HWP: Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Continuing our Half-Way Prayers (HWP) of Preparations for Mass as we continue in this Advent Season, today I bring to you this text from St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274).

Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

Almighty and everlasting God, behold, I am about to approach the Sacrament of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I approach as one who is sick to the physician of life, as one unclean to the well-spring of mercy and goodness, as one blind to the light of eternal brightness, as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Wherefore I beseech Thee, of Thine infinite goodness, to heal my sickness, to wash away my filth, to enlighten my blindness, to enrich my poverty, and to clothe my nakedness, that I may receive the Bread of Angels, the King of kings, and Lord of lords with such reverence, such purity and faith, with such purpose and intention, as may conduce to the salvation of my soul. Grant, I beseech Thee, that I may receive not only the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord, but also the fruit and virtue of the Sacrament. O most indulgent and merciful God, grant me so to receive the Body of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which He took of the Virgin Mary, that I may be found worthy to be incorporated with His mystical body and numbered among His members. O most loving Father, grant that I may one day contemplate for ever face to face Thy beloved Son, whom now on my pilgrimage I am about to receive under a veil, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Taken from p. 90 of The Daily Missal and Liturgical Missal from Editio Typica of the Roman Missal, 1962 printed by Baronius Press.