John Henry Newman, to be canonized this week, is naturally a patron for the Ordinariates established by Benedict XVI to allow Anglicans to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church while retaining much of their heritage and traditions. It is fitting today to consider a prayer from their liturgy.
Prayed by the priest and congregation after Communion, this thanksgiving prayer not only fills the heart with gratitude, but also offers the great comfort of a reminder that, in everything, God’s grace is what we need, and what we are promised.
Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favor and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of the most precious death and Passion of thy dear Son. And we humbly beseech thee, O Heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
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And today we celebrate...