Prayer for purifying the sacred vessels

Our diocese had a special Mass to commemorate the canonization of Mother Teresa.

The Missionaries of Charity have a home for malnourished children, Hogar San José, under five, which I have sometimes visited. When I first came to Santa Rosa, I went several times a month but, since moving out of the city, I’ve visited only a few times.

A few years ago, I was asked by the directors of a home for children, Amigos de Jesús, to visit with their volunteers, mostly from the United States. I have continued to connect with them and their current chaplain is a good friend. Amigos de Jesús provides a real home for over 125 children and also provides them with education. They have a school as well as a bilingual program on site and several of those who finished high school there stay in a house in San Pedro Sula to go to the university. 

The Missionaries of Charity were at the Mass as well as staff, volunteers, and children from Amigos de Jesús I was blessed to assist at the Mass as deacon. 

One of the responsibilities of a deacon is to clean the vessels after Communion.

As I began to clean the vessels, I noted the people from Amigos de Jesús in the middle aisle of the auditorium where Mass was held. The ciboria were filled with particles from the consecrated hosts and so I took care to carefully clean them, seeking to consume even the tiniest particles. 

I looked down at the ciborium and looked up at the children in the aisle, some of whom are orphans, some have been abandoned, some have been maltreated. There were many small particles in the ciborium and small children in the aisle.

I realized that as just I took care for every particle of the Body of Christ in the ciboria, I am called to take care of the least of our sisters and brothers, the face of Christ in our midst. I often recall this as I clean the vessels.

Today I wrote this prayer

Lord, Jesus, you are present in the Eucharist, present in the tiniest and most fragile particle of the consecrated host. Help me treat your sacramental presence with care and devotion, seeing You in every fragment. You, Lord Jesus, are also present in the least of our sisters and brothers, especially children and the poor. Let me remember Your presence in them and treat them with as much care as I treat You present in the Host. Let me respond with care and love to the least of them, as I care for the least particle of the Host. Let me ever reverence You in the Host and in the poor and care for them as for You. Let Your presence in the Host and in the poor open me to Your great love for me, and for all. Amen.

Purifying the sacred vessels at the church in Debajiados, on the day after my diaconal ordination.