A Short Exercise in Preparation for Death, which may be used every Day. MY heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; not my will, but thine be done. O my Lord, I resign myself entirely to thee, to receive death at the time, and in the manner, it shall please thee to send it. 2. I most humbly ask pardon for all my sins committed against thy sovereign goodness, and repent of them all from the bottom of heart. my 3. I firmly believe whatsoever the holy Catholic Church believes and teaches; and by thy grace will die in this belief. 4. I hope to possess eternal life by thy infinite mercy, and by the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ. 5. O my God, I desire to love thee as my sovereign good above all things, and to despise this mis erable world: I desire to love my neighbour as myself, for the love of thee, and to forgive all injuries from my heart. 6. O my divine Jesus, how great is my desire to receive thy sacred body! Oh, come now into my soul, at least, by a spiritual communion! Oh, grant that I may worthily receive thee before my death! I desire to unite myself to all the worthy communions which shall be made in thy holy church, even to the end of the world. 7. Grant me the grace, O my divine Saviour, perfectly to efface all the sins I have committed by any of my senses, by applying daily to my soul thy blessed merits, and the holy unction of thy precious blood. 8. Holy Virgin, Mother of God, defend me from my enemies in my last hour, and present me to thy divine Son. Glorious St. Michael, prince of the heavenly host, and thou my angel guardian, and you my blessed patrons, intercede for me, and assist me in this my last and dreadful passage. 9. O my God, I renounce all the temptations of the enemy, and in general whatsoever may displease thee. I adore and accept of thy divine appointments with regard to me, and entirely abandon myself to them as most just and equitable. 10. O Jesus, my divine Saviour, be thou a Jesus to me, and save me. O my God, hiding myself with an humble confidence in thy dear wounds, I give up my soul into thy divine hands. Oh, receive it into the bosom of thy mercy. Amen. THE Sacrament of Extreme Unction. OUR Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in his tender solicitude for those whom he has redeemed by his precious blood, has been pleased to institute another Sacrament, to help us at that most important hour on which eternity depends, the hour of death. This sacrament is called Extreme Unction, or the last anointing. Of this blessed Sacrament, Saint James, the apostle, thus speaks: Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priest of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. v. 14, 15. These words show the great and salutary graces bestowed by this sacrament. The priest in administering this sacrament anoints the five principal senses of the body: the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the lips, the hands, and the feet, because these may have been employed during life in offending God. At each anointing he pronounces these words: May the Lord by this holy anointing, and by his own most tender mercy, pardon thee whatever sin thou hast committed by thy sight, hearing, &c. The sick person should endeavour to prepare himself to receive this sacrament by acts of sincere contrition for all his sins, by great con fidence in the tender mercies of his Redeemer, and by a perfect resignation of himself to the holy will of God. A Prayer before Extreme Unction. Thou hast mercifully provided remedies, O Lord, for all our necessities: grant me thy grace so to make use of them, that my soul may receive all those good effects, which thou hast appointed in their institution. Now I desire to be anointed, as thou hast commanded by thine apostle; grant, I beseech thee, that by this holy unction, and the prayers of the church, I may partake of that spirit, with which Christ suffered on the cross, for thy glory, and for the destruction of sin. Give me true patience to support all the pains and trouble of my distemper; give me an inward strength to resist all the temptations of the enemy; give me grace for the pardon of all my failings; give me that true light, by which I may be conducted through the shadow of death, to eternal happiness: and if my health be expedient for thy glory, let this be the means to restore it. Behold |