Prayers for
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Our
Lord said to St. Mechtilde: Receive it as a most certain truth,
that if anyone hears Mass devoutly and fervently, 1 will send him, for
his consolation and defence in the hour of his death, as many of the
glorious spirits who stand around My throne as he shall have heard
Masses with devotion. And on another occasion He said: However guilty
a man may be, however inveterate the enmity of his heart against Me, I
will patiently bear with him whenever he is present at Mass, and will
readily grant him the pardon of his sins, if he sincerely ask it.
Be ever ready, then, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and
strive to penetrate your soul with the spirit of the prayers which
follow; they contain the true method of hearing Mass, and are most
availing with God.
PRAYER BEFORE MASS
O ALMIGHTY, everlasting God, seeing that it is the true faith of Thy
Church that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass instituted by Thy Son is
infinitely pleasing
to Thy Divine Majesty, and renders Thee an infinite worship and praise,
and since by it alone Thou canst be worthily and adequately worshipped
and praised; impelled by an ardent desire of Thy honour and glory, I
purpose to assist at this present Sacrifice with the utmost devotion of
which I am capable, and to offer this most Holy Oblation to Thee in
union with Thy priest. I offer Thee not only this Sacrifice, but all
those which shall be this day offered up from every part of the world;
and I protest before Thee that if it depended on me whether they should
be offered or omitted, I would put forth all my powers to procure and
to further their being offered. And were I able now to raise up to
Thee, of the stones which are scattered over the earth, most devoted
priests, who should day by day and with glowing fervour offer to Thee
this Sacrifice of praise, I would most gladly do it. But, being what I
am, I implore Thee, O most holy Father, through Jesus Christ Thy Son,
to pour into the hearts of all Thy priests, and especially those who
might perchance otherwise offer Thee this acceptable Sacrifice coldly
and without due recollectedness, the spirit of grace and of fervour,
that they may be enabled to celebrate Thy tremendous Mystery with
becoming awe and devotion. Grant to me, and to all those who are here
present with me, that we may join in this most sacred action with
reverence and devotion, so that we may have our portion in its fruit
and effect. I confess to Thee, O almighty God, and to the Blessed Mary
ever Virgin, and to all the Saints, my own sins and those of all the
world; and I lay them on Thy sacred Altar, that they may be entirely
blotted out by the virtue of this Sacrifice. Do Thou deign to grant us
this grace, by that love which held back Thy hand from smiting when Thy
most beloved Son, Thine Only Son, was immolated by the hands of ungodly
men. Amen.
As the Mass varies day by
day, from the Introit to the Offertory, you may vary your prayers
according to your devotion.
AT THE OFFERTORY
O MOST merciful Father, in union with that
unimaginable love wherewith Thine Only Son offered
to Thee the whole influx of the Godhead into His Humanity, and thus
with ineffable gratitude referred it back to its immeasurable,
unfathomable source, I offer Thee whatever gifts and graces Thou hast
ever bestowed on me of Thy sovereign and unutterable goodness; and I
lay them
on Thine Altar, together with the merits and graces of the same Thy
Son, as a Sacrifice of everlasting praise, and a pledge and expression
of my boundless gratitude to Thee. More especially, I offer Thee my
heart, all too defiled and loathsome as it is; and I plunge it into
this Chalice, to the end and with the desire that all the prayers and
benedictions which shall be spoken over this Chalice may be spoken also
over my heart, and that by the virtue of the ineffable consecration
whereby Thou changest this wine into the Blood of Thy Son, it may be
wholly turned to the perfect and constraining love of Thee.
