ACTS OF ADORATION +

0 most adorable Jesus, dwelling in the tabernacle! prostrate before the throne of Thy veiled majesty, I, Thy unworthy servant, beseech Thee to receive my profound adoration. I firmly believe that Thou art really present in the Holy Eucharist, as powerful, as amiable, and as adorable as Thou art in heaven.

With the angels of heaven I adore Thee. Thou hast mercifully hidden the splendor of Thy majesty, lest it should deter us from approaching Thy sanctuary; I believe that Thou dwellest on our altars not only to receive our adoration, but to listen to our petitions, to remedy our evils, to be the strength and nourishment of our souls, our powerful Helper, our Refuge, and our Sacrifice.

I hope in that boundless mercy which detains Thee a Prisoner of love in the tabernacle. I love that infinite goodness which induced Thee to institute this Holy Sacrament of the Altar, in which Thou dost communicate Thyself so liberally and so wonderfully to Thy creatures.

I thank Thee for so convincing a proof of Thy love and ardently wish that I could worthily acknowledge all the blessings I have ever received from this fountain of grace and mercy.

I sincerely regret that this precious pledge of Thy love is received by many Christians with so much coldness and indifference. I wish to make amends for my own ingratitude and for all those sinful acts of my life, by which 1 have wounded Thy loving sacred heart.

I adore Thee, 0 my God, present in the Holy Eucharist, as my Creator, my Preserver, and my Redeemer. I recognize Thee as my only Master; I offer Thee all that I have, all that I am, all that depends on me; I offer Thee my mind to think of Thee, my will to serve Thee, my body to labor and to suffer for Thy love.

I am Thine; I give myself to Thee; I consecrate myself to Thee; I abandon myself to Thee; I wish to live and to die for love of Thee.

Amen

ACTS OF THANKSGIVING +

We adore Thee, Christ, and we bless Thee.
Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

I adore Thee, eternal Father, and I give Thee thanks for the infinite love with which Thou didst deign to send Thy only-begotten Son to redeem me. and to become the food of my soul.

I offer Thee all the acts of adoration and thanksgiving that are offered to Thee by the angels and saints in heaven, and by the just on earth.

I praise, love, and thank Thee with all the praise, love, and thanksgiving that are offered to Thee by Thine own Son in the Blessed Sacrament; and I beg Thee to grant that He may be known, loved, honored, praised, and worthily received by all, in this Most Divine Sacrament.

I adore Thee, eternal Son, and I thank Thee for the infinite love which caused Thee to become man for me, to be born in a stable, to live in poverty, to suffer hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fatigue, hardships, contempt, persecutions, the scourging, the crowing with thorns, and a cruel death upon the hard wood of the cross.

I thank Thee, with the Church militant and triumphant, for the infinite love with which Thou didst institute the Most Blessed Sacrament to be the food of my soul. I adore Thee in all the consecrated hosts throughout the whole world, and I return thanks for those who know Thee not, and who do not thank Thee.

Would that I were able to give my life to make Thee known, loved, and honored by all in this sacrament of love, and to prevent the irreverence and sacrileges that are committed against Thee!

I love Thee, divine Jesus and I desire to receive Thee with all the purity, love, and affection of Thy blessed Mother, and with the love and affection of Thy own most pure heart. Grant, 0 most amiable Spouse of my soul! in coming to me in this Most Holy Sacrament, that I may receive all the graces and blessings which Thou dost come to bestow on us, and let me rather die than receive Thee unworthily.

I adore Thee, eternal Holy Ghost, and I give Thee thanks for the infinite love with which Thou didst work the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation, and for the infinite love with which Thou didst form the sacred body of Our Lord Jesus Christ out of the most pure blood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to become in this sacrament the food of my soul. I beg Thee to enlighten my mind, and to purify my heart and the hearts of all men, that all may know the benefit of Thy love, and receive worthily this Most Blessed Sacrament.
Amen

ACTS OF REPARATION +

Most adorable Saviour, by the most wonderful prodigy of Thy love for us, Thou dost shut Thyself up in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, in order to be the perpetual Sacrifice of the New Law, the innocent Victim of our sins, the celestial Food of our souls, our kind Physician, our good Master, our powerful Mediator, and our loving Father.

