A Prayer before Communing

From the pen of Lutheran dogmatician, David Hollaz (pastor at Jacobshagen, rector at Colbert, d. 1713):

Almighty Lord Jesus Christ, source of life and immortality, I pray and implore You as devoutly as I can… As often as I shall come to Your holy table to refresh my spirit, I pray You to make me, unworthy as I am, worthy through Your grace; impure as I am, to make me clean; naked as I am to clothe me, so that Your Body, so full of divine power, and Your most precious Blood may not become for me, Your servant, the occasion for judgment or punishment, but a memorial of the death You underwent for me, a strengthening of my faith, a proof of the taking away of my sins, a bond of closer union with You, an increase of holiness, the basis of a glad resurrection, and a pledge of everlasting life.  Amen.

Cited in The Church: Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn, p. 157.