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Prayer of Saint Ambrose before Mass:
Lord Jesus Christ, I approach your banquet table in fear and
trembling, for I am a sinner, and dare not rely on my own worth, but
only on your goodness and mercy. I am defiled by many sins in body
and soul, and by my unguarded thoughts and words. Gracious God of
majesty and awe, I seek your protection, I look for your healing.
Poor troubled sinner that I am, I appeal to you, the fountain of all
mercy. I cannot bear your judgment, but I trust in your salvation.
Lord, I show my wounds to you and uncover my shame before you. I
know my sins are many and great, and they fill me with fear, but I
hope in your mercies, for they cannot be numbered. Lord Jesus
Christ, eternal king, God and man, crucified for mankind, look upon
me with mercy and hear my prayer, for I trust in you. Have mercy on
me, full of sorrow and sin, for the depth of your compassion never
ends. Praise to you, saving sacrfice, offered on the wood of the
cross for me and for all mankind. Praise to the noble and precious
blood, flowing from the wounds of the my crucified Lord Jesus Christ
and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord your
creature, whom you have redeemed with your blood; I repent my sins,
and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away
all my offenses and sins; purify me in body and soul, and make me
worthy to taste the holy of holies. May your body and blood, which I
intend to receive, although I am unworthy, be for me the remission
of my sins, the washing away of my guilt, the end of my evil
thoughts, and the rebirth of my better instincts. May it incite me
to do the works pleasing to you and profitable to my health in body
and soul, and be a firm defense against the wiles of my enemies.
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Prayers of Saint Thomas Aquinas before Mass
Almighty and ever-living God,
I approach the sacrament
of Your only-begotten Son
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
I come sick to the doctor of life,
unclean to the fountain of mercy,
blind to the radiance of eternal light,
and poor and needy to the Lord
of heaven and earth.
Lord, in your great generosity,
heal my sickness,
wash away my defilement,
enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty,
and clothe my nakedness.
May I receive the bread of angels,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
with humble reverence,
with the purity and faith,
the repentance and love,
and the determined purpose
that will help to bring me to salvation.
May I receive the sacrament
of the Lord's Body and Blood,
and its reality and power.
Kind God,
may I receive the Body
of Your only-begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
born from the womb of the Virgin Mary,
and so be received into His mystical body
and numbered among His members.
Loving Father,
as on my earthly pilgrimage
I now receive Your beloved Son
under the veil of a sacrament,
may I one day see him face to face in glory,
who lives and reigns with You for ever.
Amen.
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A Prayer before Mass from Saint Ambrose
O great High-Priest,
the true Pontiff, Jesus Christ,
who didst offer Thyself to God the Father
a pure and spotless Victim upon the Altar of the Cross
for us miserable sinners,
and didst give us Thy Flesh to eat and Thy Blood to drink,
and didst ordain this Mystery in the power of Thy Holy Spirit,
saying, "Do this for the commemoration of Me,"
I pray Thee, by the same Thy Blood,
the great price of our salvation;
I pray Thee, by that wonderful and unspeakable love
wherewith Thou deignedst so to love us,
miserable and unworthy,
as to wash us from our sins in Thine own Blood:
teach me, Thine unworthy servant,
by Thy Holy Spirit,
to approach so great a Mystery with that reverence and honour,
that devotion and fear,
which is due and fitting.
Make me, through Thy grace,
always so to believe and understand,
to conceive and firmly to hold,
to think and to speak,
of that exceeding Mystery,
as shall please Thee and be good for my soul.
Let Thy good Spirit enter my heart,
and there be heard without utterance,
and without the sound of words speak all truth.
For Thy Mysteries are exceeding deep,
and covered with a sacred veil.
For Thy great mercy’s sake,
grant me to approach Thy holy Mysteries with a clean heart and a
pure mind.
Free my heart from all defiling and unholy,
from all vain and hurtful thoughts.
Fence me round about with the holy and faithful guard
and mighty protection of Thy blessed Angels,
that the enemies of all good may go away ashamed.
By the virtue of this mighty Mystery,
and by the hand of Thy holy Angel,
drive away from me and from all Thy servants
the hard spirit of pride and vainglory,
of envy and blasphemy,
of impurity and uncleanness,
of doubt and mistrust.
Let them be confounded that persecute us;
let them perish who are bent upon our ruin.
Amen.
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Another Prayer before Mass from Saint Ambrose
We pray Thee also, O Lord, Holy Father,
for the souls of the faithful departed:
that this great Sacrament of Thy love
may be to them health and salvation,
joy and refreshment.
O Lord, my God,
grant them this day a great and abundant feast of Thee,
the living Bread,
who camest down from heaven and givest life unto the world;
even of Thy holy and blessed Flesh,
the Lamb without spot,
who takest away the sins of the world;
that Flesh, which was taken of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and conceived by the Holy Ghost;
and of that Fountain of mercy which,
by the soldier’s lance,
flowed from Thy most sacred Side;
that they be thereby fed and satisfied,
refreshed and comforted,
and may rejoice in Thy praise and in Thy glory.
I pray Thy loving mercy, O Lord,
that on the bread and wine to be offered unto Thee
may descend the fullness of Thy blessing
and the satisfaction of Thy Divinity.
May there descend also the invisible
and incomprehensible Majesty of Thy Holy Spirit,
as it descended of old on the sacrifices of the Fathers,
which shall make these oblations Thy Body and Blood;
and may this offering be acceptable unto Thee,
through Him who offered Himself a sacrifice to Thee, O Father,
even Jesus Christ,
Thine only Son,
our Lord.
Amen.
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