The month of April is dedicated both to devotion to the Eucharist and devotion to the Holy Spirit. This tradition has developed because Easter Sunday often falls in April, and when it does fall in March, the Easter season continues on through all of April. In essence, April is a month of Easter, and during the Easter celebration we remember the Eucharistic sacrifice Christ gave us and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, which would come after Jesus's resurrection.

 

 

Holy Eucharist

The Eucharist (Holy Communion), simply is Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity under the appearance of bread and wine. It is not a symbol of Christ, but rather, it is truly and really Jesus Christ!

 

At the point in the Mass known as the consecration the priest, acting in persona Christi, will say "This is my Body, which will be given up for you" and "This is my Blood...". These were the words of Our Saviour when He turned the bread and wine at the Last Supper into His Body and Blood, and, by the divine power of God in the priesthood, the bread and wine become Jesus Christ. Note: It is correct to say the Bread and wine become Jesus, not Jesus becomes bread and wine.

 

At the Consecration during the Mass everyone present except the celebrant should kneel in adoration because by God's divine power the bread and wine become His eternal Son, Jesus Christ (GIRM 21). The bread and wine become Jesus Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity as Our Lord Himself taught in Sacred Scripture specifically at the Last Supper. The only thing remaining of bread and wine is the appearance of bread and wine (called the "accidents").

 

Jesus Christ gave this awesome power to his disciples, the first bishops who have passed this down through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, a collection of all Catholic beliefs produced in 1992, calls the Eucharist the "source and summit of our faith" (1324). It is in that moment when we receive the Eucharist that our soul is in ecstasy because Christ is truly in us. Jesus Christ loved us so much at the last Supper, even though He knew His death was near, He gave us the joy of being with Him eternally.

 

Clearly we need Jesus Christ as He is the "...only way, truth, and life", and it is in the Most Holy Eucharist that the veil between Heaven and earth is the shortest and we receive Our Lord, Most High. That intimate moment can not be put into words as it is only the soul that speaks with such fervent love that some are moved to tears. We truly are living Our Saviour's Command: "Take ye, and eat. This is my body" (Matthew 26:26).

   

*For those non-Catholics: The Blessed Sacrament (called the Eucharist) is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is not a symbol but is Jesus.

 

 

A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who visit the Most Blessed Sacrament to adore it;

a plenary indulgence is granted, if the visit lasts for at least one half an hour. 

 

Prayers to the Holy Eucharist

 

• Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament (St. Alphonsus Liguori)

My Lord Jesus Christ, for the love which You bear to men, You remain night and day in this Sacrament full of compassion and of love, awaiting, calling, and welcoming all who come to visit You. I believe that You are present in the Sacrament of the Altar:

 

I adore You from the abyss of my nothingness, and I thank You for all the graces which You have bestowed upon me and in particular for having given me Yourself in this Sacrament, for having given me your holy Mother Mary for my advocate, and for having called me to visit You in this chapel. I now salute Your most loving Heart: and this for three ends:

 

1. In thanksgiving for this great gift;

2. To make amends to You for all the outrages which You receive in this Sacrament from all Your enemies;

3. I intend by this visit to adore You in all the places on earth in which You are the least revered and the most abandoned.

 

My Jesus, I love You with all my heart. I grieve for having so many times offended Your infinite goodness. I promise with Your grace never more to offend You in the future. Now, miserable and unworthy though I be, I consecrate myself to You without reserve; I give You my entire will, my affections, my desires, and all that I possess. From now on dispose of me and of all that I have as You please.

 

All that I ask of You and desire is Your holy love, final perseverance, and the perfect accomplishment of Your will. I recommend to You the souls in purgatory; but especially those who had the greatest devotion to the most Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I also recommend to You all poor sinners. My dear Saviour, I unite all my affections with the affections of Your most loving Heart; and I offer them, thus united, to Your eternal Father, and beseech Him in Your name to vouchsafe, for Your love, to accept them. Amen.

 

• Prayer to Jesus in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar

Dear Jesus, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, be forever thanked and praised. Love, worthy of all celestial and terrestrial love, Who, out of infinite love for me, ungrateful sinner, didt assume our human nature, didt shed Thy most precious blood in the cruel scourging, and didt expire on a shameful cross for our eternal welfare! Now, illumined with lively faith, with the outpouring of my whole soul and the fervor of my heart, I humbly beseech Thee, through the infinite merits of Thy painful sufferings, give me strength and courage to destroy every evil passion which sways my heart, to bless Thee in my greatest affliction, to glorify Thee by the exact fulfillment of all my duties, supremely to hate all sin, and thus to become a saint. Amen.

