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. The manna which fell in the desert was but a figure of the true bread from heaven—Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

II. Let us hasten to receive this heavenly manna, containing in itself all sweetness."

III. The manna of the desert was the food of the children of Israel until it was replaced by the fruits of the Promised Land. The eucharistic manna is to be our food until we taste the joys of Heaven.

CONSIDERATIONS.
"The manna, which possessed every kind of delicious taste was food formed it would appear, in the air by the ministry of angels, whence it had the name too of ‘food of angels' (Ps. ixxvii. 25); but the Eucharist is a miracle far more stupendous, the handiwork, not of angels, but of Almighty Love. The manna, miraculous as it was, was a material food, like to the hoar-frost which falls at morning on the earth (Exodus xvi. 14). It was a food designed to satisfy the hunger and preserve the life of the body; but holy communion is a spiritual food, all heavenly, and designed to nourish, not a perishable body, but the immortal soul.

"The Chosen People were fed with manna all through the time in which they wandered in the solitudes of Arabia Petraea journeying towards the Promised Land, and we, pilgrims in the wilderness of this life, have given us for our food the Eucharistic Manna to support us throughout the journey towards our Land of Promise, the heavenly paradise. 'Holy Communion’ is the name most commonly applied to this 'Bread from Heaven’—this 'Eucharistic Manna.’ And indeed the word communion, compounded of the two words ‘ union with,’ admirably expresses the union effected by the Holy Eucharist between the faithful and Jesus Christ, and the union of the faithful one with another.

"In the same manner as the eucharistic transubstantiation is a living act by which Jesus Christ changes the bread into His flesh, and the wine into His blood, so the eucharistic communion is a living act by which He possesses Himself of our soul, pervades it through and through in all its powers, makes it His own, and molds it to His divine wishes and instincts. This prodigy is expressed by St. Paul the Apostle, in these words: ‘I live, now no longer I, but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. ii. 20).

‘‘Marvelous food! By partaking of Christ in this Sacrament, He is not changed into us, as happens with material food, but we are changed and transformed into Him, and being united with Him we feel the quickening virtue of His lifegiving flesh. True it is that this life-giving action of Holy Communion is fleeting and passes away with the disappearance of the eucharistic species; but nevertheless the close espousal of the soul, thus wedded to her divine Lover, remains forever. So He has told us: ‘He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood remaineth in Me and I in him . . , and he that eateth Me the same also shall live by Me.’ The sacrament, the actual communion, is transient, but its reality, viz., the perpetual espousal of the soul with Jesus Christ is permanent.

"The faithful soul is the nuptial couch whereon the divine espousals are completed, and in the profoundest depths of that soul the sweet voice of the spouse says: ‘My son, give me thy heart.’

"As we all partake in holy communion of one and the same food, the body of Christ. so we become of necessity one with one another, enjoying in common the possession of Christ. This is why St. Paul says: ‘We, being many, are one bread, one body, all who partake of one bread’ (1 Cor. x. 17). St. Paul attributed the perfect union of the faithful with one another to the communion of the Body of Christ, because it is the identity of this bread, which not only draws us together and unites us, but unifies and makes us grains of one ear, grapes of the same cluster: ‘That they may be one as we also are one  (John xvii. 11). No wonder, then, that concord and agreement with one another should be the indispensable condition which precedes a worthy reception of the body of Christ:—‘Therefore, if thou offerest thy gift at the altar, and there shalt remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift’ (Matt. v. 23, 24).

"Hearts thus harmonized by the communion of Our Lord’s body, find in Christ their common center, and are thus all the more closely knitted one to the other; they become but one heart and one soul, like the primitive Christians, who broke the holy bread from house to house in joy and simplicity of heart, and 'the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul’ (Acts iv. 32). Happy age I when Christians felt and professed their common brotherhood, and could be pointed out by the Gentiles with the remark—‘See how they love one another!' The warm hearth where this affection and love sprang up and was festered was the sacrament of their eucharistic and daily food."—"Names of the Eucharist."

