ST. BONAVENTURE'S PRAYER AFTER MASS / by Joe Castorino

Most sweet Lord Jesus,

pierce my inmost heart

with the most dear

and most bracing

wound of your love.

Pierce it with true, sincere,

apostolic, and most holy charity,

that my soul may ever yearn

and melt with love for you

and the desire to possess you.

May my soul be drawn toward you,

and overwhelmed with the hope

of entering your courts.

May it long to be dissolved

and to be with you.

Grant that my soul

may hunger for you,

the Bread of Angels

and the food of holy souls,

our supersubstantial Bread,

having in itself every sweetness

and good taste,

having the delightfulness

of all that charms my heart.

May my heart always long for you,

and find its nourishment in you,

on whom the angels long to gaze,

and may my inmost heart be filled

with the sweetness of your savor.

May my heart thirst for you,

the fountain of life, and of wisdom

and of knowledge, and of eternal life,

the torrent of pleasure, and the richness

of the house of God.

May my heart always draw near to you,

seek you, catch sight of you,

be drawn to you, and arrive at your presence.

May my heart think of you, speak of you,

and do all that it does for the glory of your name,

with humility and care and affection and delight,

with eagerness and with deep feeling,

and with perseverance to the end.

Thus may you alone always be my hope,

all my confidence, my joy, my rest

and my tranquility, my peace,

all that charms me; my fragrance,

my sweetness, my food, my nourishment,

my refuge, my help, my wisdom,

my portion, my possession, my treasure.

In you may my mind and my heart

be fixed and secure and rooted

forever without any change.

Amen.