By JAMES MONTI
At the very moment when the sacred waters of Baptism are poured over the head of a newborn child, that child in an instant becomes heir to an incredible patrimony — all the invisible riches, to be sure, of sanctifying grace, the Scriptures and the sacraments, but also nearly two thousand years of liturgical rites, prayers, holy writings, sacred music, and religious art and architecture.
Among all these splendid riches are the prayers we say every day, enriching our daily lives. With the recitation of these prayers becoming “routine,” we sometimes fail to reflect upon all that their words have to offer. Among these prayers is the Anima Christi (“Soul of Christ”), a simple but powerful text that among other things is an ideal supplication for our thanksgiving following Holy Communion, and likewise serves as a short, simple way of redirecting our thoughts and intentions to God over the course of the day.
While the Anima Christi was widely popularized by St. Ignatius Loyola (+1556) through his Spiritual Exercises, and it has sometimes been mistakenly attributed to him, this prayer as we saw in an earlier essay of Restoring the Sacred dates back to the first half of the 14th century, when it is mentioned in the writings of the Dominican mystic Blessed Margaret Ebner (+1351).
About two decades later, the prayer was carved as a doorway inscription for a hall added about the year 1364 to the Alcazar palace of Seville, Spain. Some sources attribute the prayer to Pope John XXII (1316-1334), who is also said to have granted an indulgence for its recitation.
The Anima Christi is really a prayer in two parts. First come a series of petitions referring to the various aspects of the human nature of our Lord: His Body, His Soul, His Blood, the Passion and the water that flowed from His side on the cross. In the second half Christ is addressed directly and suppliantly as “good Jesus.” The prayer is inherently eucharistic, for it speaks from beginning to end of the intimate encounter between the soul of a believer and our Lord which takes place par excellence in Holy Communion.
The Anima Christi takes us deeply into the mystery of God’s mercy, drawing out the implications of what it means for a sinner to have His infinitely good God enter his heart and soul. The petitions pass back and forth between the themes of conversion and sanctification. In the first petition, “Soul of Christ, sanctify me,” we ask to be made holy by this direct contact with the soul of Christ, a soul unutterably and incomparably sacred by virtue of its union with the divinity of our Lord. In the second, we plead that the equally sacred Body of the Redeemer may save us from our sins.
To understand the third petition, “Blood of Christ, inebriate me,” we need to look closely at what “inebriate” in this context means. Besides the obvious definition “to intoxicate,” “inebriate” also means “to exhilarate,” that is, to invigorate and to make cheerful. The Precious Blood of Christ does indeed invigorate the soul, and it gladdens the heart with the joy of salvation and the joy of holiness.
The Church has consistently taught that each time we receive the Host in Holy Communion, we receive in that Host not only the Body of our Lord but His Precious Blood as well. So in this petition of the Anima Christi we ask that the Blood of Christ may gladden, vivify, and inflame us with the love of God.
The fourth petition, “Water from the side of Christ, wash me,” brings to mind especially the washing that the Sacrament of Confession accomplishes. By this supplication we also ask that the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist may wash away our venial sins and that throughout the day we may be cleansed of evil inclinations and the spirit of worldliness.
The fifth petition, “Passion of Christ, strengthen me,” leads us to the very heart of the way of perfection — that by the sacrifice of Calvary, which is re-presented daily in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we may be strengthened in our journey to the Heavenly Jerusalem, strengthened against sin and strengthened in loving God above all else with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, with all one’s mind, and with all one’s strength.
The sixth petition begins the second part of the Anima Christi with the simple plea, “O good Jesus, hear me.” It is mankind’s humble reply to the Lord’s invitation, “Ask, and it will be given you” (Luke 11:9).
In the seventh petition the suppliant beseeches Christ to hide him within His wounds. As the wounds of Christ bear everlasting testimony to His sacrifice for our salvation, so too these wounds are our place of refuge where we can hide from our enemies — where we can hide from sin and Satan.
In the eighth petition we ask our Lord never to allow us to be separated from Him, that He may protect us from straying from Him, from straying from His Church, from straying from His teachings and Commandments — from straying into mortal sin or apostasy.
In the ninth petition, “From the malicious enemy defend me,” we look to Christ to save us from the jaws of Satan. The concluding supplication takes us to the very last hour of our earthly life, beseeching Christ to call us unto Himself to join the company of saints in praising Him eternally, just as through the words of the Song of Solomon He says to the soul, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come” (Song 2:10-12).
In some sources, at least by the late 17th century onward, there appears an “amplified” version of the Anima Christi that through its use of superlatives underscores what it is for us as lowly sinful creatures to be cleansed and sanctified by the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ:
“Most holy Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Most sacred Body of Christ, save me. Most precious Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Purest water from the side of Christ, cleanse me. Most wonder-working sweat of the face of Christ, heal me. Most loving Passion of Christ, strengthen me” (Fr. E. Cloyseault, Meditations des Pretres, devant et apres la Sainte Messe, Lyons, France, 1694, pp. 194-195).
St. Alphonsus Liguori (+1787) presents virtually the same amplified version of the prayer in his book, Discourses on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and on the Divine Office.
In addition to being a prayer for deepening our own spiritual life, the Anima Christi is also a supplication that we can offer for someone else on our prayer list. Insofar as we can offer private prayers to God in our own words, I would suggest that in praying for someone else we could say to our Lord: “Soul of Christ, sanctify him/her; Body of Christ, save him/her; Blood of Christ, inebriate him/her….” What greater things can we ask for those whom we are praying for than that they may be saved, sanctified, and at the end of their days called to eternal bliss with God and His saints?
Toward the end of his life the renowned English convert and cardinal Blessed John Henry Newman (+1890) was in contact with an old acquaintance of his from his early days as an evangelical Protestant prior to his discovery of the Catholic faith. Explaining to this gentleman his conversion, Cardinal Newman tells of having found in the Catholic Church the ultimate fulfillment of his evangelical aspirations:
“. . .What can I say but that those great and burning truths which I learned when a boy from Evangelical teaching, I have found impressed upon my heart with fresh and ever increasing force by the Holy Roman Church?. . . I have found a power, a resource, a comfort, a consolation in our Lord’s Divinity and atonement, in His real presence in Communion, in His Divine and Human power, which all good Catholics indeed have, but which Evangelical Christians have but faintly” (letter of February 24, 1887 to G.T. Edwards, in W. Ward, The Life of John Henry Cardinal Newman, London, 1913, volume 2, p. 527).
It was to this same correspondent that on January 29, 1890 Cardinal Newman sent what he called “My Creed,” his own translation of the Anima Christi. Here we quote the cardinal’s unique translation in its entirety:
“Soul of Christ, be my sanctification;/ Body of Christ, be my salvation;/ Blood of Christ, fill all my veins;/ Water of Christ’s side, wash out my stains,/ Passion of Christ, my comfort be,/ O good Jesus, listen to me/ In Thy wounds I fain would hide/ Ne’er to be parted from Thy side;/ Guard me should the foe assail me;/ Call me when my life shall fail me./ Bid me come to Thee above,/ With Thy Saints to sing Thy love,/ World without end. Amen” (ibid., p. 536).
The Anima Christi was for Cardinal Newman an epitome of the Catholic faith. May it be so for us likewise.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress