My body is set apart, dedicated to God's use as something holy, never to be profaned by worldliness, by selfishness, or by sin.
My body is the Spirit's chosen dwelling place, a privileged altar. It must never be looked upon as a market place for the transaction of business, or a school for study, or a playground for amusement. It is none of these...
I must never dare to bring the God dwelling within me into contact with things He abhors.
O God hidden within me, forgotten and neglected on so many days, during so many years, I ask You to forgive my carelessness, my irreverence, my infidelity.
Gladly I accept this great vocation, this high honour, this immeasurable dignity, to be Your temple, Your altar, Your house, Your home.
Joyfully I consecrate to You my body, with all its members and all its senses, my hands and feet, my eyes and ears and tongue, its powers of seeing and hearing and speaking, my impulses and instincts, and appetite and desires.
I make them over to You, by deed of gift; to be absolutely and forever Yours, to be employed always in Your service, never to be used against Your will.
O God, take this body of mine, consecrate it, let it never be defiled by sin. Let it never be employed in the service of Your enemy, the devil! Let it never become the abode of evil, nor be used against the best interests of any of Your children!'
(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 24-26)
Painting: George Hitchcock, A Dream of Christmas