But, alas! with what ingratitude on our part Thine infinite kindness is repaid. Prostrate before Thine altar, where Thou art as really present as in the highest heavens, we come to make reparation for all the injuries and for all the ingratitude inflicted on Thy loving heart in this sacrament.

0 divine Jesus, grant us to make a fitting reparation for all blasphemies, for all profanations, and all sacrileges ever committed; for the want of devotion and neglect of preparation for holy communion, for the little fruit we have drawn from it.

Pardon, 0 Lord, pardon for so many Christians who know Thee not, and who offend. Thee; for so many heretics who insult Thee; for so many impious men and apostates who persecute Thee. By the fervor of our love, we would wish to make amends to Thee for all their contempt, and for all their sacrileges.

How happy should we be, 0 Jesus, could we but make reparation to Thy glory, by our respect, by our zeal, aye, even, by the shedding of our blood. At least, most adorable Saviour, grant us the grace to love Thee in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, with the most tender, the most generous, the most perfect, the most constant love.

Virgin most holy, by thy holy and immaculate heart, make, us enter into the adorable heart of thy divine Son, Jesus Christ.

0 sweet St. Joseph! obtain for me the gift of prayer and of perpetual union with Jesus and Mary.

Amen.

ACTS OF PETITION +

0 my God, how shall I contain my astonishment when I meditate on what Thou hast done for me in this sacrament. Thou, my Redeemer, Christ Jesus, art content to descend from heaven, to place Thyself within the consecrated Host, and to dwell within the tabernacle day and night, solely to exercise Thy love towards me, and to communicate to me the abundance of Thy graces.

Oh, what bounty, what mercy! There appears to me, that in the Divine Sacrament, wherein dwells the Author and Giver of all good, I behold the King of glory, Who, with gentle courtesy, calls me, and invites me, and expects me, that I may go to receive His graces, and be consoled.

Courage, then, my soul; come, let us beg for blessings, and not be weary, but be confident that we shall receive them. “Let us go, therefore, with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid” (Heb. ii. 10).

If I look into my own heart, to discover its needs, that they may be supplied, I find that I am in want of all; for all fails me, and I have no sound virtue, for vice alone predominates in me. My wants are without end, and Thou, my God, discerns them far more clearly than I can do.

I am blind, and without light, and this is the first grace I implore from Thee: “Lord, that I may see” (Luke xviii. 41). Illuminate me, 0 true Eternal Light, Who didst come into the world to enlighten every man; make me to see and to know my vileness, my poverty, my extreme misery, that knowing myself, I may learn humility. Want of humility is the great cause of my evil; I esteem myself too highly, and aspire to be highly esteemed by others; and hence I fall, and fall at every little occasion, without ever amending my faults. All my sins are the effects, the punishment of my pride.

Oh, if I were but humble of heart, as I am under obligation to be! 0 my Jesus, Thou Who hast so abased Thyself in the Blessed Sacrament, almost to nothing, and dwells there, hiding within the sacred Host all Thy glorious gifts, I ask of Thee a true and holy humility, for without this I have neither capacity nor disposition to receive any of Thy graces, and this alone can fit me for them. I know not even what humility is, but I well know that I greatly need it. I ask it of Thee by that stupendous humility which brings Thee to dwell within the Blessed Sacrament. 0 God of all greatness, and of all humility, humble my pride, and give me a humble and contrite heart.

With the grace of humility I also ask of Thee ever to increase in me the graces of faith, hope, and charity. These virtues are of necessity for my salvation, and yet how negligently does my heart make acts of them! How often do I allow a long time to pass without making so much as one act of faith, of hope, or of charity!

