Since this evening I will be assisting at the monthly Missa cantata in Launceston, here is a short prayer (dating from at least 1745), which I found in an eighteenth century book available online, and which I have rendered into English with the aid of online resources:
PRIÈRE AVANT LA MESSE.
Prosterné au pied de votre
saint Autel, je vous adore, Dieu tout-puissant: je crois fermement que la Messe
à laquelle je vais assister, est le sacrifice du Corps et du Sang de
Jésus-Christ votre Fils: faites que j’y assiste avec l’attention, le respect et
la frayeur que demandent de si redoutables Mystères; et que par les mérites de
la Victime qui s’immole pour moi, immolé moi-même avec elle, je ne vive plus
que pour vous, qui vivez et régnez dans la suite de tous les siècles. Ainsi
soit-il.
PRAYER BEFORE MASS.
Prostrate at the foot of thy
holy Altar, I adore thee, O God almighty: I firmly believe that the Mass, at
which I am going to assist, is the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus
Christ thy Son: cause that I may assist
thereat with the attention, the
respect and the fear that such formidable Mysteries demand; and that by the
merits of the Victim who sacrifices himself for me, I may sacrifice myself with
him, and live no longer for myself but for thee, who livest and
reignest world without end. Amen.
It is the only way. Thank you, Josh, I have copied it into my notebook. (I tried, that is, but shall have to do it by hand.)
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