And
that I may obtain these my petitions, I unite myself to all the love
and the gratitude with which Thy Son endured all His sorrows; and I
offer to Thee whatever sorrow or affliction Thy fatherly love has ever
laid on me or any son of man in order to our salvation, beseeching Thee
that they may come up before Thee in union with this Sacrifice as a
sweet-smelling odour, and may avail for our salvation. Finally, in
union with the resignation of Thine Only Son I offer and resign myself
to Thy most holy will, beseeching Thee with my whole heart that Thine
adorable good pleasure may always in all things be done in me and by me
and in all that concerns me. To this end I lay at Thy feet, O Thou King
of kings and my Lord, all my substance and being, my body and my soul,
to serve Thee henceforth and ever more to the glory of Thy most
worshipful Majesty. Amen.
When St. Gertrude had
thus offered herself to our Lord on one occasion, He said to her: This
offering of thy good will is as it were a royal sceptre in My hand, and
a rejoicing and a glory to Me in presence of all my Angels and Saints.
And whenever thou renewest this intention before Me, it is as though
that sceptre budded and put forth most fragrant flowers.
At the Orate Fratres, say with the server: Suscipiat, etc.
AT THE SECRET
Look down, O tender Father, from the throne of Thy
Majesty and from the lofty dwelling-place of Thy heavens, upon this
oblation which our holy Mother the Church, Thy Bride, offers to Thee by
the hands of Thy priest; and through its force and merit be appeased
for our manifold transgressions. Accept, I beseech Thee, the Sacrifice
which I, Thy most worthless servant, offer to Thee my living and true
God in my own name; and in that of all the whole world; in union with
all the merits of Thy most beloved Son, with all the treasure of Thy
holy Church, for my innumerable sins, offences, and negligences, and
for all the faithful, living and departed, that to them and to me it
may avail for salvation unto eternal life. Amen.
AT THE PREFACE
While St. Mechtilde
was praying for a certain person, our Lord said to her: Behold, I
pardon all her sins, in satisfaction for them, while the priest is
reciting these words of the Preface, Per quem Majestatem, etc., let her
praise Me in union with all my Angels and Saints, and offer a Pater
Noster to God through Me; thus shall all her negligences be forgiven
and effaced. And all who shall do this may confidently expect the like
blessing at My hands.
O MOST compassionate Jesus, I adore Thee, I praise
and magnify Thee in union with that transcendent praise which the most
holy and worshipful Trinity renders unceasingly to Himself; which flows
down thence upon the most blessed Virgin Mary and upon all Saints and
Angels, who adore Thy glorious Majesty with unceasing and unutterable
canticles, and show forth Thy praise in rapturous accord. With whose
voices we beseech Thee to permit ours to blend, saying in lowly
acknowledgment: Holy, holy, holy, etc.
Here say as follows a Pater
to supply all your negligences and defects.
O MOST holy Father, I offer Thee this prayer in union with the praises
with which Heaven and earth and all Thy creatures worship and magnify
Thee. Deign to hear and accept it through Jesus Christ Thy Son, for all
that is offered to Thee through him comes up before Thee well-pleasing
and most acceptable. I beseech Thee, through the same Thy Son, to
forgive me all my sins and to supply all my defects and negligences.
Amen.
AT THE CANON
O INEFFABLE God, we are now drawing near to those tremendous
Mysteries
which neither Cherubim nor Seraphim nor all the virtues of Heaven
suffice to comprehend, for Thou alone knowest with what energy of love
Thou dost daily offer Thyself to God the Father upon the Altar as a
victim of praise and propitiation. And therefore all choirs and orders
of Angels adore this Thy most sacred and impenetrable secret with
lowliest prostration, and behold with awe their King and their Lord,
Who once came down from Heaven in unutterable love to redeem man, now
again mysteriously present upon the Altar, hidden beneath the mean and
lowly species of bread and wine for the salvation of men.
O good Jesus, this work which Thou art now about to work is so
transcendently adorable that I dare not even look up to Thee from the
depth of my nothingness. Wherefore I bury myself in the lowest, deepest
valley of humiliation I can find, and there await the portion of Thy
substance that falleth to me, for salvation goeth forth from Thee upon
all Thine elect. Would, O loving Jesus, that my weak arm might aid Thee
in Thy Divine work, and obtain for this most holy oblation its full
effect according to its ineffable dignity and worth, to effect this the
most weary and painful toil would be sweet and light to me. Wherefore I
pray Thee, grant to this Thy priest that he may with due reverence
handle Thee and offer Thee, so that this our oblation may have its
fullest force and efficacy on all the living and departed. Amen.
