Visits to the Blessed Sacrament

And the Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Alphonsus Liguori

• Publisher: TAN Books
• Year: 2001
• eBook ISBN: 9781618903136
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

"Here, then, is our heaven on earth--the Most Blessed Sacrament." — St. Alphonsus Ligouri Now in Premium UltraSoft! This book was conceived and written by the great St. Alphonsus Liguori to help us grow in the knowledge and love of God and in appreciation for what He has done for us. Designed to be prayed in front the Blessed Sacrament each day over the course of a month, users of this powerful book cannot help but grow closer to Christ. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament provides a wealth of spiritual treasures, including: ·31 days of meditations and fervent prayers of love by St. Alphonsus toward Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. ·A daily "Visit to Our Lady, " short prayers of confidence in the enormous power of Our Mother's help ·An act of Spiritual Communion for each day, reigniting our love for Our Lord even when we cannot receive His Body and Blood in the Eucharist This new Premium UltraSoft edition is both beautiful and durable, making it perfect for constant visits to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, and the ideal gift for loved ones desiring to come closer to Christ. Features a ribbon marker and gilded edges.

“Who can conceive or explain the excellence of the all-Divine gift which Jesus Christ bestows upon us in giving us His blessed Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, in which we receive God with all His per fections, the plenitude of His divinity, all the virtues and graces of His humanity, and all the merits of a Man-God?”

—The Imitation of Christ

Imprimi Potest:	Raymond J. Weisenberger, S.V.D.
	Provincial Superior

Nihil Obstat:	William J. Blacet, J.C.L.
	Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:		Joannes Gregorius Murray
		Archiepiscopus Sancti Pauli
		Paulopoli die 17a maii 1956

Originally published by the Benedictine Convent of Perpetu al Adoration, Clyde, Missouri, in 1960. The type in this book is the property of TAN Books an Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC, and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written per mission from the Publisher. (This restriction applies only to this type, not to quotations from the book.)

Note: Although the Church’s regulations on indulgences have changed since this booklet was published in 1960, the indulgences have been left as in the original booklet.

ISBN: 978-0-89555-519-9

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 95-60019

Cover picture from “The Last Supper,” by Fugel.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

TAN Books

An Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC

Charlotte, North Carolina

2012

Dedicated to
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

Contents

Foreword

From Holy Mother Church’s Decree on Frequent Holy Communion

Important Note

Holy Communion Is Your Treasure

Novena Prayer

1st Day—Christlikeness

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the king dom of heaven.”

2nd Day—Marylikeness

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.”

3rd Day—Joyfulness

“Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

4th Day—Prayerfulness

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.”

5th Day—Kindness

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

6th Day—Sinlessness

“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.”

7th Day—Lowliness

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

8th Day—Unselfishness

“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

9th Day—Eucharist-mindedness

“Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you.”

Prayers for a Short Preparation for Holy Communion

Prayers after Holy Communion

FOREWORD

THE PURPOSE of this booklet is to encourage you to receive Holy Communion often and thus to comply with Christ’s own injunction and the earnest desire of Holy Mother Church. Truly, you can do nothing better for your soul or for anyone else than to entertain often the King of kings and the Giver of all good.

Since the Sacraments are a God-given means of grace and the Holy Eucharist is the greatest and holiest of the Sacraments, no novena can be more fruitful than a novena of Holy Communions. The intercession of the Saints is very powerful and prayer very efficacious; nevertheless, the effects of Holy Communion are immeasurably greater because this Sacrament gives us the very Author and Source of all graces.

There is nothing that Jesus desires more than that you receive Him in Holy Communion very often—every day, if possible. When He gave us the Eucharist the night before He died, He pleaded, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you the branches.” (John 15:4-5). By abiding in Christ through frequent Holy Communion, you secure a guarantee that your prayers will be heard, for He also said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7). Therefore, no prayer can be more effective than that said after Holy Communion when Jesus is present in your heart as God and Man, as your best Friend, ready to listen to you and to help you with the many graces He wishes to grant you.

