Spiritual Exercise : During Mass (Part 1)

[Continuing the excerpts from the 1701 French book Heures Chre'tiennes Dedie'es au Roy]

Going to Mass

Oh my sweet Jesus, I am going with you to Calvary : make me to share in the love which led you there.

Give me the feelings of the daughters of Jerusalem, meeting you laden with your Cross, a halter around your neck, and the crown of thorns on your head.

Grant me such a resignation of my will to yours as your blessed Mother had 

at the foot of the Cross, and by the merits of your sufferings and of her constancy, grant me the gift of perseverance in your love. Amen.

When entering the Church, say:

Lord, I shall enter your house, I shall adore your holy Altar, I shall see there the Holy of Holies, and I shall praise your holy Name.

You will say before the Crucifix

Oh Love crucified, who has led you to suffer so many pains, and a death so cruel, for the sake of me, a miserable sinner?

Oh God of my soul, bind me close to you, & unbind me from myself!

Grant me this grace, my sweet Jesus! That my Cross be joined to 

your own, and that I bear it with a good will. At your feet, I offer
my intentions, at your side, my actions, desiring with my whole heart that you should be always the unique object of my soul : My God, be merciful unto me. Amen.

At the start of the Mass

Most gentle Jesus, I prostrate myself in all humility at your feet, desirous of bathing and washing them with my tears, on account of the displeasure of sins I have committed against your divine Majesty, imploring you to have mercy on this poor and feeble creature, redeemed by your precious Blood; do not punish her according to her faults.

Lord,  I acknowledge my faults, and I repent of them with a sincere heart : I humbly beg pardon of you for them, and, with the help of your holy grace, resolving in the future to be more on my guard against falling again into such sins,

and to try with all diligence to be more watchful, & to love you with all the strength of my soul.

Amen.

Then, you will say the Misereatur & the Confiteor, after the Priest.

At the Introit of the Mass

Oh everlasting God, I rejoice in that you alone are He who is, & that none has being except through you. Oh infinite greatness! You know well what you are and what I am, you are all and I am nothing, and yet you seek me.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.