Lenten Devotion St Saviours, St Albans
14 March 2011 8pm
The venue was at St Saviours Church, St Albans
The Members were asked not to robe for this event.
Peter led the devotion on the theme of the prayer the Anima Christi.
St Ignatius Anima Christi
(St. Ignatius was the key founding member of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, in the 16th century. This religious order, dedicated to serving the pope and the Church through education and missionary work, is still well known today.)
However, the Anima Christi dates back to the 14th century and was popular enough that it turned up in prayer books way before St. Ignatius featured it in his classic work Spiritual Exercises in the 1520’s. He designed this book, still in use today, to bring souls closer to God though a series of mediations, mental exercises and prayers.
Here is the prayer
Soul of Christ, sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, invigorate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesu, hear me;
Within Thy wounds hide me;
Suffer me not to be separated from thee;
From the malignant enemy defend me;
In the hour of my death call me;
And bid me come unto Thee;
That with all Thy saints,
I may praise thee
Forever and ever.
Amen.
We read the hymn Forty Days and Forty Nights as a prayer.
Forty days and forty nights
thou wast fasting in the wild;
forty days and forty nights
tempted, and yet undefiled.
Should not we thy sorrow share
and from worldly joys abstain,
fasting with unceasing prayer,
strong with thee to suffer pain?
Then if Satan on us press,
Jesus, Savior, hear our call!
Victor in the wilderness,
grant we may not faint or fall!
So shall we have peace divine:
holier gladness ours shall be;
round us, too, shall angels shine,
such as ministered to thee.
Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
ever constant by thy side;
that we thee we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.
Another passsiontide hymn was read as a prayer.
It is a thing most wonderful,
almost too wonderful to be,
that God's own Son should come from heaven,
and die to save a child like me.
And yet I know that it is true:
he chose a poor and humble lot,
and wept, and toiled, and mourned, and died,
for love of those who loved him not.
I cannot tell how he would love
a child so weak and full of sin;
his love must be most wonderful,
if he could die my love to win.
I sometimes think about the cross,
and shut my eyes, and try to see
the cruel nails and crown of thorns
and Jesus crucified for me.
But even could I see him die,
I could but see a little part
of that great love, which, like a fire,
is always burning in his heart.
It is most wonderful to know
his love for me so free and sure;
but 'tis more wonderful to see
my love for him so faint and poor.
And yet I want to love thee, Lord;
O light the flame within my heart,
and I will love thee more and more,
until I see thee as thou art.
Peter talked about the prayer and in detail described each line and its proper meaning.
Soul of my Savior, sanctify my breast
Anima Christi
Soul of my Savior sanctify my breast,
Body of Christ, be thou my saving guest,
Blood of my Saviour, bathe me in thy tide,
wash me with waters gushing from thy side.
Strength and protection may thy passion be,
O blessèd Jesus, hear and answer me;
deep in thy wounds, Lord, hide and shelter me,
so shall I never, never part from thee.
Guard and defend me from the foe malign,
in death's dread moments make me only thine;
call me and bid me come to thee on high
where I may praise thee with thy saints for ay.