AT THE ELEVATION OF THE HOST
HAIL, sweetest Jesus, prostrate in lowliest humility, I worship and
adore Thee.
Here strike your breast
three times, and say:
O JESUS, have mercy on me! O good Jesus, spare me!
O most compassionate Jesus, be merciful to me a sinner!
PRAYER TO GOD THE FATHER
O MOST loving Father, in union with that love
wherewith Thy Son offered Himself once upon the Cross, and now offers
Himself to Thee upon the Altar, I offer Him to Thee for the welfare and
salvation of all Thy whole Church. Look
upon His virgin Flesh, so cruelly torn by the scourges, bruised with
blows and buffetings, defiled with spittings, besmeared with Blood,
pierced with sharp thorns, swollen and livid with stripes, torn by the
nails, rent with the lance. May that pity which drew Him down from
Heaven and sweetly constrained Him to immolate Himself on the Cross,
and constrains Him now to offer Himself daily to Thee upon the Altar;
may that same pity move Thee now, O Father, to have mercy on us. Amen.
AT THE ELEVATION OF THE CHALICE
HAIL, most precious Blood of my Lord, prostrate before Thee in lowliest
devotion, I worship and adore Thee.
Here strike your breast
three times, and say:
O SACRED Blood, wash me!
O roseate Blood, cleanse me!
O most Precious Blood, cry for me unto God the Father, that He may have
mercy on us!
PRAYER AFTER THE ELEVATION, OF
GREAT EFFICACY
O MOST holy Father, now that Thine Only-begotten Son, here truly
present upon the Altar, has deigned to become a Sacrifice and
propitiation for our sins, I offer Thee His most holy Body and Blood,
His Humanity and His Divinity, His virtues and His perfections, His
Passion and Death, in union with that love with which He once offered
Himself to Thee upon the Cross, and now offers Himself to Thee on the
Altar. And in union with these I offer Thee the virtues, merits, and
graces of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints, together with all
the good works of all men, and all the whole treasure of Thy holy
Church. And I desire especially to add to these whatever of good I and
those who are dear to me have ever done, and whatever afflictions we
have suffered for Thy glory. And in union with this Sacrifice, and with
all those which are offered to Thee all over the world, I offer to
Thee this oblation, O Eternal Father, through Thy beloved Son, in the
power of the Holy Ghost, to Thy supreme praise and glory, in
acknowledgment of Thy supreme Majesty, and dominion, and in
thanksgiving for all the benefits and the graces Thou hast ever
bestowed on any creature, and in full reparation for every injury or
insult ever offered to Thee by any whom Thy hands have made.
I offer it to Thee for the increase of the joy and glory of the sacred
Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in worship and veneration of all the
mysteries of His life and death, for the increase of the glory and
blessedness of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints,
especially my holy Patrons, and those whose memory we this day
celebrate.
Lastly, I offer it to Thee on behalf of myself, a most miserable
sinner, and for all my friends, whether in the order of nature or of
grace [especially N.], and for all Christians living and departed
[especially N.]; beseeching Thee that Thou wouldst deign to accept it
as an adequate and sufficient thanksgiving for all the benefits and
graces which Thou hast ever bestowed on our bodies and souls, to
impart to us all the grace needful for us, to turn away from us all
evil of body and of soul which might hinder our salvation, and to grant
us perfect and entire remission of all our sins and negligences. For
all these ends, I offer Thee all the love with which Jesus Christ Thy
Son our Lord has ever loved Thee, and all the satisfaction He has made
to Thee for our sins. Through Him and with Him and in Him be all honour
and glory unto Thee, O God, Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy
Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
Here say the Pater Noster
with the priest, and add the following prayer
for the sins of the whole Church. It was revealed to the Saint that
this devotion is most pleasing to God.
