E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

THE PRIEST S COMMUNION. 135
THE PRIEST S COMMUNION.
Before communicating the priest says
: I will
take the Bread of Heaven and call upon the name
of the Lord (the Eucharist is called the Bread of
Heaven compare our Lord s words : "I am the Living
Bread which came down from Heaven Next the ").
priest
takes the Host and paten in his left hand, and striking
thrice his breast with his right, he says three times the
words of the Centurion, in Matt. :
(viii. 8) Lord, I am
not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my
roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be
healed.
He then takes the Host in his right hand, and
making the sign of the Cross with the Host, says :
May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve
my soul unto life everlasting. Amen. The priest
communicates himself. He collects on the paten any
particles of the Sacred Host that may have fallen on
the corporal, and with his ringers transfers them into
the chalice. Next with his right hand he takes the
chalice, saying the words from the H5th and lyth
Psalms : What shall I render to the Lord for all
He has rendered to me ? I will take the
Chalice of Salvation and call upon the name
of the Lord ; I will call upon the Lord and I
shall praise Him and shall be saved from my
enemies (that is, from all three, the world, the flesh,
and the devil).