Chap. IV That Many Benefits Are Bestowed on Them Who Communicate Devoutly
The Voice of the Disciple.
1. O Lord, my God, prevent thy servant in the blessings of thy sweetness, that I may approach worthily and devoutly to thy magnificent sacrament.
Raise up my heart towards thee, and deliver me from this heavy sluggishness;
Visit me with thy grace, that I may taste in spirit thy sweetness, which plentifully lies hid in this sacrament as in its fountain;
Illuminate also my eyes to behold so great a mystery, and strengthen me to believe it with an undoubting faith:
For it is thy work, not the power of man; thy sacred institution, not man’s invention:
For no man can be found able of himself to comprehend and understand these things, which surpass eventh subtlety of angels.
What shall I therefore, an unworthy sinner, who am but dust and ashes, be able to search into, or conceive of so high and sacred a mystery?
2. O Lord, in the simplicity of my heart, with a good and firm faith, and in obedience to thy command, I come to thee with hope and reverence; and I do verily believe, that thou art here present in the sacrament, God and man.
It is then thy will that I should receive thee, and through love unite myself to thee.
Wherefore I implore thy mercy; and I beg of thee to give me for this a special grace, that I may be wholly melted away in thee, and overflow with thy love, and seek no more any comfort from any thing else:
For this most high and most excellent sacrament is the health of soul and body, the remedy of all spiritual diseases, by which my vices are cured, my passions are restrained, temptations are overcome or lessened, a greater grace is infused, virtue receives an increase, Faith is confirmed, Hope strengthened, Charity enflamed and enlarged.
3. For thou hast bestowed, and still oftentimes dost bestow, many good things in this sacrament to thy beloved who communicate devoutly, O my God, the support of my soul, who art the repairer of human infirmity, and the giver of all interior comfort:
For thou impartest unto them much consolation, to support them in their many troubles; and thou liftest them up from the depth of their own dejection to the hope of thy protection; and thou dost recreate and enlighten them interiorly with a certain new grace; in such sort, that they who before communion were anxious and felt no affection in them, afterwards being fed with this heavenly meat and drink, find themselves changed for the better.
And thou art better pleased to deal thus with thy elect, to the end that they may truly acknowledge, and plainly experience, how great is their infirmity, when left to themselves, and how much they receive from thy bounty and grace:
For of themselves they are cold, dry, and indevout; but by thee they are made fervent, cheerful, and devout.
For who is he that approaching humbly to the Fountain of Sweetness, does not carry away with him some little sweetness?
Or who, standing by a great fire, does not receive from it some little heat?
Now, thou art a fountain always full, and overflowing; thou art a fire always burning, and never decaying.
4. Wherefore, if I cannot draw out of the fulness of the fountain, nor drink my fill, I will at least set my mouth to the orifice of this heavenly pipe; that so I may draw from thence some small drops to refresh my thirst, to the end that I may not be wholly dried up:
And if I cannot as yet be all heavenly, and all on fire like the cherubim and seraphim, I will, however, endeavour to apply myself to devotion, and to prepare my heart for the acquiring some small flame of divine fire, by the humble receiving of this life-giving sacrament.
And whatever is wanting to me, O good Jesus, most blessed Saviour, do thou in thy bounty and goodness supply for me, who hast vouchsafed to call all unto thee, saying, Come to me all you that labour, and are burthened, and I will refresh you. Matthew xi.
5. I labour indeed in the sweat of my brow, I am tormented with grief of heart, I am burthened with sins, I am troubled with temptations, and am entangled and oppressed with many evil passions; and there is no one to help me, no one to deliver and save me, but thou, O Lord God, my Saviour, to whom I commit myself, and all that is mine, that thou mayest keep me and bring me to everlasting life.
Receive me for the praise and glory of thy name, who hast prepared thy body and blood for my meat and drink.
Grant, O Lord God, my Saviour, that with the frequenting this thy mystery the affection of my devotion may increase.