0 my Lord Jesus Christ! Who, in the Blessed Sacrament, hast deigned to leave us a mystery of faith, a pledge of hope, a bond of love, give me grace to acquire the good habit of frequently practicing these virtues during my life, that they may avail me in the hour of my death. Make me worthy to live and die in Thy faith, with the firm hope of living and dying in Thy love.

Give me, 0 Lord Jesus! an increase of faith, hope, and charity. But, besides all this, 0 my God! I beseech Thee to give me grace to live in holy charity with all my neighbors. Thou hast commanded me to love them, but I am neglectful in observing this law; some among them I love from inclination, some from interest, and scarcely any purely for Thy love. I love him who treats me kindly, but I do not love him who offends me. Sometimes I intend to love all men, but I have too much reason to fear that in truth I do not love them with that Christian charity which is my duty.

But Thou, in the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, Thou hast left me a model, an example of charity; grant that by Thy grace I may holily imitate Thee. I resolve now to love all men sincerely and cordially for Thy sake, and particularly those who in any way have offended or injured me. All that I most desire for myself, I pray Thee to bestow on them, and to unite this my petition with Thine own prayer upon the cross, when Thou didst intercede for Thy enemies.

Grant, dear Lord, that I may ever live in charity with all, that I may so live as never by any act of mine to break the bond of charity; that I may ever love my neighbor as Thou dost love me. Above all, I humbly beg of Thee the grace to live, in all and through all, resigned to Thy all-holy will.

I accept whatever Thy divine providence shall appoint in my life and in my death; may Thy will in all things alone be done, not mine, 0 Lord! I desire all that Thou wills, and because Thou wills it; and in all circumstances I unite my will with Thine. Therefore, 0 my dear Redeemer, to Thine I now and forever unite my will to that adorable will which in the garden Thou didst, in perfect submission, offer to Thy eternal Father; and I beseech Thee ever so to retain my will in unison with Thine, that nothing shall again disjoin them.

Thou Thyself hast taught me to say, in the Pater Noster, "Thy will be done’ and daily I repeat it, but too often I say the words only with my lips; now at least my heart pronounces them for all time, and in all possible occurrences—“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Today, and in all the days of my life, may Thy most holy will be done in me, for me, by me. Teach me to know what pleases Thee, and give me grace to follow it. Grant me, 0 Lord, to discern, to will, to do, that which pleases Thee, as it pleases Thee, and because it pleases Thee.
Amen.

PRELUDE
I. "It is the heart of Jesus which spoke when He said: ‘My Father, I wish that where I am, My disciples be with Me.’ "—Bossuet.

II. "How pleasing to the heart of Jesus are those who visit Him often and who love to keep Him company in the church where He dwells in His sacrament."—St. Alphonsus Liguori.

III. "Since the Sacred Heart has no more cherished law than meekness, humility, and charity, we must cling to these dear virtues."—St. Francis de Sales.

CONSIDERATIONS.
Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, though distinct and separate, one from the other, are nevertheless most intimately related. When we honor the Sacred Heart our eyes are fixed on the adorable heart of Our Savior pierced for man on the cross, and consumed with love for us. When we adore the Blessed Sacrament we see with the eyes of faith the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, whole and entire.

In honoring the Sacred Heart we look upon it as a symbol of the love with which the heart of Jesus is inflamed towards men; in the Blessed Sacrament we are the possessors of the main effects of this love. Let us remember that this adorable heart, which is the special object of our worship, has its dwelling place in the body of Jesus Christ which is really and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Love makes us desire the constant presence of the object of our love. It is this love and this desire that makes Jesus Christ reside with us in the Most Holy Sacrament. It is in this sacrament of His love that He shows His heart to us as He showed it to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, and here it is that He calls us more earnestly to Him.

The object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is to make reparation for the injuries the heart of Jesus constantly receives from ungrateful men when He is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament upon the altar. That it is His wish that devout souls should, by their adoration and prayer, make reparation for these injuries evident from the circumstances and the words of the revelations concerning the Sacred Heart.