  

• Soul of Christ (Anima Christi)
  Say this prayer for the sick, suffering, and dying that God's mercy may intervene and save them. This prayer is from the 14th Century and commonly said after receiving Holy Communion. This prayer is one that has an indulgence attached - partial indulgence.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me

Body of Christ, save me

Blood of Christ, inebriate me

Water from Christ's side, wash me

Passion of Christ, strengthen me

O good Jesus, hear me

Within Thy wounds hide me

Suffer me not to be separated from Thee

From the malicious enemy defend me

In the hour of my death call me And bid me come unto Thee

That I may praise Thee with Thy saints

and with Thy angels Forever and ever

Amen.

 

Litany in Reparation to Our Lord in the Eucharist 

 

Lord, have mercy on us. 

Christ, have mercy on us. 

Lord, have mercy on us. 

Christ, hear us. 

Christ, graciously hear us. 

 

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us. 

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us. 

God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us. 

Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

 

Sacred Host, offered for the salvation of sinners,                  R: Have mercy on us. 

Sacred Host, annihilated on the altar for us and by us,         R:

Sacred Host, despised by lukewarm Christians,                    R:

Sacred Host, mark of contradiction,                                        R:

Sacred Host, delivered over to Jews and heretics,                R:

Sacred Host, insulted by blasphemers,                                   R:

Sacred Host, Bread of angels, given to animals,                   R:

Sacred Host, flung into the mud and trampled underfoot,    R: 

Sacred Host, dishonored by unfaithful priests,                      R:

Sacred Host, forgotten and abandoned in Thy churches,     R:

 

Be merciful unto us, Pardon us, O Lord. 

Be merciful unto us, Hear us, O Lord.

 

For the outrageous contempt of this most wonderful Sacrament, 

R: We offer Thee our reparation. 

For Thine extreme humiliation in Thine admirable Sacrament, 

R: We offer Thee our reparation. 

For all unworthy Communions,                        R:

For the irreverences of wicked Christians,     R:

For the profanation of Thy sanctuaries,          R:

For the holy ciboriums dishonored and carried away by force,      R:

For the continual blasphemies of impious men,       R:

For the obduracy and treachery of heretics,      R:

For the unworthy conversations carried on in Thy holy temples,   R:

For the profaners of Thy churches which they have desecrated by their sacrileges,  R:

 

That it may please Thee to increase in all Christians the reverence due to this adorable Mystery,                     R: we beseech Thee, hear us. 

That it may please Thee to manifest the Sacrament of Thy Love to heretics,        R:  

That it may please Thee to grant us the grace to atone for their hatred by our burning love for Thee,                                                                                                  R:

That it may please Thee that the insults of those who outrage Thee may rather be directed against ourselves,                                                                                         R:

That it may please Thee graciously to receive this our humble reparation,          R:

That it may please Thee to make our adoration acceptable to Thee,                     R:

 

Pure Host, hear our prayer. 

Holy Host, hear our prayer. 

Immaculate Host, hear our prayer.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord. 

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord. 

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us. 

Christ, have mercy on us.

V. See, O Lord, our affliction, 

R: And give glory to Thy Holy Name.

 

Let Us Pray.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who dost deign to remain with us in Thy wonderful Sacrament to the end of the world, in order to give to Thy Father, by the memory of Thy Passion, eternal glory, and to give to us the Bread of life everlasting: Grant us the grace to mourn, with a heart full of sorrow, over the injuries which Thou hast received in this adorable Mystery, and over the many sacrileges which are committed by the impious, by heretics and by bad Catholics. Inflame us with an ardent zeal to repair all these insults to which, in Thine infinite mercy, Thou hast preferred to expose Thyself rather than deprive us of Thy Presence on our altars, Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest one God, world without end. R: Amen. 

Down In Adoration Falling (Tantum Ergo)

 

Down in adoration falling,

Lo! the sacred Host we hail;

Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,

Newer rites of grace prevail;

Faith for all defects supplying,

Where the feeble senses fail.

To the everlasting Father,

And the Son who reigns on high,

With the Holy Spirit proceeding

Forth from each eternally,

Be salvation, honor, blessing,

Might and endless majesty. Amen.

 

V. You have given them bread from heaven,

R. Having all sweetness within it.

 

Let us pray. O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of your Passion: grant, we implore you, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood, as always to be conscious of the fruit of your Redemption. You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen. (Roman Breviary)

 

A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who devoutly recite the above strophes. But a plenary indulgence is granted on Holy Thursday and on the Feast of Corpus Christi, if they are recited in a solemn manner.