# The Little Book of the Most Holy Child Jesus/Holy Communion

HOLY COMMUNION.
If you have not yet made your First Communion, look forward with longing desire to the day of your receiving it. That wonderful day is to be the great day of your life. Let each day, as it comes, form a part of the preparation for it.
If the day has passed, always renew, before you go to Holy Communion, the good desires and resolutions of that time.
PRAYER BEFORE HOLY COMMUNION.
Thou alone, who art all pure, knowest how pure I ought to be to receive Thee in Thy most Holy Sacrament. Thou alone canst make me worthy. Have pity on me, a creature of Thy hands, a soul whom Thou hast ransomed with Thy Precious Blood, and whom Thou desirest to have united to Thee.
Look not upon my past sins, which I hate and heartily grieve for, but make me ​fit to receive Thee and to be Thine now and for evermore.
ACT OF FAITH.
I believe, for Thou who art the very truth hast said it, that Thou who art God and Man art present in the Blessed Sacrament, the same Jesus who wast born, died, and rose again; Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who will come in majesty and glory to be my Judge and the Judge of all men.
ADORATION.
Adore Jesus thy God, O my soul. In a few moments He will come to thee and give Himself to thee. My God, most deeply do I humble myself. I would that I could adore Thee more fervently. Kindle the fire of Thy love in my cold heart. Mary, my Mother, Mother of Jesus, adore Him with me. O ye Angels and Saints, supply my shortcoming; obtain for me that I may love Him better, adore Him ​more truly, and be more worthy to receive Him.
ACT OF LOVE.
Jesus, I love Thee, at least I desire very much to love Thee. What joy it would be to love Thee as I ought to love, and as Thou desirest to be loved!
Give me grace to love Thee in Thy most Holy Sacrament, with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my strength.
Teach me ever more and more to love Thee now; give me grace to die in Thy holy love, so as to live in the joy of that love for evermore.
ACT OF DESIRE.
Come, dear Jesus, to be my Divine Food to nourish me in Thy way. Come, dear Shepherd, to guard me; my Father, to take possession of me; my Life, to live in me; my Light, to guide me. Come, Expected of the nations, Desire of the fathers, Joy of the angels, Delight of heaven, Bliss ​of the saints, Brightness of the everlasting city of peace. Come; for Thee have I wished. Come and kindle Thy love in me.
Mary, my Mother, Jesus can only be received at thy hands; from thy hands I receive thy Son and thy God.
Beg of Him for me that I may have at least some little of thy deep humility, thy fervent love, thy strong desire.
AFTER HOLY COMMUNION.
After you have received the Blessed Sacrament, take great care lest you spoil all by a want of gratitude, and so by your heedlessness lose the fruits of a good Communion.
Be not in a hurry to return to the things and thoughts of this world. The very God has come to you, and dwells within you. Pause and be silent. Spend at least ten minutes or a quarter of an hour in thanksgiving.
​What shall I do to show my gratitude? Thou, O my Jesus, dost abide within me. I will be still and quiet, and learn of Thee. May Thy love kindle love in me. Suffer me not to drive Thee away by distracting thoughts and idle fancies.
THANKSGIVING.
Jesus, my God, I thank Thee, or rather I know not how to thank Thee. Would that Thou Thyself wouldst fill my heart and lips with praise, that all my life long I might sing Thy glory, and show forth Thy wondrous works.
Ye Angels and Saints, thank and bless my God for me; supply what is lacking in me. Why should I remain cold and heartless? What has He done for you who love Him so, that He has not done for me? He has given me His own Self—all that He has to give.
Jesus, my God, I thank Thee, and I fain would love Thee. Stay with me until ​I love Thee really, and suffer not my love and gratitude to pass away.
'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all that He hath done for thee.'
ADORATION.
King of Heaven, I adore Thee. Most holy Child of Bethlehem, I bow down before Thy eternal Majesty; and I fain would make up for all my want of reverence in the time past. I would worship and love Thee for all Thy creatures who worship and love Thee not.
Thou art infinitely adorable in Thine awful majesty and greatness; but if it were possible, Thou wouldst be even more adorable in Thy humility and tenderness—the Child of Mary ever Virgin—the Divine Food of Thy faithful here below.
As I have received Thee, and long to adore Thee worthily now, so let me see ​Thee and rejoice in the perfect worship of Thee through endless ages of joy hereafter.
OFFERING.
What have I to offer to Thee, O God, as a pledge of my gratitude and love? I have nothing but what by every title is already Thine—myself, my body and soul. Take me then, O Lord, and grant that I may be for ever truly Thine; my body to be employed in Thy service, my soul to know, love, and be faithful to Thee for evermore.
Never suffer me, who have received Thee in the Holy Sacrament of Thy love, to betray Thee, to become the servant of sin, and of Thy enemy, the devil.
Blessed Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, I rejoice in they great glory and wonderful prerogatives which thy Divine Son has delighted to bestow upon thee. Remember that, hanging upon the Cross, He bade thee take me for thy child. Be a ​mother to me, and obtain for me the favours I have asked of Him. Protect me ever against all my enemies: help and pray for me now and at the hour of my death.