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the best acts of thanksgiving which can be made after
holy Communion. The acts found in prayer-books
are often only a poor commentary on them, and have
not the characteristic of being the voice of the Church
who prays within us. The two prayers which the priest
recites in a low voice when, taking the ablutions, are
taken from the oldest liturgical books. In the first
which begins with these words : Quod
ore sumpsimus,
"
the priest says to God : What we have received with
our mouth, may our heart preserve in its purity, from a
transient temporal good, may it become to us an eternal
remedy.
"
he prays :
"
In the second prayer, Corpus tuum, Domine,
May Thy body and Thy
blood which I have
received cleave to the very core of my being, and grant,
O Lord, that having been purified by these Sacrarnents,
there may be no longer any stain of sin in me.
"
The Postcommunion, sung after the ablution, sums up,
in the name of all, the sentiments of thanksgiving. Like
the Collect and the Secret, the daily variations of
which it follows, it expresses very concisely the lasting
effects which the most holy Sacrament of the altar
should produce in our souls.
There now remain but the final prayers. The Dominus
vobiscum is a last expression of the desire for
that union which the soul should maintain after the ce
lebration of the holy Mysteries. The dismissal is given
by the deacon who sings the lie, Missa est, to which
all answer:
" Thanks be to God ". The priest, bending
over the altar, addresses a last invocation to the Holy
Trinity in whose honour the Sacrifice has been offered.
He then turns round, gives the blessing to the people,
and all ends with the reading of the first chapter of the
Gospel of Saint John in which are admirably described
the eternal generation of the Word in the bosom of the