Let us go to the holy table frequently, for the saints who recommend us to go have all in the course of their lives experienced the Sanctifying effects of the bread which is served up at this table of the Lord. From frequently eating of this bread they have one and all drawn that power to overcome themselves, that grace to perfect themselves, and that constancy to persevere, the outcome of which has been to make them saints. Their personal experience, surely, ought to lend additional weight to the recommendations these holy servants of God give to us. Let us go to the holy table very frequently; in fact as often as our father confessor will allow us.

Let us go to the holy table, for it is but right that we be imitators of the saints. That which rendered them so dear to God, which elevated them to such an eminent degree of sanctity, ought to sanctify us also, according to the measure of holiness demanded of us individually by the Almighty. As the holy communion sanctified their souls, so it will most certainly sanctify our souls also.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in the thirteenth century, appropriating to himself the admirable words of St. Denis, the first apostle of the Gauls, spoke in this wise: "The Holy Eucharist! behold the source from which all sanctity springs. No man need ever expect to reach any degree of perfection save by means of the action of the Holy Eucharist on his soul."

About the same time St. Francis of Assisi said: "The Body of Our Lord is that food without which the soul languishes and wastes away. Why, then, do not men desire to come to the table where this food is offered to all? Why do they not come there daily to receive it? A man who is making a long and wearisome journey has all the greater reason for partaking of food frequently and abundantly. Now, if we are on a journey, and if we have our footsteps directed towards the heavenly country, ought we not to be anxious to strengthen ourselves with this most sweet and most exquisite nourishment?

"The prophet Elias was nourished with it merely in figure; and we know that through the strength it imparted to him he was able to proceed upon his way. Did we, on our part, but eat of this spiritual bread with greater frequency, and with befitting dispositions, we should certainly make more rapid progress in virtue; we should march on with firmer step to that celestial land which is the term of our journey."

In the sixteenth century St. Philip Neri, taught by his long experience in ministering to souls, was in the habit of saying that frequent communion, united with devotion to the Blessed Virgin, was the best, the only means, especially for the young, to preserve intact the purity of their souls; that it was by this alone they could persevere in the faith, or make progress in virtue, in the midst of the world. Let us all go to the Eucharistic Table," he used to exclaim; "let us go to it burning with a most ardent desire to nourish ourselves with this sacred food. Let us hunger for it, let us hunger for it! "

St. Francis of Sales, about the same time, wrote in his work, "The Introduction to a Devout Life " : "Communicate frequently, Philothea, and as often as you can ... by adoring and eating beauty, goodness, and purity itself in this Divine Sacrament, you yourself will become altogether fair, altogether good, altogether pure. . . . If worldlings ask you why you communicate so often, tell them you do so because you wish to learn to love God, to purify yourself from your defects, to rescue yourself from your miseries, to receive comfort in your afflictions, to be strengthened in your infirmities."

St. Ignatius of Loyola, writing to the inhabitants of Azpeitia, in Spain, among other things, spoke thus to them: "I beg, I implore of you, with the deepest earnestness, to devote yourself to the honor and service of Jesus Christ in this most admirable Sacrament of the Eucharist." And, after having declared to them that the most effectual means of honoring Our Savior was to receive Him frequently and worthily in the holy communion—meantime recalling to their minds the practice of the early Christians—he then went on to say: "Alas! at the present day there remains of Christianity naught save the empty phantom of the Christian name. . . ; We should, then [he concludes], at all costs, restore the pious practices of Christians of former times.

"The interests of the Divine Majesty demand it; our own most pressing needs require it. At least once a month, if it is too much to expect more, let all, having made their confession, receive the Eucharist. And if there be some who are desirous to communicate more frequently, there can be no doubt whatever but they will by so doing render themselves most pleasing to Almighty God."

In the seventeenth century, St. Alphonsus Liguori, who was so distinguished for his devotion towards the Most August Sacrament of the Altar, said: "What should men desire more than to receive Jesus Christ as often as possible in the holy communion.... Oh! what rapid and steady progress in the love of God, as we well know from experience, do not those persons make, who with pious affection and with the approval of their spiritual director, frequently receive the holy communion! ... If I may say what I wish to say, permit me to remark that, generally speaking. those persons are the most exemplary in their lives, who go most frequently to the holy communion."

