Thanksgiving after Communion

One morning as I was making my thanksgiving after Communion, a very strong distraction took hold of me.

"The faithful are to be recommended not to omit to make a proper thanksgiving after Communion.

He then says the Prayers of Thanksgiving After Communion.

The Paschal Hours may also be chanted in place of the usual Thanksgiving after Communion.

St. Padre Pio, who claimed to have received stigmata while making his thanksgiving after Communion, wrote:

St. Thomas Aquinas (+1274) composed a Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion which has become a classic:

St. Alphonsus said, "There is no prayer more agreeable to God, or more profitable to the soul, than that which is made during the thanksgiving after Communion.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there are various sets of prayers recommended both for Preparation for Communion and of Thanksgiving After Communion.

The Horologion may also contain some devotional material such as the Prayers Before Communion, Thanksgiving After Communion, and Morning and Evening Prayers.

The Sisters of Charity recite the peace prayer of St. Francis every morning during thanksgiving after Communion and many of the vows and emphasis of her ministry are similar.

- It looks like a lifeless heap, but I often find that my memory, of its own accord, will draw from it material which fills my prayer with life and inflames my thanksgiving after Communion."

Pope Benedict XVI in Sacramentum Caritatis referred to the "precious time of thanksgiving after communion", urging everyone to preserve the importance of communion as "a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus in the sacrament."

When used at the end of the Liturgy of Preparation and Prayers of Thanksgiving after Communion the saint who composed the Liturgy is inserted after mention of the Mother of God (see next section).

Symeon Metaphrastes (probably 10th century) who is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church as a saint, and who is known for his Byzantine hagiography, composed the following Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion which is found in the Hieratikon, or prayers for the priest.