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. Consider, at the foot of the altar, the words of Martha to Mary: "The Master is come and calls for thee." "He has come." He is here, upon the altar, not only by His immensity, but as the Man-God in His body, blood, soul, and divinity.

III. " He calls for thee." He has called thee from all eternity: He calls thee today.

CONSIDERATIONS.
"Obedience," says St. Augustine, "is the greatest of virtues; it is the mother and guardian of other virtues." It is possible that we may not find it hard to give up all our possessions, but it is impossible that we should find it easy to give up ourselves. Thus the Holy Spirit says: "Obedience is better than sacrifices " (1 Kings xv. 22). The measure of the love of Jesus Christ towards His Father was that of His obedience.

His whole life was one uninterrupted act of obedience. Learn to love obedience in meditating upon that of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold Him at Bethlehem, in Egypt, at Nazareth: does He not go from one place to another in submissive obedience to His Father? During thirty years, what wonderful docility does He not show to His Mother’s voice, to her slightest wish!

"When the awful hour of the Passion arrived, He said to His disciples: "Arise, let us go hence." He rendered obedience to a heathen judge—to the soldiers, who loaded His hands with chains, who commanded Him to take off or put on His garments, that they might inflict upon Him new sufferings. He allowed Himself to be bound to the pillar of flagellation. On Calvary, when He stretched Himself upon the cross, when He tasted the vinegar and gall, He still obeyed, and death was the consummation of His obedience. In view of this picture, how can I hesitate to submit my will to those, who stand in the place of God to me? When a painful sacrifice is required of me, let me recall the last cry of Our Lord: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luke xxiii. 46), and like Him, let me resign myself to the sacrifice, were it even unto death.

If I desire to serve God only as seems right to me, I show but little love for Him, and I shall have to bear the entire responsibility of my actions in His sight. ’ Let us be faithful to duty, no matter how hard it may be, and let us for the love of Jesus Christ cultivate the spirit of the most humble submission to our superiors and of sweetest meekness towards all with whom we come in daily contact.

When our blessed Lord was upon the earth He was "obedient‘unto death, even to the death of the Cross" (Phil. ii. 8). In the holy tabernacle He becomes obedient unto the consummation of the world. He renders immediate, universal obedience to every priest who pronounced the words of consecration—a free and voluntary obedience, which exposes His adorable person to the outrages of perverse humanity; an entire obedience, without regard to the worthiness of the priest. During all these centuries, no interruption has ever occurred to this meek and humble subordination, which, on account of His love to us, is more dear to Him than His glory. 

Jesus Christ has solemnly engaged Himself to continue this great subjection of Himself, not for His own sake, but to console us in our exile, by filling up the interval which separates earth from heaven, to which He again ascended after His death. How different are our lives from this life of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament! 

How impatient are we of control! Scarcely does the respect due to authority, age, or experience suffice to silence our petulant murmurs when our will is thwarted. We fret and chafe under opposition or else we inwardly resolve to obey for a time only, and certain persons only, for whom we feel affection or esteem. We think that we have made a prodigious effort when we have managed to hide the struggle which it cost us to maintain a meek, submissive behavior under provocation for a few moments only, whereas Jesus is here in the tabernacle, week after week, month after month, year after year, submitting unreservedly to the wishes, to the tyranny, and to the neglectful caprices of His creatures. 0 my Jesus! I will treasure up in my heart this sweet and earnest instruction. 

0 Lord!  I consecrate myself to Thee without reserve. Receive my soul with all its faculties, my body with all its senses, my thoughts, my desires, all the days, hours, and moments of my life, that they may all yield a perfect submission to Thy will in all things.

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 kind Lord, Who hath made a friend of thee, His unworthy servant: regard thyself as a guest at His table, or rather as a hired laborer, since thou dost love Him when thou receivest consolation, but, when thou art scourged for thy good, dost grow cold in love.

II. Love Him with thy whole strength, that so, in union with His strength and senses, thou may offer to God all the strength and powers of thy soul, all the senses and members of thy body, and mayt resolve to use them always in obedience to Him.

III. Ask thy Lord for the virtue of " Obedience; " that thou may imitate Him, Who for thy salvation humbled Himself and became "obedient to death, even to the death of the cross " (Phil. ii. 8).

EUCHARISTIC GEMS.
"Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart" (Matt. xi. 29). Bear patiently the little contradictions which come to you from your neighbor without showing any resentment; for that is contrary to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.—St. Margaret Mary

To Jesus in like Blessed Sacrament,

O Jesus, dearest Lord, I cry to Thee: 
With all the strength I have, I worship Thee; 
With all my soul, I long to be with Thee ; 
And never fear to fail nor fall from Thee.

0 Jesus, sweetest Love, come Thou to me; 
Come down in all Thy beauty unto me; 
Thou who didst die for longing love of me; 
And never, never more depart from me. 

0 God, most beautiful, most treasured One!
0 God, most glorious uncreated One! 
O God eternal, beatific One! 
Forever loving! ever gracious One! 

Oh, melts my heart receiving Thee, my Own; 
My eyes are dim for lack of Thee, my Own ; 
My flesh doth hunger, needing Thee, my Own ; 
My soul doth faint apart from Thee, my Own. 

Where in the height of heaven is light like Thee? 
Where in the deep abyss is strength like Thee? 
Where in creation is there bliss like Thee? 
Where among creatures is there love like Thee? 

Free me, 0 beauteous God, from all but Thee;
Sever the chain that holds me back from Thee
Call me. 0 tender Love, I cry to Thee; 
Thou art my all! 0 bind me close to Thee. 

0 suffering Love, that hast so loved me;
O patient Love, that weariest not of me; 
Alone, 0 Love I thou weariest not of me! 

Ah! weary not till I am lost in Thee;

Nay, weary not till I am found in Thee. 
                                       E, M. Shapcote