A

HISTORICAL

PRAYER BEFORE

THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

GOD, who hast instigated even the poor tribes, who have never heard thy word, to adore thy majesty by sacrificial offering: oh God who didst, by direct revelations to thy holy patriarchs and to thy chosen people of Israel, appoint sacrifices to be offered in thy honour and in propitiation for the sins of mankind: oh God who, by thy holy prophets, didst foretel the establishment," from the rising to the going down of the sun," of a still more holy and more perfect sacrifice to thy name, in which thy Christ should be a priest for ever according to the order of that Melchisedech who made to thee a pure offering of bread and wine: oh God who didst, on the wood of the cross, fulfil thy promises, and present thy Son a victim for the sins of the world, and who hast commanded the same sacrifice to be commemorated and repeated in an unbloody manner on our altarsthus granting us that perfect mode of adoring and propitiating thee of which all other sacrifices were but the types and figures :—grant me, oh almighty God, thy grace, so to be present at this adorable sacrifice that I may feel the benefit of it in my soul.

I bless and praise thy goodness for not having confined the offering of this sacrifice to one pla.

and to one altar, as thou didst with the chosen people of Israel. Permit not my soul to become negligent through familiarity with thy favours; but make me sensible that I am about to stand in the immediate presence of my Saviour, and to join in offering that merciful Saviour to the Eternal Godhead. Graciously accept the offering in atonement for my sins; and, through it, enable me to obtain those virtues and blessings which my soul stands most in need of. "For now is the acceptable time:" let it be now, oh God, the time for securing my salvation. Amen.

Before the Parochial or SOLEMN MASS on Sundays, the following ANTHEMS are sung, at sprinkling the Holy Water.

The Priest, being returned to the Foot of the Altar, says,

For the Prayer, Exaudi, see the next page. From EASTER to WHITSUNDAY, inclusively, instead of the foregoing ANT. Asperges, &c., the following is sung, and Alleluias are added to the V. Ostende nobis, and its R. Et salutare.

ANTHEM.

VIDI aquam egredientem de templo a latere dextro, Alleluia: et omnes ad quos pervenit aqua ista, salvi facti sunt, et dicent, Allel.

I SAW water flowing from the right side of the temple, Alleluia: and all to whom that water came were saved, and they shall say. Allel.

Ps. Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus: quoniam in sæculum misericordia ejus. Glo

ria.

Ps. Praise the Lord, because he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Glory,

&c.

The Prayer, Exaudi.

HEAR us, O holy Lord, Almighty Father, eternal God! and vouchsafe to send thy holy angel from heaven, to guard, cherish, protect, visit and defend all that are assembled in this place through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A PREPARATORY PRAYER BEFORE MASS.

PROSTRATE in spirit at the foot of thy holy altar, I adore thee, O Almighty God! and firmly believe that the Mass, at which I am going to assist, is the sacrifice of the body and blood of thy Son Christ Jesus. O! grant that I may assist thereat with the attention, respect, and awe due to such august mysteries: and that, by the merits of the Victim there offered for me, I myself may become an agreeable sacrifice to thee, who livest and reignest with the same Son and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

DURING THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS. While the Priest begins at

IN Nomine Patris,† et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

the foot of the Altar,

IN the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen,

Ant. Introibo ad al

R. Ad Deum, qui

Anth. I will go unto the altar of God.

R. To God, who

juventutem rejoiceth my youth.

Psalm xlii.

JUDICA me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta: ab homine iniquo et doloso erue me.