It was during the octave of Corpus Christi that Jesus Christ appeared to Saint Margaret Mary and displayed to her His loving and amiable heart. He unfolded to her the inexplicable wonders of His pure love, and to what an excess He had carried it for the love of men, from whom He had received only ingratitude. "Jesus Christ, my sweet Master, presented Himself to me," writes Saint Margaret Mary. "He was brilliant with glory; His five wounds shone like five suns. Flames darted forth from all parts of His sacred humanity, but especially from His adorable breast, which resembled a furnace, and which, opening, displayed to me His loving and amiable heart, the living source of these flames." The Sacred Heart was surmounted by a cross, and encircled with a crown of thorns.

Then her divine Master said to her: "Behold this heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love. In return I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this sacrament of love. And what is most painful to Me," added the Savior, in a-tone that went to the Sister’s heart, " is that they are hearts consecrated to Me."

Then He commanded to have established in the church a particular feast to honor His sacred heart. "It is for this reason I ask thee that the first Friday after the octave of the Blessed Sacrament be appropriated to a special feast, to honor My heart by communicating on that day, and making reparation for the indignity that it has received. And I promise that My heart shall dilate to pour out abundantly the influences of its love on all that will render it this honor or procure its being rendered."

Contemplate most earnestly, 0 Christian soul, this picture of the Sacred Heart; meditate on the plaintive words of the Sacred Heart in the sacrament of love, and resolve to respond most fervently to all Our Savior’s wishes.

The Church herself in the Divine Office shows us the motive of the worship we render the Sacred Heart when she declares that the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was established "in order that, under the symbol of the Sacred Heart, the faithful honor with more devotion and fervor the charity, the love of Jesus Christ, which led Him not only to suffer and to die for the redemption of the human race, but also to institute the sacrament of His body and blood in commemoration of His death."

May the heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!

ACT OF REPARATION AND CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.
0 Sacred Heart of my living Savior, how sensible to our miseries has thy charity rendered Thee!

0 my God, what goodness for Thee to place Thyself a victim for us in the Most Adorable Eucharist!

And yet what dost Thou see in the hearts of the greater part of mankind but rebellion against Thy will and ingratitude for Thy benefits. Was it not enough, 0 my Jesus, to have abandoned Thyself to a cruel agony in the Garden of Olives, when Thou didst bear the weight of all our sins? Was it not enough to have bought our souls at the price of Thy blood and Thy death?

Was it necessary that Thy ungrateful and perfidious children should dare each day to renew the torments which Thou didst endure in the course of Thy Passion, and by fresh wounds to tear open Thy sacred heart? Where can we find hearts so hard, that they are not touched at the sight of the outrages inflicted on Thee?

Prostrate and annihilated before Thee, 0 my Redeemer, permit me this day to make Thee some reparation for all the injuries with which men do not cease to load Thee, and for all the bitterness in which Thy divine heart is immersed. I wish I could water and purify with my tears all those places where Thou art most offended, and by my sentiments of burning love, repair the abuse and contempt which is shown of Thy graces by the scandals, profanations, and sacrileges that are committed among Thy children.

Would that I had possession of all hearts to offer them to Thee in sacrifice and to console Thee by this homage for the guilty insensibility of those who will not know Thee, or who, knowing Thee, have not loved Thee.

At least, 0 Lord, I offer Thee myself; immolate me, consume me as Thy victim, grant that I may now begin to love Thee alone, and that after having once consecrated my heart to Thee, I may never take it back again; grant that I may find in Thy heart an asylum in this world, peace at the hour of death, and my blessedness for all eternity.

0 Heart of Jesus, may Thou be known, praised, adored, and loved by all creatures throughout the universe, now and forever.
                             Amen.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Sacrament! Our Lady of the Sacred Heart! Mother and model of adorers, pray for us, who have recourse to thee.

St. Joseph, pray for us, that like thee, we may die in the arms of Jesus and Mary.