O MOST tender Jesus, I offer to Thee this prayer in union with the
most perfect intention with which Thou didst sanctify it in Thy Sacred
Heart and enjoin
it for our salvation; for the forgiveness of all our sins and the
supply of all the defects caused by our frailty, our ignorance, or our
fault, in opposition to Thine irresistible almightiness, Thine
unsearchable wisdom and Thy free and super abounding goodness. Amen.
AT THE AGNUS DEI
Beseech our Lord to offer Himself to God the
Father as He does in every Mass, according to the revelation made to
St. Gertrude.
O LAMB of God, have mercy on us, and offer Thyself to God the
Father with all Thy humility and all Thy patience, in satisfaction for
our
sins.
O Lamb of God, have mercy on us, and offer Thyself to God the Father
with all the bitterness of Thy Passion, for our reconciliation to God.
O Lamb of God, have mercy on us, and offer Thyself to God the Father
with all the love of Thy Divine Heart, for the supply of all our
necessities. Amen.
Here you may say part of
the prayer which follows the Mass, HERE.
AT THE DOMINE, NON SUM DIGNUS
O LORD, I am not worthy that the earth should
bear me; but for Thine Own
sake pardon me all my sins. O Lord, I am not worthy to be called Thy
creature; but by the bitterness of Thy passion forgive me all my
debts. O Lord, I am not worthy to utter Thy Holy Name; but by the
virtue of this holy Sacrifice bestow on me Thy grace. Amen.
Here make an act of
Spiritual Communion, saying: with St. Gertrude and with St. Mechtilde:
O THOU Stream from the Life-giving Fountain, Thou
fragrance and sweetness of Divine delight, I prostrate myself in my
indigence and my misery in presence
of Thine overflowing fullness. I set before Thee my sorrow and my
tears,
that, by reason of my exceeding unworthiness, my soul must go away
fasting from Thine uncloying banquet. And now, O Thou Who hast formed
my substance and reformed it when fallen and decayed, I beseech Thee
so to prepare me by Thine all-powerful wisdom, and by the tender
compassionate love of Thy Heart, that I may worthily receive Thee
unto my soul, and that Thou mayest work and perfect in me without
impediment all that Thou hast from eternity decreed concerning me,
according to the good pleasure of Thy Divine will. Amen.
To this end say, if you have time, a Pater
Noster, our Lord taught St. Mechtilde.
AT THE COMMUNION
O ALMIGHTY Love, I praise Thee; O most ravishingly
sweet Love, I glorify Thee; O most gentle and tender Love, I magnify
Thee in and for all the good
which Thy most glorious Godhead and Thy most blessed Humanity have
ever wrought in us, or shall hereafter work in us, through that most
august and adorable instrument, Thy Divine Heart. Amen.
AT THE POST-COMMUNION
BEHOLD, O Heavenly Father, our holy Mother the Church has
sent up before Thee from Thine Altar that Victim of transcendent worth
Whom Thou didst send to
be immolated for us. Vouchsafe, therefore, to accept it with that
ineffable love with which Thou didst receive Thy Son when He came
back from this our far country into Thy kingdom, and set forth before
Thee all the fruit of His sacred Humanity and the glorious wounds of
His Flesh.
O most compassionate Father, let not His scars depart from before
Thine eyes for ever, that Thou mayest be perpetually put in mind what
great and super abounding satisfaction He hath made Thee for our sins.
Wherefore I beseech Thee, in the virtue and efficacy of this unbloody
oblation, have mercy on me, and on all sinners, and on all the faithful
living and departed; grant unto them grace and mercy, remission of
sins, and everlasting life. Amen.
