Prayers to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist
"My Body"
"This is My Body, given up for you." Lord Jesus, we hear Your
words each day at Mass. You have used these words to teach us the meaning of Your love for
us, a love that brought You to the cross to give Your life so we might live. You use these
words also to teach us the meaning of our love for one another, a love which leads us to
give ourselves away that others might live.
"This is my body." Lord, we also hear these words used by
those who think they can take life, just because that life is growing within their body.
We hear these words distorted by those who support abortion.
Grant that all Your people may learn that human fulfillment is never
found by pushing someone else out of the way, but only and always by pushing ourselves out
of the way. May all Your people live their lives according to Your most sacred words,
"This is my body, given up for you!"
Unity
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the gift of the Holy Eucharist, Your Sacred
Body, by which You unite us as one body in You. "For we, many though we are, are one
body, for we all partake of the one loaf"(1 Cor. 10:17) As we receive You, O Lord,
You also receive us. As You draw us up to Yourself, You draw us also into one another.
"You are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it" (1 Cor. 12:27).
Lord, grant that we may never exclude any of the other members of Your
Body from our love. As we receive Your Body in Communion, so let us receive and welcome
all the members of Your Body, no matter how inconvenient they may be. Help us especially
to welcome those who have become the most unwelcome members of our world, namely, those
who have just entered it. Bless our brothers and sisters in the womb. Rid our world of the
sin of abortion, which divides parents from their own children, from one another, from
their very selves, and from You, O Lord.
Grant that the power of Unity which we find in the Eucharist may
overcome the fear of the unborn child, and may enable us to welcome that child as a
brother, a sister, a member of Your Body. Amen.
Faith
Lord Jesus, I firmly believe that the Blessed Sacrament is Your very
Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Senses cannot grasp this marvel. Faith, however,
reaches beyond what the eyes can see and assures us that You are present.
Grant, O Lord, that our faith in the Eucharist may also strengthen our
ability to recognize the dignity of every human life. We know that the senses can fool us
there as well. Some may not be attractive, others may seem too small, some may appear as
less than human.
But we, who can see You in the Sacred Host, can certainly see you in our
brothers and sisters. We can also see You, O Lord, in the children in the womb. In a day
when so many have forgotten these children, and dismiss them as less valuable than those
who are born, grant that we may grow all the more convinced of their dignity and worth.
Then grant, O Lord, that we may act accordingly. Amen.