Ask your patron saint to keep in your heart the graces you receive after communion.
In the Catholic Church there exists a tradition where each person can adopt a patron saint to whom they feel a special connection. Sometimes this patron saint is based on someone’s birth name, or the feast day on which they were born, but more often this custom involves freely choosing a particular saint to be a person’s patron.
Whoever your patron saint may be, one holy practice is to pray for their intercession after receiving holy communion.
One reason why this is an important practice is because when we receive communion, we are put “in union” not only with God, but also all the saints in Heaven. This gives us a special opportunity to ask our patron saint for special graces and to help maintain the graces we receive after communion.
Here is a short prayer from the Golden Manual that can be use for anyone who wishes to draw closer to their patron saint and remain in union with God after Mass is over.
O great Saint [insert name here], under whose patronage I have placed myself, obtain for me grace to fulfill the holy resolutions I have made this day. Help me, by your powerful intercession, to lead a life conformable to the sacred character I have received, and to imitate the virtues for which you were so remarkable. Protect me through all the perils of life, and abandon me not at the hour of death. Amen.