AT THE BLESSING
O GOOD Jesus, may Thine omnipotence bless me, may Thy
wisdom teach me,
may Thy sweetness fill and pervade me, may Thy goodness draw me and
unite me to Thee for ever. Amen.
At the words, And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, bow your head in devout gratitude,
and say:
I THANK and bless Thee, O good Jesus, that for love of me Thou didst
deign to be made man.
If anyone does this, said
our Lord, I will graciously incline my Head
towards him in return, and will offer to God the Father all the fruit
of My Incarnation, with all the love of My Heart, for the increase of
that man's blessedness and glory.
ACT OF ADORATION OF THE
MOST HOLY SACRAMENT
HAIL, most glorious Body and most precious Blood of my Lord Jesus
Christ, here truly present beneath these sacramental species; I adore
Thee with all that
devotion and awe wherewith the nine choirs of Angels worship and adore
Thee. I prostrate myself before Thee in the spirit of humility,
believing and professing that Thou, my Lord and my God, are herein most
truly contained.
Hail, most glorious Body of Jesus Christ my Saviour, true Victim
immolated upon the Cross, I adore Thee in union with that adoration
with which Thy Humanity adored Thy Godhead, and I give Thee thanks with
all the love of all Thy creatures, that Thou dost deign to remain
hidden in this tabernacle for our salvation.
Hail, compassionate Jesus, Word of the Father, Brightness of His glory,
Ocean of pity, Salvation of the world, most august and sacred Victim,
Hail, Jesus Christ, splendour of the Father, Prince of Peace, Gate of
Heaven, True Bread, Son of the Virgin, Shrine of the Godhead.
I most firmly believe that Thou, my God, art here present, and that
Thou art looking out upon me from behind the veil of the Sacrament, and
dost behold all the most secret recesses of my heart. I believe that
under this species of bread are contained not only Thy Flesh and Thy
Blood, but also Thy Divinity and Thy Humanity. And although this
mystery
surpasses my understanding, I nevertheless believe it so firmly that
I am ready to give my life and my blood in defence of its truth.
I fall down before Thee with most profound reverence, O most Holy
Sacrament, and with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and
Dominations, with Cherubim and Seraphim, and with all the glorious
array
of the heavenly host, I sing to Thy glory, saying: Blessed a thousand,
yea, ten thousand fold, be the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar!
O Thou most intimate and tender Love of the Father's Heart, I give Thee
thanks, in union with the ineffable mutual thanksgiving and gratitude
of the three adorable Persons of the glorious and most worshipful
Trinity, that Thou hast condescended to institute this priceless
Sacrament, by which Heaven and earth are made one, and both are
unceasingly filled with the infinite treasures of Thy grace.
I glorify and magnify Thy wise and tender almightiness; I praise
and
adore Thy gentle wisdom; I bless and praise Thine almighty and most
wise and gentle love, O Christ Jesus, for that Thou hast condescended
to devise and hast been strong to institute this ineffably magnificent
Sacrament to be the strength and the succour of our salvation.
O Christ Jesus, Thou faithful and only Trust of my soul, I praise Thee,
I love Thee, I worship and adore Thee; and I humbly implore Thee, that
as Thou didst offer Thyself once upon the Cross for the sin of the
whole world, so Thou wouldst now deign to offer Thyself to God the
Father for my exceeding sins. O Christ Jesus, my sweetest and my only
Love, look with the eyes of Thy compassionate mercy on me, a most
miserable sinner, here prostrate before Thee and imploring with my
whole heart the forgiveness of my sins. O Thou princely Flower from the
Root of Jesse, by the unutterable love of Thy most sweet heart have
mercy on me, and receive me into Thy favour, for the glory of Thy
Name. O most loving Father, I offer to Thee this Thy beloved Son as a
holocaust of unceasing praise, and as a perpetual sacrifice of
propitiation for all our sins. Look, I beseech Thee, on the face of Thy
Christ, and remember that most abundant satisfaction which He made to
Thee for our sins on the Cross, and have mercy on us. Amen.
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