St. Leonard of Port-Maurice, who lived towards the middle of the eighteenth century, exclaimed in one of his mission sermons: Ah! my brethren, do you wish to be angels in the flesh, do you wish to live pure and chaste, do you wish to conquer the temptations that assail you against the angelical virtue? If so, here is the means. Go and feast at the table of the angels, if not every day, at least every eight days. Yes, the holy communion, weekly received, will change you into angelic beings; it will preserve you in the grace of God, and conduct you to the glory of the heavenly kingdom."

"With what charms is not virtue clothed," says Father Eymard, "at the school of the holy communion! How easy does not the practice of humility become when one has been to the altar, when one has just beheld the Lord of glory humbling Himself to such a degree as to come into a heart so poor, a mind so ignorant, a body so wretched! How easy is it not to be meek and gentle when one has just been under the salutary influence of the tender goodness of Jesus, Who in the sweetness of His heart has bestowed Himself upon us! How lovable does not the neighbor become when we have seen him nourished with the same bread of life as ourselves, when we have sat side by side with him at the divine table, when we shave witnessed Jesus Christ Himself pouring out upon him such an effusion of love! How is not the bitterness taken out of penance, mortification, and self-abnegation, when we have only a while ago received into our hearts the crucified Jesus!

"No, without communion we should experience only the painful side of the conflict, we should be acquainted with the virtues only through the trouble it cost us to acquire them, we should not know them under their more attractive aspect, namely, in the happiness we feel in laboring for the love of God, and for the greater honor and glory of God."

Prayer.
Come to me often in holy communion, my dear Jesus. I will receive Thee as often as my spiritual director will permit me. Come to me, then, in this heavenly banquet, my life-giving Jesus, in Thy sweetness and might. Give me a greater longing for Thy gift of gifts. Satisfy my hunger with the living Bread, and slake my thirst with the Wine of God. Now I see Thee dimly in Thy creatures, and now darkly I know Thy love. I feel, the wickedness of my heart and am cast down greatly, when I think of my unfaithfulness to Thee. Purify me more and more, and cleanse me with the fire of Thy heart. Wash me with Thy precious blood and I shall be white; give me more of Thy Holy Spirit, and I shall be cleansed. I adore Thee, Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament, and with all my heart I wish to make myself a fitting temple for Thee. Fill me with the sweetness of Thy love, 0 my Jesus ’

Our Lady of the Most Holy Sacrament, 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 a most tender-hearted Host, holding converse with thee in words sweeter than honey and the honeycomb; regard thyself as a servant ennobled by the presence of a Host so great (Ps. xviii. 11).

II. Love Him above all sweet sounds and above all things which soothe the ears; that so thou may listen not to the words of those who tell thee fables, that are not according to the law of God (Ps. cxviii. 85).

III. Ask Him for the virtue of "Prudence," and be no more a child, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, and by cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive (Ephes, iv. 14).

Aspiration.
His conversation hath no bitterness, and His company no tediousness, but joy and gladness (Wisd. viii. 16).

EUCHARISTIC GEMS.
" In holy communion we reverse, in a manner, that token of love and friendship which passed between Jesus and St. John at the Last Supper; for there the disciple leaned upon his Master’s bosom, but here the Lord condescends to repose in the breast of His unworthy servant. Oh! how pure and brightly clean should we keep the couch, on which He thus deigns to rest." —Cardinal Wiseman,

Jesu Nostra Refectio.
Jesu, the Meat and Drink indeed
That bids Thine own rejoice.
Sweetness and mirth and melody
Of heart and soul and voice;
What mercy bends Thee, Lord, to feed
Man in his misery
With Thine own flesh, the Bread of Heaven,
Brought near to such as we?

Our Ransomer and Ransom Thou,
Our Banquet, too, Thou art;
Thou Who dost heal our soul's disease,
Joy be Thou of our heart,
Thou Who dost give us here foretaste,
So sweet, of joys to be,
Give us in our dear Fatherland
Fruition full of Thee.