O Thou Gift exceeding all fulness,1 1 O Thou Proof of the love of GOD,9 2 O Thou Stream of GOD's bountiful goodness,3 O Thou Feast and Master of the feast,4 O Thou Bond of charity,5 O Thou the Priest and the Sacrifice,6 O Thou Who refreshest holy souls,7 O Thou Strength by the way for those that die in the LORD,8 Have mercy upon us. Be merciful unto us; spare us, good LORD. Be merciful unto us; hear us, good LORD. From unworthily receiving Thy Blessed Body and Blood, Good LORD, deliver us. 1 Col. ii. 3, 9. 4 S. John vi. 54; Isa. xxv. 6. 5 1 S. John iv. 7, 11. 6 Heb. vii. 17, 24; viii. 3; ix. 11, 12. 7 S. Matt. xi. 28; Ps. lxviii. 9; Jer. xxxi. 25. 8 Ps. xxiii. 4. From the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, From all occasion of sin, By the desire with which Thou didst desire to eat the passover with Thy disciples, By the humility with which Thou didst wash Thy disciples' feet, By the Love with which Thou didst institute this holy Sacrament, By Thy precious Blood which Thou -hast left to us sacramentally on Thy Altar, By Thy Body which was wounded for our transgressions, Good LORD, deliver us. We sinners do beseech Thee to hear us, good LORD GOD. And that it may please Thee to preserve and increase in us faith, reverence, and devotion with respect to this wonderful Sacrament; That it may please Thee to bring us through confession of our sins, to a frequent use of this Holy Eucharist; That it may please Thee to keep us from heresy, unbelief, and hardness of heart, We beseech Thee, &c. We beseech, &c. That it may please Thee to give. unto us the precious and heavenly fruits of this most Holy Sacrament; That it may please Thee to comfort and defend us in the hour of death with this Heavenly Food for our way; O Lamb of GOD, That takest away the sins of the world; Spare us, good LORD. O Lamb of GOD, That takest away the sins of the world; Hear us, good LORD. O Lamb of GOD, That takest away the sins of the world; Have mercy upon us. O CHRIST, hear us: O CHRIST, hear us. Let us pray. O GOD Who hast left us in this wonderful Sacrament a memorial of Thy Passion, grant, we beseech Thee, that we reverencing the sacred Mystery of Thy Body and Blood, may evermore perceive within us the fruit of Thy Redemption, Who livest and reignest with the FATHER and the HOLY GHOST, ever one GOD, world without end. Amen. CONFIRMATION. Confirmation is a Sacramental Rite in which those who have been baptized receive the gifts of the HOLY GHOST through prayer and the laying on of hands by a Bishop; whether Confirmation was instituted by our Blessed LORD while He was on earth is not certain, as no mention is made of it in the Gospels. This uncertainty, however, does not make it less valuable to the Christian, for the Apostles were under the special guidance of the HOLY GHOST; and therefore the only thing which it concerns us to know is, that they looked upon Confirmation as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given unto us:" this is plainly set before us in the eighth chapter of the Acts, where it is said of some persons who had been baptized, that the Apostles laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. (Acts viii. 17.) Now to explain this more particularly, you must consider that when you were baptized you were made "a member of CHRIST, a child of GOD, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven;" for your original sin was washed away, and you were placed in a state of grace; but you have already found out the difficulties of continuing in this state; you have many temptations, and often feel inclined to sin; you have frequently broken your good resolutions which you intended to keep, and fallen into sins which you had determined never to commit. Now if this is the case, you will perceive what need you have of more strength in your soul to enable you to stand against sin, which must otherwise cause you to lose the favour of GOD and to perish for ever. But God knows our necessities, and He promises (since we are now His children) that He will give us such help as may enable us to treat Him as our FATHER: thus S. Paul says in the Epistle to the Galatians, " Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, FATHER" (Galatians iv. 6) this was true of the whole Church on the day of Pentecost, (Acts ii. 1) when the HOLY GHOST came down with the sound of a rushing mighty wind; but it is not enough for us to know that the HOLY GHOST came down |