Mental Prayer for June15 - Preparation for Communion

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God.

Grace I Ask: To prepare myself as well as possible for the coming of Christ.

The ldea: Have you ever thought how much of your life is spent preparing for things? Childhood prepared you for adolescence, and adolescence for life as a young adult, and so on. During these pres­ent years you are preparing for your future. A stage star or speaker spends years in perfecting himself or herself.

In your spiritual life there is a special event which needs preparation too. To
receive Christ as perfectly as possible we must prepare our soul for His coming. We must try to focus our mind on Him. We must tell God of our desire to receive His Son. We must have sorrow for our past neglect of Him.

My Personal Application: In Communion I receive my Lord and my God. How do I prepare for His coming? By acts of faith and love and sacrifice? By telling Him that I want to receive Him, want to be closely united to Him ? Or have I wandered through the Mass and do I follow the crowd to the communion rail as to a cafeteria counter? The best preparation, of course, is in taking an active part in the Mass, in offering myself to God the Father with Christ, so that I can receive Christ back as a return gift from God. At the Offertory and Consecration do I give to God myself and everything I have? If I do, then I shall be better prepared to receive Him.

I Speak to Christ: My Lord, it is really your Body and Blood I receive in Holy Communion. How indifferent my heart has frequently been to you. I have received you without any reflection or preparation. I do want to give you myself. From now on I shall prepare for you better by attention, by offering myself to you, by desiring you in return.

Thought for Today: "Through Him and with Him and in Him."
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)