Preparation for Communion

O MOST sweet and loving Jesus, I the most unworthy of all thy creatures propose now to receive the most holy sacrament of thy Body and Blood, as the most effectual remedy for all my miseries of body and of soul; with most certain confidence and with most steadfast faith that I shall thus not only obtain the supply of all my need, but also most perfectly please thy supreme Majesty and all the inhabitants of heaven. But, O thou supreme and ineffable Majesty, before whose face the heavens are not clean and its strong pillars tremble, how shall I, a vile worm of the earth, a very sink of all most loathsome corruption and misery, dare to receive thee, who art the Fountain and Source of all purity, into my polluted heart! How shall I presume to receive thee into a heart all set around with briers and thorns, reeking with the foul vapours of carnal and worldly lusts? Wherefore, O thou most compassionate Lover of my soul, I blush exceedingly and am confounded before thee, and quake with fear lest I should outrage thee by receiving thee into an abode so foul, so unworthy of thy Majesty. But, O most merciful Jesus, who hast said with thy gracious lips that they that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick, who didst invite the blind and the lame, the poor and the needy, to thy supper; behold, as one of them, yea, as the poorest and most wretched of them all, I will draw near to the most sacred feast of thy Body and Blood, not in presumption, but with lowly and pious confidence.

For the love of thee I bitterly grieve for all and every one of my sins and my negligences, whereby I have ever offended and grieved thy most tender lovingkindness and polluted my soul with such loathsome defilement. Oh, would that I could change the whole sea into blood, and that I could pour its mighty flood through my head and my heart, that thus that sink of unutterable abominations might be cleansed, which thou my last End hast chosen for thine habitation! O would that my heart could be torn from my body and purified in fiercest fire from all its dross, that thus it might offer thee an abode, not, alas, worthy of thee, but at least not so utterly unworthy.

But why do I disquiet my soul within me, seeing that even if a thousand years were given me I could not prepare myself to receive thee befittingly; for of myself I have nothing whatever which could in any way avail towards so august and solemn a preparation as beseems thy adorable Majesty. Wherefore, O most loving Jesus, I cast myself in the dust before thee in the humility of my heart, and I beseech thy clemency to deign so to prepare me that I may partake of this heavenly banquet to thy glory and to the profit of all the whole world. I offer and abandon to thy tender pity all my substance, all that I am and have, earnestly desiring and beseeching thee that thou wouldst thyself vouchsafe to prepare within me all that is most pleasing to thy divine goodness. I offer and abandon to thee, O thou surpassingly sweet Lover of my soul, my whole heart, beseeching thee that thou wouldst wash it in that water of mighty efficacy which flowed from thy most holy Side, and adorn it for thine indwelling with the precious Blood of thy most sacred Heart, and fit it for thyself with the fragrant incense of thy divine love. Amen.