"When I heard the Anima Christi, I was two feet off the floor"

John Carmichael looked his most professorial in his appearance on At Home with Jim and Joy. Part 1 of the show has been made available on You-Tube where John holds forth on his journey from worldliness to holiness which he chronicles with such aplomb in Drunks and Monks. I think it is perhaps John's best interview to date, and I like that he highlights the Anima Christi, a prayer that when he heard it put to music moved him so much he felt he was lifted two feet off the floor.

 The sung Anima Christi was not something John would have come to know when he was a child in the 1970s, when the Novus Ordo had just been ushered in, and praying in Latin was set to cease, but as a 30 something when the sweet notes reached his ears in the choir loft of a sanctuary for the Latin Mass, the Serra chapel in Orange County, he was edified with the request made to Christ that His blood inebriate the soul.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds, hide me.
Separated from Thee let me never be.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
At the hour of death, call me.
To come to Thee, bid me,
That I may praise Thee in the company
Of Thy Saints, for all eternity.
Amen.

The prayer may be said after Holy Communion, when a person has just received the Sacred Species, and is veritably asking Christ Who is within them to strengthen them and save them so they may enjoy eternity with Him in the next life. I offer the Anima Christi several times a day, usually first for myself, on occasion for people from my past who are no longer in my life and who I will not know again in this life but for whom I still wish a place in Heaven, as long as we have separate rooms... 

Then I offer it for my loved ones. In every case, when I offer it for friend or foe, I substitute the "me" for the name of the person as I do everyday when I pray for my dear friend, Catherine Collins.

Soul of Christ, sanctify Catherine.
Body of Christ, save Catherine.
Blood of Christ, inebriate Catherine.
Water from the side of Christ, wash Catherine.
Passion of Christ, strengthen Catherine.
O good Jesus, hear Catherine.
Within Thy wounds, hide Catherine.
Separated from Thee let Catherine never be.
From the malignant enemy, defend Catherine.
At the hour of death, call Catherine.
To come to Thee, bid Catherine,
That Catherine may praise Thee in the company
Of Thy Saints, for all eternity.
Amen.