On readying a heartfelt thanksgiving to Christ

I suppose there are few difficulties more universally felt than that of making a good thanksgiving after Communion. Spiritual writers tell us we ought not to use books, at least not for some time afterward. They assure us that if grace has any special and critical moments in life, they are passing while Jesus remains in our hearts by His sacramental presence.

The great teacher of thanksgiving after Communion is St. Teresa [of Avila]. The stress she lays upon it, the frequency with which she returns to the subject, the practical counsels she gives about it make it quite one of the salient points of her celestial teaching. … If your thanksgivings are poor and wretched, pray to St. Teresa, and she will get you the grace to set them right. She will get you a grace that you will feel quite sensibly in its work within you. …

St. Philip [Neri]’s advice was full of his usual gentle wisdom. He recommends that if we have made our meditation before Mass, we should not cast about for new thoughts after Communion but should take up some train of thought that we have found came with unction to us in our meditation. This will prevent a great deal of time being lost in our thanksgiving, from our being at sea for want of a subject, and from having so many things to say to our Lord that we do not know what to say first.

Many persons living in the world are not able to make any regular meditation before Communion, and many also practice mental prayer in a different way, spending their time in what is called affective prayer, with their will rather than with their understanding, and such are sometimes puzzled to find thoughts that they can resume from their prayer when they have received Communion.

Others, again, particularly those who have a very special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and yet cannot boast of a habitual union with God, find St. Philip’s recommendation unsuited to them and must think more immediately of the Blessed Sacrament and of the presence of Jesus within them at that moment.

There is also another thing in this form of thanksgiving that deserves to be dwelt upon. It brings out so very much the devotion to the Person of the Eternal Word. The want of this is the cause of much shallowness and dryness in prayer…

Let priests preach and teach the divinity of Jesus, no matter how uninviting may be the notion of theological sermons, and we shall soon see how hearts will melt and how Bethlehem and Calvary will give out their rich depths of tenderness to the poorest and the simplest of Christ’s humble poor. L
Excerpted from The Little Book of Holy Gratitude, by Fr. Frederick Faber 
(Sophia Institute Press, 2016), pp. 68-71.

FATHER FREDERICK FABER was a 19th-century Anglican vicar who converted to Catholicism in 1845 and later entered the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, which was founded by St. John Henry Newman. He was a prolific writer on the spiritual life and composed three volumes of hymns, including “Faith of Our Fathers.”