The paradise of the Christian soul/Chap. XII. Exercise or Protestation for a Sick and Dying Person.
CHAPTER XII.
Exercise or Protestation
FOR A SICK AND DYING PERSON.
Which may be read with advantage in the presence of the
Adorable Sacrament, by the sick person, or by another in his name, before he receives the Viaticum.
And may be useful on other occasions of Holy Communion, for the healthy as well as the sick.
O Father of mercies and God of all consolation! behold, I, thy creature, made to thy Image, and redeemed by the Blood of thy only Son, appear before thee, my Creator, by whom and for whom I was made, by whose grace I have lived hitherto; to whom I desire to live henceforward, so long as it pleases thee; and for whose sake and in whom I desire to die. I humbly adore thee, for whom my soul longs and sighs a thousand times; I cry to thee whom I love only and above all things, O my rest,my hope, my love, my desire, and all my heart's good!
O most loving Father! although I am the least of thy sons, nay, unworthy to be called thy son, because I have not honoured thee as a Father, still I come to thee with great confidence, and throw myself upon thy breast, and into the arms of thy most sweet charity and mercy, sorry from my inmost heart that I have forsaken thee, my God, the fountain of all good; departed from thee, my most sweet Father, and forgotten thee, who, as if regardless of all else, hast never for a moment forgotten me!
Oh, that I had never offended thee, my God, and my all! Accept at least this, the ardent wish and desire of my inmost heart; look on me and pity me, while yet there is time for pity. For thou knowest, O Lord, that I love thee more than myself, or at least desire so to love thee, and.above all things that are or can be loved. For I know whom I have believed; and that thou art able to keep what I have committed to thee: and I know too that a contrite and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not despise!
I hope also that thou wilt never cast me away from thy face, — thou who so lovingly invitest us to thee, in saying: Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Behold, I come, O Lord, according to thy word; receive me, thou who castest not out anything that comes to thee, and I shall live, and disappoint me not of my expectation. Bring my soul out of this prison, that I may praise thy Name.
Oh, happy the hour when I am delivered from the body of this death! when I come to thee; when thou comest and consolest me! when I see thee, not through a glass and in a dark manner, but face to face! when, putting off this corruptible body, which weighs down the soul, I praise thee without hinrance! when thou dismissest thy servant in peace, that he may purely serve thee!
But before I go hence and be no more, I desire at least to begin, with all the strength of my soul, to offer to thy divine Majesty in this valley of tears the sacrifice of praise; that henceforth I may praise thee for ever and ever.
Therefore I thank thee infinitely, because thou hast from eternity vouchsafed to think of me so lovingly, and in time to create me to thy Image, and when the fulness of time was come, to redeem me with the Blood of thy only Son; to spare me so often when I sinned, and so often to recall me out of the darkness of sin into thy marvellous light.[1]
But what return, O Lord Jesu, shall I make thee for thy toilsome Life and most bitter Death, for so often vouchsafing to feed me with thy own Body and Blood, and for all that thou hast done for me, O beloved Spouse of my soul!
The deep of my own nothingness and misery calls on the deep of thy infinite goodness and charity with the voice of the Five outpourings of thy Wounds. In them is all my hope and my confidence; by them, and by the infinite ocean of thy mercy that flows from them, it is that; though miserable, naked, and poor, I can come to thee securely; for thou art rich towards all, and hast no need of my goods. Gladly will I receive at thy hand the chalice, bitter though it be, of salvation which thou givest me to drink; and will drink it with thee, because thou first drankest it all for me, when thou thirstedst so vehemently for my salvation. I will call too on the Name of the Lord, and will sacrifice to him the sacrifice of praise.
For this, who is there that can give me most closely to embrace thee with all the affection of the heavenly Court, of all the Angels and Saints, and, more than all, of thy most holy Mother, that I may praise thee and glorify thee with the voice and affection of them and of all creatures?
Receive, O Lord, for a holocaust my heart, which I now offer entirely to thee. I also give my eyes, to see thee alone, and all things in thee; my ears, to hear thy Word; my mouth, or rather my tongue and my lips, to be filled with thy praise, and to sing forth thy glory and thy greatness all the day long; my hands, to be stretched forth to heaven in prayer, or to my neighbour in almsgiving, and for the fulfilment of thy commandments; my feet, to be directed into the way of peace: and finally, all my limbs and all my bones, that they may say: Lord, who is like to thee?
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all that he has done for thee. All these earthly things I now renounce, for in thee alone I have all things. I renounce myself, because I am thine, and it is now no more I myself that live, but it is thou,
O Christ Jesus, who livest in me; and I love thee with my whole heart and my whole soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength.
Set me, therefore, beside thee, and let any man’s hand fight against me:[2] and if it should perchance happen to me hereafter, through the violence of disease, or through the enemy’s guile, to think or to speak otherwise than I have now spoken, I now revoke the same and renounce it; and I testify before thee, my God, and thee, O Virgin Mary, my most blessed Mother, and thee, my Angel Guardian, and you, my beloved Patrons, N. and N., that I wish to live and die in the Faith of the Catholic and Apostolic Church: and I trust in my God and Lord Jesus Christ only, and in his merits; and I love him above all things, with my whole heart and with my whole soul, and I desire to love him to my latest breath.
Whatever may be suggested by the temptation of the enemy, the infirmity of the flesh, the violence of my disease, or the affliction of my body, in opposition to so holy a determination, made with such earnestness of will, I desire, O God, to be null at thy Tribunal; and I now utterly abominate it, execrate it, and abjure it: and I desire this my last Will only, which I am ready to seal with my blood, to be valid at the day of judgment; and I would, O my God, that I might die for it and for thee a thousand times, to live to thee to whom all things live, and to die for thee, O most dear Jesus, who hast vouchsafed to die for the love of me!
