Praeparatio or Notes of Preparation for Holy Communion - Founded on the Collect, Epistle and Gospel for Every Sunday in the Year #246587

We acknowledge that the very hand and lips of the communicant receive the glorious Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament; but it is not the hand or the lips that perceive, delight in, and adore Him. It is our faith and love, awakened and illuminated by spiritual prayer, that discern Who it is that comes to us in the Sacrament, and that invite Him to a mansion prepared for Him by penitence and hearty desires. So great a gift demands a great love. But great love does not spring up accidentally for us, like a wild flower by the road side; we shall find it as the merchant seeking goodly pearls found one pearl of great price. This book will not save us the trouble of thinking, and of seeking Christ for ourselves in the Sacrament, but will train us to think reverently and to seek diligently for so great a treasure. Among those of us who are used to approach the Altar every Lord's Day, there are perhaps many who may be glad of the help to spend one half-hour a week in meditation, which this book offers us, as a prepara tion for their weekly communion.