Catholic Eucharist, Mass, and Communion Prayers
What is the Mass? What is Corpus Christi?
The Mass, also called the Eucharist, is the celebration of Christ's death and resurrection, where Christians partake of His body and blood. It is a common devotional practice to say one's own prayers before and after reception of Holy Communion. Corpus Christi is the feast day celebrating the Institution of the Mass, occurring on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. These Communion prayers and Corpus Christi prayers relate to these themes.
More info: Corpus Christi
Catholic Corpus Christi Opening Prayer
Let us pray [to the Lord who gives himself in the Eucharist that this sacrament may bring us salvation and peace] Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal
Anglican Use Collect for Corpus Christi
God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of his redemption: who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Book of Divine Worship
Prayer of Humble Access
Alternate Catholic Corpus Christi Opening Prayer
Let us pray [for the willingness to make present in our world the love of Christ shown to us in the Eucharist] Lord Jesus Christ, we worship you living among us in the sacrament of your body and blood. May we offer to our Father in heaven a solemn pledge of undivided love. May we offer to our brothers and sisters a life poured out in loving service of that kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit one God for ever and ever.
Amen.
New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal
Anima Christi
Petition Before Receiving Communion
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof: But speak the word only and my soul shall be healed.
Cf. Matthew 8:8
Orthodox Prayer Before Communion
May Thy most precious Body and Blood be to me as fire and light, O my Saviour, consuming the substance of sin and burning the thorns of my passions, and enlightening the whole of me to worship the Divinity.
Ode Nine, Glory, Canon of Preparation for Holy Communion
Act of Desire
Jesus, My God and my all my soul longs for You. My heart yearns to receive you in Holy Communion. Come, Bread of Angels, to nourish my soul and to rejoice my heart. Come most lovable Friend of my soul, to inflame me with such love that I may never again be separated from You.
Said before Communion
O Sacrum Convivium
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast: for here we receive you, here the memory of your passion is renewed, here our minds are filled with grace, and here a pledge of future glory is given, when we shall feast at that table where you reign with all your saints forever. Amen.
Book of Common Worship (Church of England)
Ave Verum Corpus
Hail, true Body born of the Virgin Mary; truly you suffered, impaled on the cross for the sins of the world. From your pierced side flowed blood and water. In my last agony, grant me a foretaste of your presence. O sweet Jesus O Gracious Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on me.
Tr. by Andrew Burnham, A Manual of Anglo-Catholic Devotion
Food for Service
O Jesus, present in the sacrament of the altar, teach all the nations to serve you with willing hearts, knowing that to serve God is to reign. May your sacrament O Jesus be light to the mind, strength to the will, joy to the heart. May it be support of the weak, the comfort of the suffering, the wayfaring bread of salvation for the dying and for all the pledge of future glory.
Amen.
Pope John XXIII (1881-1963)
Adoration to the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament
Blessed, Hallowed, and Adored be Jesus on his throne of glory and in the most holy Sacrament of the altar. [Alleluia, Alleluia].
Amen.
A Manual of Anglo-Catholic Devotion
O Salutaris Hostia
O Priest and Victim, Word of Life Throw wide the gates of Paradise. We face our foes in mortal strife; You are our strength! O heed our cries.
O Father, Son, and Spirit blest One only God be ceaseless praise. May you in goodness grant us rest In heaven, our home, for endless days.
tr. by James Quinn
Hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Pange Lingua)
Now, my tongue, the mystery telling, Of the glorious body sing, And the blood, all price excelling, Which all mankind's Lord and King, In a virgin's womb once dwelling, Shed for this world's ransoming.
Given for us and condescending To be born for us below, He, with men in converse blending, Dwelt the seed of truth to sow, Till He closed with wondrous ending His most patient life below.
That last night, at supper lying Mid the twelve, His chosen band, Jesus, with the law complying, Keeps the feast its rites demand; Then, more precious food supplying, Gives Himself with His own hand.
