to the doctor of life, unclean to the fountain of mercy, blind to the radiance of eternal light, and poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Lord, in your great generosity, heal my sickness, wash away my defilement, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness.
May I receive the Bread of angels, the King of kings and Lord of lords with humble reverence, with purity of faith, with the repentance and love and the determined purpose that will help to bring me salvation. Grant me grace, I beseech you, to receive not only the sacrament of our Lord's body and blood, but also its inward power and effect.
All-gentle God, may I receive the body of your Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, born from the womb of the Virgin Mary, and so be received into his mystical body and numbered among his members.
Most loving Father, as on my earthly pilgrimage I now receive your beloved Son under the veil of a sacrament, may I one day see him face to face in glory, and gaze upon him for all eternity, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.
Responsory and Prayer
V/. Panem de cælo præstitísti eis (T.P. Alleluia).
R/. Omne delectaméntum in se habéntem (T.P. Alleluia).
Orémus.
Deus, qui nobis sub Sacraménto mirábili, passiónis
tuæ memóriam reliquísti: tríbue,
quæsumus, ita nos Córporis et
Sánguinis tui sacra mystéria
venerari, ut redemptiónis tuæ
fructum in nobis júgiter sentiámus.
Qui vivis et regnas
in sæcula sæculorum.
R/. Amen.
V/. You have given them Bread from heaven (P.T. Alleluia).
R/. Having all sweetness within it (P.T. Alleluia).
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist
as the memorial of your suffering and death.
May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood
help us to experience the salvation you won for us
and the peace of the kingdom
where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
R/. Amen.
The Divine Praises
Blessed be God.
Blessed be his Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be his most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be his most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.
From a Sermon by St. Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi
(Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lect. 1-4)
O precious and wonderful banquet!
Since it was the will of God's only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men holy. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.
O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it all sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.
It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.
The Anima Christi
Anima Chrísti, sanctífica me:
Córpus Chrísti, sálva me.
Sánguis Chrísti, inébria me:
áqua láteris Chrísti, láva me.
Pássio Chrísti, confórta me:
O bóne Jésu, exáudi me.
Intra túa vúlnera abscónde me:
ne permíttas me separári a te.
Ab hóste malígno defénde me:
in hóra mórtis méæ vóca me.
Et júbe me veníre ad te:
ut cum Sánctis túis láudem te
in sæcula sæculórum. Amen.
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, heal me.
Blood of Christ, drench me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
Good Jesus, hear me.
In your wounds shelter me.
From turning away keep me.
From the evil one protect me.
At the hour of my death call me.
Into your presence lead me.
to praise you with all your saints
for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas After Mass
Lord, Father all-powerful and ever-living God, I thank you, for even though I am a sinner, your unprofitable servant — not because of my worth but in the kindness of your mercy — you have fed me with the precious body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy Communion may not bring me condemnation and punishment but forgiveness and salvation.
May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of good will. May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions. May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience, and growth in the power to do good. May it be my strong defense against all my enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of my evil impulses, bodily and spiritual. May it unite me more closely to you, the one true God, and lead me safely through death to everlasting happiness with you.
And I pray that you will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where you, with your Son and Holy Spirit, feast your saints with the vision of yourself, our true and perfect light, total fulfillment, everlasting joy, gladness without end, and perfect bliss.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ummm, just how many times do you expect us to recite this?
patent
"Seventy times seven" seems like a good, Biblical number.
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