Paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer Before Communion

OUR Father, most mighty, most wise, and most merciful, who, that thou mightest show to thy children thine exceeding sweetness, dost fill them in their hunger with thy sweetest Bread sent down from heaven, and dost in so fatherly and wonderful a manner sustain, cherish, and preserve all that thou hast created; behold I, who though most vile and unworthy am still one of thy children, now lift my eyes with confidence unto thee, who art in heaven, that thou mayest look down with the eyes of thy fatherly kindness on me, most wretched and needy, far away from my Father's face, a dweller amongst the children of Eve, in this vale of tears, a sojourner and an exile on earth, sighing with yearning desire towards thee, my most tender Father.

Hallowed be thy Name; for this is my chief desire and all the longing of my heart, that all I think, or speak, or do, may tend to the greater glory of thy holy Name; and now especially, when I am about to draw near to the sacred Mysteries of the Body and Blood of thy Son, I purpose this one thing only, this alone do I desire, that thy supreme majesty, power, goodness, and wisdom, may be truly and adequately praised and glorified; for to thee alone doth every creature owe all honour and glory, praise and thanksgiving for evermore, for that thou hast so loved us, that thou hast given thine only-begotten Son to be our Food, and the price of our salvation. And inasmuch as we cannot worthily praise thee for this thy great love, may the same thy Son glorify thee; for thou hast exalted him high over all, and hast given him a name which is above every name.

Thy kingdom come. In this Sacrament thou dost give us a foretaste of the blessedness and the entrancing delights of this thy kingdom. For as an earnest and pledge of our future glory, thou hast given us the Body and Blood of thy Son, and hast thus made us, by the grace of adoption, heirs of thyself, and fellow-heirs with thy Christ. Meanwhile, while we yet wander in the land of exile from the Lord, grant us so to use this sacred pledge that the kingdom of thy grace may daily advance in us more and more, and that the kingdom of thy glory may at length come in us.

Thy will be done. And what else is thy will but our sanctification, especially now that we are about to draw near to this most holy Sacrament? Thou dost will that we should eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, seeing that we cannot otherwise have life in us. But who that knoweth his own weakness and sickness could presume to do this, hadst thou not with thy Son so lovingly and so condescendingly willed and commanded it? For the will of thy Son is one with thy will, and his power one with thine. Wherefore since thou dost will it thus, be that done which thou willest, and as thou willest. And truly thou dost will us to be holy, seeing that thy Son, to whom we are about to draw near, is holy, yea, the Holy of holies. But who can make us holy, save thou alone? Give, then, what thou dost command; grant that we may not handle holy things but holily, and with religious awe; wherefore, as in heaven thy saints feed to the full on this living Bread in its very reality, with pure hearts and glowing desire, so may we on earth eat it, wrapped and veiled beneath the sacramental species, with great desire and pure affection, until, together with thine elect, we feast on it, in its true form and very substance, and are satisfied with the fulness of thine house.

Give us this day our daily bread. The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord; and thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature; and canst thou suffer me to want? Thou knowest, O Lord, that the soul needs, no less than the body, to be restored and sustained with food that it may live. For as our natural activity wears the body, so does the fierce heat of concupiscence wear and waste away the soul. But oh, how blessed are thy children, who in the house of so great a Father, in thy holy Church, so abound with bread! Herein the bread of grace and of the word of God is most abundantly broken. Here is set forth for all the bread of the Sacraments, and above all that living Bread which came down from heaven, which was born in Bethlehem, the house of Bread, Bread of angels, Manna of heaven. O costly and noble Food! O unutterable love and mercy of the eternal Father! For to me who sow not, nor reap, nor gather into any garner, is given the Crown of the elect, and the Bread of Life from heaven. Thou, O Lord, didst sow it on the earth; thou didst reap it with the sickle of death; thou hast laid it up in the granary of thy Church, and dost give it all forth for the nourishment of thy children.

Grant me, then, O most tender Father, that I may be often and duly strengthened and refreshed with this Bread; may I daily receive thereof for my daily need, if not sacramentally, yet at least spiritually; for since I sin and fail day by day, so is it reasonable and just that I should day by day receive that which may recruit my wasted strength. Oh, that I may be so strengthened in this wilderness with this heavenly Bread and Viaticum, that in the strength of that food I may walk even unto the mount of God!

And forgive us our trespasses. Alas, how manifold and how grievous are our trespasses!• For in many things we all offend, and in our misery and our poverty we have not wherewithal to acquit our great debt. But behold, O Lord, with thee there is mercy, — plenteous redemption with thy Son, whom, in pity of our misery, thou hast given to us. He is just and undefiled and free from all sin, and he hath paid our debt; he hath expiated our sins; he hath made abundant satisfaction to thy justice, in that he hath given to us the inexhaustible treasure of his merits and the infinite worth of his Blood.

And all this treasure and this worth we have laid up for us and hidden in this most precious Sacrament. Wherefore, O eternal Father, I offer thee now this treasure that thou mayest take thence whatever thou dost require of me for my manifold debts. I have not wherewith to pay thee, but the merits of thy Son abound to overflowing, that therefrom all our debts may be discharged. For his sake, then, forgive us, even as we forgive all that trespass against us; as we forgive, lest we be without that perfect bond of charity, and so unworthily touch the Sacrament of peace and oneness; lest we should seek in vain unto God for forgiveness if we keep anger against our fellow-men. For what part or communion have we in the Body and Blood of the Lord, if we are not united in communion of peace and love with the members of his mystical Body, that is, with all around us?

Wherefore it behoveth us, when we desire to draw near to the altar, first to be reconciled with our brethren, if they have any thing against us, and so to come and offer thee our gift. This thy Son both taught us to do and did for our example. For whilst hanging upon the cross and paying the debts of all men, he forgave all his enemies, and prayed meekly to thee for his tormentors, saying: Father, forgive them. Forgive me, therefore, all my trespasses, for which thy Son offers thee evermore all his merits; for, apart from these merits, if thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand it?

And lead us not into temptation. O Lord, who hast prepared before us a table against all who trouble us, and settest forth thereon the Bread which strengtheneth man's heart against all the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, grant me through this heavenly and life-giving food strength and courage, that I may never yield in the hour of temptation, but may steadfastly cleave to thee.

May I not seek the friendship of this world, nor be conformed to its spirit, but may I be so transformed by the virtue of this heavenly food that I may desire to please thee alone, and fear nothing but to displease thee. May the earth grow vile in my eyes while I here behold the heavens, and embrace within me the Lord of the whole earth. May the pleasures of the flesh cease to attract me, seeing that it is given me to feed upon the Flesh of the Lamb without spot and on the Manna of heaven, in which I find pleasures greater far, and all conceivable sweetness of delight. And wherein shall the devil prevail against me when my God himself is with me? For if God be for us, who is against us?

But deliver us from evil. For in this life we stand exposed to many miseries and woes, and these are evils in so far as they cast us down who are so weak, and withdraw us from thee; for to be separated from thee, the one supreme and only Good, is in truth the greatest and worst of evils. And who shall deliver us from this evil but thou alone the Source of all good, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast given us to be our advocate with thee, and the author of all salvation and blessedness, who hath delivered us from sin and death with his own Blood.

Grant now unto us through his mediation that all things may work together to us for good, for there is salvation for us in none other. Wherefore, as he is truly present in this Sacrament, so may he be with us always and every where; may he feed us, rule us, preserve us, protect us, lead us according to his good and loving will as the sheep of his pasture; whatever shall befall us will be no evil to us if it does not separate us from our chief Good, for it is good for me to adhere to my God. For what have I in heaven but thee? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?