Anima Devota (prayer After Communion)

I believe, dearest Jesus,

that Thou art united to my soul,

by Thy real presence.

Filled with consolation,

I clasp Thee to my breast,

and return Thee thanks

for this Thine infinite mercy.

Why unite Thyself to a soul so full of self-love,

so cold towards Thee,

so averse to mortification and self-denial?

Thou knowest how much I am attached to pleasure,

comfort and honour,

how ill I endure the slightest provocation,

a harsh word,

or the most trifling adversity.

Why, then, my sweet Saviour,

unite Thyself to so vile and despicable a creature?

It is not sufficient for Thee

to visit my soul with Thy divine lights,

to lead me on in the paths of salvation?

Why condescend to visit me in person?

Dear Jesus,

I have neither words nor feelings

adequately to express the extent of Thy goodness.

I clasp Thee to my heart;

I adore Thee as my first treasure,

my supreme Lover,

my first beginning,

and my last end,

my chief and only good.

O that I could adore Thee

with those feelings with which

the Blessed Virgin adored Thee on earth,

and with which she now adores Thee in heaven!

O that like her,

I could die,

consumed by transports of the most ardent love for Thee!

Complete, my dear Saviour,

the salutary designs which

Thou hast in paying me this visit.

Thou hast given me light and strength

to abandon the paths of perdition;

grant me now light and grace to know,

and steadily to advance in the ways of salvation.

Dear Jesus,

deny me not the grace

requisite for overcoming my passions,

and remaining faithful to Thee.

Grant that I may renounce all earthly satisfactions,

and place my delight in pleasing Thee,

my God, my treasure, and my all.

By Thine infinite goodness,

and by Thine infallible promise of never abandoning

those who cast themselves into Thine arms,

to be directed by Thee,

I beseech Thee, O Lord,

to grant me this grace.

Grant it to me,

by the merits of Thy most precious Blood,

of that saving and vivifying Blood,

so profusely shed for the salvation of all,

and for the tender consolation of Thy faithful servants.

Come to my aid,

O Mary,

my dearest Mother;

intercede for me and enable my unworthy petition to find,

through Thine intercession,

a ready acceptance.

Alas! have pity on Thy poor child,

and cease not to exert a mother's care in its behalf.

Take me, O Mary,

take me under thy protection;

thou shalt not always find me so unworthy

as I have hitherto been.

I will endeavour to copy thy virtues,

especially thy humility and purity,

which have ever been so dear to thee.

Hail, august Mother of Jesus Christ!

receive my humble homage of praise and thanks.

Obtain for me innocence of heart and purity of mind,

that so my thoughts and affections

may be ever pure and chaste.

By thy most powerful intercession,

obtain for me the grace to reap

solid and lasting advantages from the holy Sacrament,

of which I have just participated;

to imitate faithfully thy virtues,

and to steadily follow thine example during my life,

so that in heaven

I may be associated with thee

in eternally praising the unspeakable

and infinite goodness of thy Son.

Thou who wast never defiled by sin,

preserve me in future from its cursed contagion;

inflame my heart with divine love,

that I may ever adhere to my Jesus,

and be never separated from Him eternally.