The holier you are, the more worthy you are of getting what you ask for. Jesus comes to you in Holy Communion to make you holy and pleasing to God. “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for with out me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Jesus describes the wonderful effects of Holy Communion in His Eight Beatitudes. The virtues suggested by each beatitude are offered for your imitation during this novena.

How to Make a Novena of Communions

1. Receive Holy Communion nine days in a row or on nine consecutive Sundays in petition for a special favor. If you are receiving on nine Sundays, you need not go to Confession before each Holy Communion (though it is very beneficial to do so), unless

you are sure that you have committed a mortal sin. Venial sins should not keep you from receiving. If you feel conscious of venial sin, make an act of perfect contrition and approach the Holy Table without fear. It is advisable, however, to go to Confession at least every two or three weeks.

2. Ask Jesus to help you to practice the virtue suggested for each day of the novena. Recite the prayers carefully, and preferably after Holy Communion. Frequently during the day use the aspiration suggested as a means to keep your mind on the virtue. Examine yourself concerning each virtue to see where you should improve.

3. After you have made your novena of petition for a special favor, make another immediately afterwards in thanksgiving, even if you have not received the favor you prayed for. Your prayers at Holy Communion were answered—perhaps not in your way, but in God’s way; and He knows best! At least you have done Our Lord’s will and fulfilled the desire of Holy Mother Church; you have become a better Catholic for it. Continue to make your novenas of Holy Communions until frequent Holy Communion becomes a part of your very life. Then you will become truly Christlike.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, to whom this booklet is affectionately dedicated, help you, through frequent Holy Communion, to become more like her Eucharistic Son!

—Father Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.

From Holy Mother Church’s Decree on Frequent Holy Communion

“The holy Synod would desire that at every Mass the faithful who are present should communicate, not only spiritually, by a loving desire in their hearts, but sacramentally, by the actual reception of the Eucharist.” (Council of Trent, Sess. 22, ch. 6).

“And this wish of the Council is in entire agreement with that desire wherewith Christ Our Lord was inflamed when He instituted this Divine Sacrament. For He Himself, more than once and in no uncertain terms, pointed out the necessity of eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood, especially in these words: ‘This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live forever: (John 6:59). Now, from this comparison of the Food of Angels with bread and with the manna, it was easily to be understood by His disciples that, as the body is daily nourished with bread and as the Hebrews were daily nourished with manna in the desert, so the Christian soul might daily partake of this Heavenly Bread and be refreshed by It. Moreover, whereas in the Lord’s Prayer we are urged to ask for ‘our daily bread,’ the holy Fathers of the Church all but unanimously teach that by these words must be understood, not so much that material bread which is the nourishment of the body, as the Eucharistic Bread, which ought to be our daily food.

“Moreover, the desire of Jesus Christ and of the Church that all the faithful should daily approach the Sacred Banquet is directed chiefly to this end, that the faithful, being united to God b...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication to Our Lady
• Contents
• Instructions on the Visits
• How to Make a Visit
• Prayer Before Each Visit
• Spiritual Communion
• Prayer To Our Lady After Each Visit
• First Visit
• Second Visit
• Third Visit
• Fourth Visit
• Fifth Visit
• Sixth Visit
• Seventh Visit
• Eighth Visit
• Ninth Visit
• Tenth Visit
• Eleventh Visit
• Twelfth Visit
• Thirteenth Visit
• Fourteenth Visit
• Fifteenth Visit
• Sixteenth Visit
• Seventeenth Visit
• Eighteenth Visit
• Nineteenth Visit
• Twentieth Visit
• Twenty-First Visit
• Twenty-Second Visit
• Twenty-Third Visit
• Twenty-Fourth Visit
• Twenty-Fifth Visit
• Twenty-Sixth Visit
• Twenty-Seventh Visit
• Twenty-Eighth Visit
• Twenty-Ninth Visit
• Thirtieth Visit
• Thirty-First Visit
• Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament
• Back Cover
• A COLLECTION OF CLASSIC ARTWORK
• A Novena of Holy Communions
• Tan Classics
• Become a Tan Missionary!
• Share the Faith with Tan Books!
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