Prepare Yourself.
Prayer, intention and preparation before Mass.
Men,
Hey there! It’s been a while since we last spoke. My sincerest apologies on the time gap. I had the great misfortune of battling the flu, or maybe it was something else, I’m not really sure. But what I do know is that being bed ridden for a week is not as fun as people may think. Of course once you’re better you have to catch up on everything you missed - Household duties, work items, and content. Well I am happy to say that I am back and it great spirits!
Shout out to my lovely wife, Abigail for taking care of me while I was as useful (perhaps less so) than a sack of potatoes. I would also like to shout out all of the wonderful new subscribers! Welcome to the Catholic corner of substack, I know you’ll enjoy it here and God bless you!
My last post was a list of prayers - in fact, I’ll just post it here below.
Keeping with the theme, today - I offer you more of the same. - Prayer. You can never truly have too much prayer in your life, after all. “Why am I reading about prayer? I came here to learn about manliness” - Well dear reader, if you find yourself saying this as you continue to read, boy do I have a red pill for you. You cannot be a proper man without prayer. You cannot be a proper man without Christ. So, in my continued effort to release the shackles of modernity from our minds and hearts, I feel it would be a critical mistake to not constantly promote the power of prayer and the transformation that it causes, first within…and permeates into the world from one’s actions. With prayer, you “put on the new man.”
Last Sunday morning, my wife, son and I arrived at our parish earlier than usual. Before leaving home, I made sure ribbons were in their proper places in our 1962 Missals [FBI if you’re reading this, a missal is just a guide book] so I had a bit of free time on my hands. I began to pray the recommended psalms to prepare for Mass.
This is what I would like to focus on today - Preparing oneself BEFORE Mass. I am mostly speaking to myself here, due to me usually taking for granted these precious moments before the Sacrifice, but I hope this aids all you readers who may have done the same. Life is hard. Getting not only yourself ready, but also a cargo van of children dressed in their Sunday best I am sure can wear even the best of parents out. Sometimes we find ourselves scrambling in the pew in the nick of time, others, we fall behind. These things happen. We are not perfect and we are not robots.
BUT… It is important to take note of how beneficial the use of your time can be just before Mass and I would like to dive in a little deeper on how you can enrich such time. The enrichment begins with the preparation for the Holy Mass. Turn to page 826 of your ‘62 Missal and you will find a “short instruction” for the Holy Mass along with preparatory psalms and other prayers from the Saints.
The goal, I would imagine, for these specific prayers to go just before the Liturgy is so we can take the time to center our minds and hearts, to focus on what is about to happen before our very eyes, the mysteries of our faith which we are about to encounter. The prayers below help to center us on Christ - to calm our busy minds and to banish all other thoughts that would otherwise impede us from the mystical experience of the Body and the Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Without further ado, I now present you with [a] very impactful way to prepare our mind, body and soul for proper worship. I pray that these prayers aid you as much as they have aided me. Let us prepare ourselves.
Format 👇
Psalm 83
“The soul aspires after heaven, rejoicing in the meantime in being in the communion of God’s Church upon earth. The Israelites recited this psalm on their way to the Temple for the feast of the Passover.”
Psalm 84
“The coming of Christ, to bring peace and salvation to man. Almighty God has taken His people back into favor and continues to show them the treasure of His propitiation and mercy.”
Psalm 85
“A prayer for God’s grace to assist us to the end.”
Psalm 115
“This Psalm is an act of thanksgiving of the Hebrews for deliverance from deadly peril.”
Psalm 129
“We have committed sins: we confess we have sinned. But God grants pardon to him who repents.”
Prayer before Holy Communion
Incline the ears of Thy loving kindness, most merciful God, to our prayers, and enlighten our hearts with grace of the Holy Ghost; so that we may be worthy to assist at Thy mysteries and to love Thee with everlasting love.
O God, unto Whom every heart lies open, and every wish speaketh, and from Whom no secret is hidden, cleanse the thoughts of our hearths by the inpouring of the Holy Ghost, so that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy holy name.
Inflame our minds and our hearts, O Lord, with the fire of the Holy Ghost, that we may serve Thee with a chaste body and please Thee with a pure mind.
May the Paraclete, Who proceedeth from Thee, we beseech Thee, O Lord, enlighten our minds and lead us into all truth, even as Thy Son hath promised unto us.
May the power of the Holy Ghost be with us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully to cleanse our hearts and to keep them from all adversities.
O God, Who didst teach the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Ghost, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation.
Cleanse our thoughts, O Lord, we beseech Thee, by Thy visitation, that when our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, shall come He may find us a dwelling-place prepared for Him; Who liveth and reignith with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, god, world without end. Amen.
Prayer of Saint Ambrose
“To be said before Mass or Holy Communion” [pg 87]
O loving Lord Jesus Christ, I, a sinner, not presuming on my own merits, but trusting in Your mercy and goodness, with fear and awe approach the table of Your most sacred banquet. For I have stained both my heart and body with many sins, and have not kept a strict guard over my mind and tongue. Wherefore, O gracious God, O awful majesty, I, a wretched creature, entangled in difficulties, have recourse to You, the fount of mercy; to You I fly for healing and take refuge under Your protection, and I ardently desire to have Him as my Savior whom I am unable to face as my Judge. To You, Lord, I show my wounds, to You I lay bare my shame. I know that my sins are many and great and on their account I am filled with fear. But I trust in Your mercy, which is endless. Look down on me, therefore, with the eyes of mercy, Lord Jesus Christ, eternal King, God and Man, crucified for men. Hear me, for my hope is in You; have mercy on me, for I am full of sin and wretchedness, You who never cease to let flow the fountain of mercy. Hail Victim of Salvation, offered for me and for all mankind on the tree of the cross. Hail, noble and precious Blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, Your creature, whom You have redeemed with Your Blood. I am grieved because I have sinned. I desire to make amends for what I have done. Take away from me, therefore, O most merciful Father, all my iniquities and my sins, that, being purified both in soul and body, I may worthily partake of the Holy of Holies; and grant that this holy oblation of Your Body and Blood, of which though unworthy I purpose to partake, may be to me the remission of my sins, the perfect cleansing of all my offenses, the means of driving away all evil thoughts and of renewing all holy desires, the accomplishment of works pleasing to You, as well as the strongest defense for soul and body against the snares of my enemies.
Amen.
Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Almighty and everlasting God, behold I come to the Sacrament of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: I come as one infirm to the physician of life, as one unclean to the fountain of mercy, as one blind to the light of everlasting brightness, as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore I implore the abundance of Thy measureless bounty that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to heal my infirmity, wash my uncleanness, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty and clothe my nakedness, that I may receive the Bread of Angels, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, with such reverence and humility, with such sorrow and devotion, with such purity and faith, with such purpose and intention as may be profitable to my soul's salvation. Grant unto me, I pray, the grace of receiving not only the Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood, but also the grace and power of the Sacrament. O most gracious God, grant me so to receive the Body of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which He took from the Virgin Mary, as to merit to be incorporated into His mystical Body, and to be numbered amongst His members. O most loving Father, give me grace to behold forever Thy beloved Son with His face at last unveiled, whom I now purpose to receive under the sacramental veil here below.
Amen.