PRAYER TO THE HOLY GHOST
0 Holy Ghost, Thou Teacher and Sanctifier, Who givest light and strength to my soul, bless me that I may be more faithful to Jesus, my Savior and my God, Who is hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, and that I may love Him more and more. In the light of the tabernacle I ask of Thee, 0 Holy Spirit, to fill my heart with pure desire for Jesus, the Living Bread. Give me grace to adore Him with the zeal and humble ven­eration of the holy angels; grant that His will may be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that His will be done in my soul. Help me to thank Him for all His gifts, and, most of all, for Himself. By this Holy Sacrament He strengthens souls on earth, gives rest to souls in purgatory, and gladdens souls in heaven. He is the hidden manna, promised by Himself to all who overcome them­selves and love Him. May I taste the sweetness of Jesus! Set up more and more Thy kingdom in my soul, that I may keep my body under and bring it to subjection, lest I should be a castaway from Jesus and from Thee.

SPIRTUAL COMMUNION
0 Jesus, my Savior, Who art truly present in the Blessed Sacrament for the nourishment of our souls! since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, I humbly and earnestly beseech Thee to re­fresh me spiritually. I love Thee above all things and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Come into my mind to illumine it with the light of heaven; come into my heart to enkindle therein the fire of Thy love. Unite me so intimately with Thee, that it may be no more I that live, but Thou that livest and reigneth in me forever.



FRUIT OF THE VISIT.
I. Behold Christ seated in thy heart as the Giver of grace, with His sweet voice calling thee out of darkness into light: regard thyself as one dead, found feet and hands with winding bands, lying in the sepulcher with a stone laid over it (John :i. 38, 44).

II. Love Him with tender love, as the holy apostles loved Him; that so thou mayest not be able to bear to be torn from Him for a single moment.

III. Ask Him for the spirit of Meekness; that, earning from Him because He is meek and humble of heart, thou may be converted, and enter the kingdom of Heaven (Matt. xi. 29; xviii. 3).

EUCHARISTIC GEMS.
Promises of Our Lord Jesus Christ to St. Margaret Mary Alaccque in favor of those devoted to His Sacred Heart.
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state in life.
2. I will establish peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their afflictions.
4. I will be their assured refuge in life, and more especially at death
5. I will pour out abundant benedictions on all heir undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall advance rapidly to great perfection.
9. I will bless the houses in which the image of My sacred heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the gift of moving the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names inscribed in my heart, never to be effaced from it.
12. I promise thee, in the excess of the mercy of My heart, that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive communion on the first Friday of every month, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence, and that they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without receiving their sacraments, and My heart shall be their secure refuge at that last hour.

Hymn to the Sacred Heart in the Blessed Sacrament.
0 Heart of Jesus, pierced for me,
Pierce with thy love this heart of mine;
Let me with humble trust in thee
Within thy sacred wounds recline ;
For, 0 dear Lord, I love that heart,
That broke for me on Calvary's tree;
Temptation ne'er again shall part
My Savior and His love from me,

I love on those sweet wounds to think
Which Jesus bore for my poor sake,
I love of that dear Blood to drink
Which He from Mary’s veins did take

I love with, solemn thoughts to come
To meet my Monarch on His throne,
In this His lowly, earthly home,
To love and call Him all my own.

How little, oft, am I inclined
To come and kneel where Jesus lives.
How feebly I desire to find
The blessing He so freely gives.
Too easily my thoughts will stray
From contemplation of His love,
Too soon my mind roams far away
From thoughts of my bright home above.

Collect, dear Lord, each wandering thought,
Help me to fix my soul on Thee,
That soul, which Thy sweet wounds have bought, .
Shall never wander far from Thee.
Then, oh! my Jesus, Thou shalt be
My soul and body's all in all,
From this world’s tempting bondage free,
Before Thy presence. Lord, I’ll fall.

Oh! give me, Lord, the grace to feel
Still more of that devout intent,
Which loves its happiness to seal
In Thy Most Holy Sacrament.
Inflame my heart, by Thy sweet power,
With ardent, burning love for Thee,
Increasing, daily, hour by hour,
Still on to all eternity.
"Sunday School Hymn-Book of Sisters of Notre Dame."