Instructions and Devotions for the Sick

I. ire you are attacked by any considerable tN OD illness, let your first care be to send for your spiritual physician, and settle the state of your soul. This is much better done in the beginning of sickness than afterwards, when the strength of the fever, or the quality of the remedies, may render a person absolutely unfit for so great a work. Sickness is often sent for a punishment of sin, and therefore a sincere repentance and confession of sins is often a more effectual means of recovery than any other.

2. If you have not your will already made, as in prudence you ought, let this also be done in the beginning of your sickness, that so having settled your temporal affairs, you may apply your soul, without disturbance, to the spiritual.

3. Engage your best friends to give you timely notice, if your distemper be _ dangerous, and not to flatter you with hopes of life, when there are little or no = grounds for hopes. Make the best use you can of that time which perhaps is to be your last. Admit of. ‘but few visits, nor of any: other discourse, but such as = may be for your soul’s profit. be Take proper care for the discharge of = your debts, and all other obligations inpe ae bent upon you; and this as much as may be in the beginning also of your = T sickness:: forgive all those who have- _ any way injured you, and ask pardon of __ those whom you have injured. — j 5. Receive your sickness from the hand of = ‘God, with a perfect resignation to his holy will, as a just punishment of your =~ „offences; frequently: offer yourself up to her him, and beg that he would give you ¿> patience ahd sanctify your sufferings, bso and that he would accept of all your — i and uneasinesses in union with the gs of your Saviour Jesus Christ, in deduction of the Psi due to BeyOUrsinsh os tue or gelnomtuie jas oe) j; Of n procure some friend to fox to you rayers as are most affective; and NARAR sien net pondica J crucified, always before your eyes: think often upon his Passion; hide yourself in spirit in his wounds, and embrace his feet with all the affection of your soul.

8. Aim, as much as you can, at a penitential spirit, during your sickness; often cry to God for mercy, and make frequent acts of contrition for your sins. St. Augustine used to say, that no Christian, however innocent his life might have been, ought to venture to die in any other state than that of a penitent.

A Prayer Proper to be Repeated in Time of Sickness

Lord Jesus Christ, behold I receive this sickness, with which thou art pleased to visit me, as coming from thy fatherly hand. *Tis thy will it should be thus with me, and therefore I submit: thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. May this sickness be to the honour of thy holy name, and for the good of my soul. For this end I here offer myself with an entire submission to all thy appointments; to suffer whatever thou pleasest, as long as thou pleasest, and in what manner thou pleasest. For Iam thy creature, O Lord, who have most ungratefully offended thee; and since my sins have a long time cried aloud to heaven for justice, why shall I now complain if I feel thy hand upon me? No, my God, thou art just in all thy ways; 3 I have truly deserved thy punishments, and therefore I have no reason to complain of thee, but only of my own wickedness.

But rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy fury, nor chastise me in thy wrath; but have regard to my weakness. ‘Thou knowest how frail I am; that I am nothing but dust and ashes: deal not with me therefore according to my sins, neither punish me according to my iniquities; but according to the multitude of thy most tender mercies, have compassion on me. O let thy justice be tempered with mercy and let thy heavenly grace come in to my assistance, to support me under this my illness. Confirm my soul with strength from above, that I may bear with a true Christian patience all the uneasiness, pains, disquiets and difficulties of my sickness; and that I may chearfully accept them as the just punishment of my offences: preserve me from all temptations, and be thou my defence against all the assaults of the enemy, that in this illness I may no way offend thee. And if this is to be my last, I beg of thee so to direct me by thy grace, that I may no ways neglect, or be deprived of those helps, which thou hast, in thy mercy, ordained for the good of my soul, to prepare it for its passage into eternity; that being perfectly cleansed from all my sins, I may believe in thee, put my whole trust in thee, love thee above all things, and, through the merits of thy death and Passion, be admitted into the company of the blessed, where I may praise thee for ever. Amen.

