Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/57

Rh great desire to possess Jesus Christ and to love him ardently. As John Gerson says, we ought, at the moment in which we are about to receive Jesus, invoke him anew, in order to obtain the grace to receive him with great profit to our souls.

Corpus (Sanguis) Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam in vitam æternam ("May the Body (Blood) of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting"). While pronouncing these words the priest receives the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. This prayer recalls to our mind that this precious body and blood are given to us as a pledge of eternal life, and as a viaticum in order to pass from this exile to our heavenly country. Hence when we receive Communion we ought to be so disposed as if we had to leave the earth at once, to enter eternity.

Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quæ retribuit mihi? ("What shall I render to the Lord for all he hath rendered unto me?") The priest says, For all, etc., because he who receives Jesus Christ in Communion receives all the gifts and all the goods that one can desire, according to the words of St. Paul: How hath He not also, with Him, given us all things. He says, What shall I render? because man is not capable of thanking God as he should thank him. Jesus Christ only can worthily thank the Eternal Father for the gifts that he bestowed upon men. The priest therefore adds: Calicem salutaris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo (" I will take the chalice of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord"). He suppli-