Page:Spiritualcombat.djvu/198

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OF PREPARATION FOR COMMUNION
183

"O living Bread, when shall I live by Thee alone, for Thee alone, and to Thee alone? Oh! when, my Life? Blessed Life, Beautiful and Eternal?

"O Heavenly Manna! When shall I loathe all other earthly food, and crave for Thee alone—feed on Thee alone? When shall this be, O my Sweetness, when, my only Good? O my Loving and Almighty Lord, deliver now my wretched heart from every attachment, and from every evil passion; adorn it with Thy holy virtues, and with a pure intention of doing all things solely to please Thee; that so I may open my heart to Thee, invite Thee, and with a sweet violence constrain Thee to come in, that Thou, O Lord, mayest then work in me, without resistance, all that Thou hast ever desired to effect."

With such loving affections, you should exercise yourself in the evening and morning before Communion. Then, as the time of Communion draws near, consider what you are about to take; no less than the Son of God, of Majesty Incomprehensible, before Whom the Heavens and all the powers therein do tremble—the Holy of Holies, the Spotless Mirror, and the incomprehensible Purity, in comparison with Whom no creature is clean; the One Who, as a worm and an outcast of the people, willed for love of you to be rejected,