Word made flesh, true bread He maketh By His word His flesh to be; Wine His Blood: which whoso taketh Must from carnal thoughts be free; Faith alone, though sight forsaketh Shows true hearts the mystery.
Therefore we, before Him bending, This great sacrament revere; Types and shadows have their ending, For the newer rite is here; Faith, our outward sense befriending, Makes our inward vision clear.
Glory let us give, and blessing, To the Father and the Son; Honor, might and praise addressing While eternal ages run, Ever, too, His love confessing, Who from Both with Both is One.
tr. by Edward Cassell
The Divine Praises
Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.
May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.
Amen.
A Prayer for Faith and Charity
Give me, good Lord, a full faith and fervent charity, a love of you, good Lord, incomparable above the love of myself; and that I love nothing to your displeasure but everything in an order to you.
Take from me, good Lord, this lukewarm fashion, or rather, this cold manner of meditation, and this dullness in praying to you. And give me warmth, delight, and life in thinking, about you. And give me your grace to long for your holy sacraments and specially to rejoice in the presence or your blessed body, sweet Saviour Christ, in the holy sacrament of the altar, and duly to thank you for your gracious coming.
Saint Thomas More
Prayer to Christ Crucified
My good and dear Jesus, I kneel before you asking you most earnestly to engrave upon my heart a deep and lively faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm resolve to make amends. As I reflect upon your five wounds and dwell upon them, with deep compassion and grief I recall good Jesus, the words the prophet David spoke: They have pierced my hands and my feet; they have counted all my bones!
Traditionally said following Communion or Mass
Prayer After Holy Communion
I give You thanks, Lord, holy Father, everlasting God. In Your great mercy, and not because of my own merits, you have fed me, a sinner and Your unworthy servant, with the precious body and blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray this holy Communion may not serve as my judgment and condemnation, but as my forgiveness and salvation.
May it be my armor of faith and shield of good purpose. May it root out in me all vice and evil desires, increase my love and patience, humility and obedience and every virtue.
Make it a firm defense against the wiles of all my enemies, seen and unseen, while restraining all evil impulses of flesh and spirit. May it help me to cleave to you, the one true God, and bring me a blessed death when you call.
I beseech you to bring me, a sinner, to that glorious feast where, with Your Son and Holy Spirit, you are the true light of Your holy ones, their flawless blessedness, everlasting joy and perfect happiness. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Adoramus Te
We adore you most holy Lord Jesus Christ, here, and in all your churches throughout the world; and we bless you, because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
SSF, A Daily Office
A Prayer Before Communion
We pray thee Lord, let thy Spirit purify our hearts, lest we come unworthily to the heavenly feast, that thou being shed abroad in our hearts, we may grow up into thee and become strong in spiritual growth, so that we may persevere in the blessed society of thy mystical body, which it is thy will should be so one with thee as thou art with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, to whom be praise and thanksgiving forever. Amen. Erasmus (1467-1536)
Anglican Prayer After Communion
Glory be to Thee O Jesus, My Lord, and my God, for thus feeding my Soul, with thy most blessed body and blood, O let Thy Heavenly food transfuse new life, and new vigour into my Soul, and into the Souls of all that Communicate with me, that our Faith may daily increase, that we may all grow more humble, and contrite for our sins, that we may all love Thee, and serve Thee, and delight in Thee, and Praise Thee, more servantly, more incessantly, then ever we have done heretofore!
Amen, Amen.
Thomas Ken (1637-1711)
Eastern Prayer After Communion
Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands that have taken holy things; may the ears which have heard your word be deaf to clamour and dispute; may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit; may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love shine with the light of hope; and may the bodies which have been fed with your body be refreshed with the fullness of your life; glory to you for ever.
Amen.
Malabar Liturgy
Prayer to the Risen Lord
Come, Lord, in the fullness of your risen presence, and make yourself known to your people again through the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.
Amen.
Lord Robert Runcie
Adoro Te Devote
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.
On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.
I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.
Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with thy glory's sight.
Amen.
Tr. Gerald Manley-Hopkins
Compiled by David Bennett
Updated 06-07-2017