Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/69

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METHOD OF ASSISTING AT MASS.
51

In the second part, which will be from the Gospel to the Elevation, you shall discharge your second obligation. Reflecting for a momemt on the enormity of your sins, and on the immense debt which you have contracted by them towards the divine justice, say, with a humble heart:

BEHOLD, my God, the traitor that has so often rebelled against thee. Ah, with a sorrowful heart, and with all the affections of my soul, I abhor and detest my most grievous sins, and I ofier for them the same satisfaction which Jesus presents to thee on the altar. I offer to thee all the merits of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, Jesus entirely, God and man, who is here immolated again for me. And since my Jesus himself is, on this altar, my mediator and my advocate, and since, with his most precious blood, he implores pardon for me, I unite with the cry of his blood, and supplicate mercy for all my sins. The blood of Jesus cries for mercy; find my sorrowful heart also implores mercy. Ah! my dear God, if my tears do not move thee, let, at least, the groans of my Jesus excite thy pity. Why should he not obtain for me that mercy which he merited for the whole human race, upon the cross? Yes, I hope that, for the sake of that most precious blood, thou wilt pardon all my most grievous sins, which I will continue to bewail till my last breath.

Repeat many such acts of true contrition, and rest assured that you shall thus most fully discharge the debt which you have contracted by so many grievous sins.

In the third part, from the Elevation to the Communion, reflecting on the great and important benefits received from God, you shall, in return for them, offer to him a gift of infinite value, that is, the body and blood of Christ. Invite all the angels and saints to thank God in the following, or in some other similar manner:

BEHOLD me, O my most loving God, loaded with the general and particular benefits which thou hast bestowed, and wilt bestow upon me, in time and eternity. I know that thy mercies to me