Short Acts of the Most Necessary Virtues, Proper to be Inculcated in the Time of Sickness

Lord, I accept this sickness from thy hands, and entirely resign myself to thy blessed will, whether it be for life or death: not my will, but thine be done: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, I submit to all the pains and uneasinesses of this my illness: my sins have deserved infinitely more. Thou art just, O Lord, and thy judgment is right. i Lord, I offer up to thee all that I now suffer, or may have yet to suffer, to be united to the sufferings of my redeemer, and sanctified by his Passion... URA I adore thee, O my God and my all, as my first beginning and last end: and I desire to pay thee the best homage I am able, and to bow down all the powers of my soul to thee. Lord, I desire to praise thee for ever, in sickness as well as in health: I desire to join my heart and voice with the whole church of heaven and earth in blessing thee for ever. I give thee thanks from the bottom of my heart for all thy mercies and blessings, bestow’d upon me, and thy whole church, thro’ Jesus Christ thy Son and above all, for thy having loved me from all eternity, and redeem’d me with his precious blood: O! let not that blood be shed for me in vain!

Lord, I believe all those heavenly truths which thou hast reveal’d, and which thy holy Catholick Church believes and teaches: thou art the soveraign truth, who neither canst deceive, nor be deceived: and thou hast promis’d the spirit of truth to guide thy church into all truth. J deleve in God the Father Almighty, &c. In this faith I resolve, thro’ thy grace, both to live and die: O Lord, strengthen and increase this my faith.

O my God, all my hopes are in thee: and thro’ Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and thro’ his Passion and death, I hope for mercy, grace and salvation from thee. In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust; O! let me never be confounded!

O sweet Jesus, receive me into thy arms in this day of my distress; hide me in thy wounds, bathe my soul in thy precious blood. I love thee, O my God, with my whole heart and soul above all things: at least I desire so to love thee. O come now, and take full possession of my whole soul, and teach me to love thee for ever.

I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. Oh! when will thy kingdom come? O Lord, when wilt thou perfectly reign in all hearts? When shall sin be no more?

I desire to embrace every neighbour with perfect charity for the love of thee. I forgive from my heart all that have any ways offended or injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have any ways offended.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out all my iniquities.

O! who will give water to my head and fountains of tears to my eyes, that night and day I may bewail all my sins!

O! that I had never offended so good a God!

O that I had never sinned! Happy those souls that have always preserved their baptismal innocence, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner; sweet Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on me.

I commend my soul to God my creator, who made me out of nothing; to Jesus Christ my Saviour, who redeem’d me with his precious blood; to the Holy Ghost, who sanctified me in baptism. Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

I renounce from this moment, and for all eternity, the devil and all his works: and I abhor all his suggestions and temptations.

O suffer not this mortal enemy, O Lord, of my soul to have any power over me, either now, or at my last hour. O let thy holy angels defend me from all the powers of darkness, O holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. O all you blessed angels and saints of God, pray for me a poor sinner.

It may be proper also in time of sickness to read to the sick person leisurely, and as he is able to bear it, the Passion of Christ, or some meditations on his Passion; as also the paraphrase on the Lord’s Prayer, the Miserere, and the other penitential psalms; devout acts of contrition, &£c. But not too much at once; for that might fatigue him, and do him harm.

A Short Exercise in Preparation for Death, which May be Used Every Day

My heart is ready, O God, my heart M 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 soveraign goodness, and repent me of them all from the bottom of my heart.

_I firmly believe whatsoever the holy E tholick Church believes and teaches; and by thy grace I 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 i soveraign good above all things, and to despise this miserable 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! O come now into my soul, at least by a spiritual communion! O 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, the holy unction of thy precious blood.

8. Holy virgin, mother of my 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, interceed for me and assist me in this last and dreadful passage.

9. O my God, I renounce all temptations of the enemy, and in general whatsoever may displease thee. I adore and accept thy divine judgments with regard to my soul, and entirely abandon myself to them as most just and equitable.

10. O Jesus, my divine Saviour, be a Jesus to me, and save me. O my God, hiding myself with an humble confidence in thy dear wounds, I render my soul into thy divine hands; receive it into the bosom of thy mercy. Amen.