PRAYER
AFTER THE RECEPTION OF THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST IN SICKNESS.
To Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
And which also may be useful at other times after Communion.
Glory to thee, O Christ, who hast in thy sweetness vouchsafed to visit and refresh my poor soul! Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace!
Now, O sweet Love, I hold thee fast; now will I let thee go no more; now I gladly say farewell to the world, and to all that is of the world; now, O my God, I come to thee rejoicing.
Nothing, O good Jesus, henceforward, nothing shall separate me from thee; for to thee, O Christ, am I joined; in thee will I live, in thee will I die; and in thee, if it be thy will, will I abide for ever! Now it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me.
Now is my soul weary of my life; I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Now will I fear no evils, though I walk in the region of the shadow of death; for thou, O Lord, art with me: and as the hart pants after the fountains of waters, so does my soul pant after thee, O God; my soul has thirsted for the strong living God: when shall I come and appear before the Face of my God?
Bless me, most loving Jesus, and dismiss me now in peace, for I am thine; and I will let thee go no more for ever!
Oh, that with happy tie I were now to be united to thee for ever! Oh, that I could merit to be wholly sunk in thee, wholly swallowed up and buried in thee! Oh, that my soul might sweetly repose in thy arms, and be wholly absorbed in the most happy enjoyment of thee, its loving God!
What more have I to do, my most loving Jesus, with the world? Behold, I have desired nothing beside thee, even in Heaven!
Into thy hands, O Lord Jesus, I commend my spirit. Receive me, O sweetness of Love, that in thee it may be well with me for ever, and that in thee I may sweetly sleep and take my rest in peace!
PRAYERS
For a happy death, useful not for the sick only, but for those who are in health.
With a few alterations, they may likewise he said with very great advantage by others when in attendance upon the dying.
Prayer I.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by thy Agony and by the most holy prayer which thou prayedst for us on the Mount of Olives, when thy sweat became like drops of Blood trickling down upon the ground; vouchsafe, I beseech thee, to offer and present to God the Father Almighty the abundance of that Bloody Sweat, which for very anguish and fear thou hast so copiously poured forth for us, against all the abundance of my sins, and deliver me in this hour of my death from all the pain and anguish which I fear that I have merited for my sins. Who, with the same God the Father and the Holy Ghost, &c.
Our Father. Hail Mary,
PRAYER II.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast vouchsafed to die upon the Cross for us, vouchsafe, I beseech thee, to offer and present to God the Father Almighty, for my soul, all the bitterness of thy pains and sufferings which thou hast borne for us miserable sinners upon the Cross, and most of all at the hour when thy most holy Soul departed out of thy most holy Body; and deliver me in this hour of my death from all the pains and sufferings which I fear that I have merited for my sins. Who, with the same Father and the Holy Ghost, &c.
Our Father. Hail Mary.
PRAYER III.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who by the mouth of thy prophet hast said: have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee ; vouchsafe, I beseech thee, to offer and present to God the Father Almighty the same love which drew thee down from heaven to earth, to endure, for my soul, all the bitterness of thy sufferings, and deliver me from all the sufferings and pains which I fear I have merited for my sins: and save my soul in this hour of my departure. Open to me, O Lord, the gate of life, and grant me to rejoice with thy Saints in glory. Who, with the same God the Father and the Holy Ghost, &c.
Our Father. Hail Mary.
PRAYER IV.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast redeemed us with thy precious Blood, write, with thy Blood, thy most precious Wounds upon my soul, that I may learn to read in them thy Sorrow, against all the sorrows and pains which I fear I have merited for my sins. Write in it thy love, that I may be united to thee by an unconquerable love, through which I may never, for all eternity, be separated from thee and from all thy Elect.
Make me, O Lord Jesus Christ, partaker of thy most holy Incarnation, of thy most sacred conversation, of thy most bitter Passion, of thy glorious Resurrection, and thy admirable Ascension.
Make me, O Lord, partaker of thy holy Mysteries and Sacraments.
Make me, O Lord, partaker of all the prayers and Sacrifices which are celebrated in thy holy Church.
Finally, make me partaker of all the blessings, graces, merits, and joys of all thy Elect, who have ever pleased thee from the beginning of the world, and grant me that, with them all, we may rejoice for ever in thy Presence! Amen.
COMMENDATION
OF THE SOUL INTO THE HANDS OF THE CREATOR.
Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
I commend it, now, O Christ, while I am well and strong, that thou mayest hold it so commended when I am able to commend it no more, though not yet loosed from its bonds. I fear for the time when I shall still be among the living, yet know not my own existence. This we see to be the case with many dying persons; they breathe, they live, yet know not that they are alive. Then, when my spirit quakes, dreading to depart, but departing at last notwithstanding from the prison which it loves, — then, if thou, its Creator, shut it out, oh, who will there be to receive it?
O Christ most patient! remember that thou, too, in thy last Agony, didst weep and complain that thou wert forsaken, commendedst thy spirit to thy Father, criedst out, and gavest up the ghost! Now it is I who cry out to thee, that thou, my Saviour, wouldst receive my spirit, let it depart from the body at whatever time or place, or by whatever disease it may.
Remember, O good Jesus, that, upon the Cross, thou didst stretch out thy Arms, open thy Breast, and bow thy Head. Behold, my soul, forsaken by all created things, seeks for refuge! It throws itself into those Arms of thine, it casts itself upon thy Breast. Receive it, I implore thee, in its wretchedness; admit it, I pray thee, to thy Bosom, and drive it not from thee till the wrath of God pass away. There let it hide in safety, secure from the ministers of hell. Into thy hands, therefore, O Lord, I commend my spirit, nay, thine, for it is thou who hast created and redeemed it. Despise not, O God, thy own work!