Judas left early too
The Importance of Spending Time in Prayer AFTER Holy Communion as taken from http://maronitemonks.org/articles/December2004.pdf
One of the principal reasons for the spiritual darkness of many Catholics is the lack of attention shown to our Eucharistic Lord while he is intimately united with them in Holy Communion. In a private revelation, Jesus sadly explains this situation to St. Faustina Kowalska: “My great delight is to unite myself with souls…When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, my hands are full of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not pay any attention to me: they leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize love. They treat me as a dead object” (Diary 1385).
Jesus Christ received in Holy Communion is the most powerful means through which man can be helped to know and love God more deeply. But our Lord helps us in proportion to the attention and love with which we receive him. Hence St. Mary Magdalene De Pazzi says, “The minutes that follow Communion are the most precious we have in our lives. They are the minutes best suited on our part for treating with God, and on his part for communicating His love to us” (Jesus, Our Eucharistic Lord, p. 37).
I like to pray the Anima Christi as it is an indulgenced prayer after Mass. Of course, the St. Michael prayer, that all Catholics used to pray after Mass in unison for the protection of the Church...I pray because we need that now more than ever! My missal also has introduced me to these beautiful prayers, the Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Prayer of St. Bonaventure and I seek to pray longer in Thanksgiving after Mass.
One of the principal reasons for the spiritual darkness of many Catholics is the lack of attention shown to our Eucharistic Lord while he is intimately united with them in Holy Communion. In a private revelation, Jesus sadly explains this situation to St. Faustina Kowalska: “My great delight is to unite myself with souls…When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, my hands are full of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not pay any attention to me: they leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize love. They treat me as a dead object” (Diary 1385).
Jesus Christ received in Holy Communion is the most powerful means through which man can be helped to know and love God more deeply. But our Lord helps us in proportion to the attention and love with which we receive him. Hence St. Mary Magdalene De Pazzi says, “The minutes that follow Communion are the most precious we have in our lives. They are the minutes best suited on our part for treating with God, and on his part for communicating His love to us” (Jesus, Our Eucharistic Lord, p. 37).
I like to pray the Anima Christi as it is an indulgenced prayer after Mass. Of course, the St. Michael prayer, that all Catholics used to pray after Mass in unison for the protection of the Church...I pray because we need that now more than ever! My missal also has introduced me to these beautiful prayers, the Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Prayer of St. Bonaventure and I seek to pray longer in Thanksgiving after Mass.
3 comments:
That's an excellent post, Allison.
Did you attend the talk by Fr. Euteneuer at the IHM Conference I saw you at? It was most excellent (as all his talks are), and he talked about our Guardian angels as well as the Archangels. Since then we've been more focused on both the St. Michael prayer (which is posted above my kitchen sink and one of the school tables to help us remember to pray it often) as well as the Guardian Angel prayer. However, I had not focused on praying it at Mass. Thank you for that insight.
Mary
(PS I still have Father's handout on my desk - every time I clean up and file, I can't bring myself to file it as I want to keep it out to remind me of what he said :) )
Yikes! One more reminder that I should stay after Mass to make a Thanksgiving...it seems like these little shoves have been coming in all over the place the last few weeks. I know it is something I should do. Here is my excuse...asking a three year old to be quiet for an hour and a half is a lot to ask. I feel bad asking him to sit still for another 5, 10, 15 minutes...especially with nothing going on at the altar for him to watch...it's probably a lame excuse since he is rather good for Mass (at least lately) but I find myself not wanting to push his limits...
We were just discussing this in our Carmelite community a few months ago and decided to spend at least 10 minutes in silence AFTER Mass has ended. This in turn has led me to try to stay after during our noon Mass during the week with Angeline (who just made her First Communion!). Unfortunately, it is truly a struggle with all the commotion and noise as people leave the Church and other starting their rosaries...but we are trying!
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