Lord, Father all-powerful and ever-living God, I thank You, for
even though I am a sinner, your unprofitable servant, not
because of my worth but in the kindness of your mercy,
You have fed me with the Precious Body and Blood of Your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that this Holy Communion may not bring me
condemnation and punishment but forgiveness and salvation.
May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of goodwill.
May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions.
May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience,
and growth in the power to do good.
May it be my strong defense against all my enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of all my evil impulses,
bodily and spiritual.
May it unite me more closely to you, the One true God, and lead me
safely through death to everlasting happiness with You.
And I pray that You will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where you,
with Your Son and holy Spirit, are true and perfect light, total fulfillment, everlasting joy, gladness without end, and perfect
happiness to your saints. grant this through Christ our Lord,
The holy Spirit says: "Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
'Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert,
where your... ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works
for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, "They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways."
As I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter into my rest."'"
Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today," so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.