Part I, Chapter V: 1. General Dispositions for the Administration of the: Sacraments (2)

6. Assisting the Dying

Try to induce the dying person to give himself entirely to God, abandoning himself completely to His holy will. With great patience and gentleness prepare him to be ready to offer his life willingly to our

Lord who sacrificed for us His whole life, one moment of which is worth infinitely more than the lives of all men and angels.

Tactfully direct his thoughts to the realization of the fact that this life is transitory and a vale of tears, and that real happiness will be found only in heaven. There all our pains will be turned into joy, all our troubles will disappear and we shall know at last that this world is but a prison and place of banishment whence we escape through the portals, opened by death. Point out again and again that heaven i s our true home. There reside our Father and Mother, Jesus and Mary; there are our brothers and sisters, the angels and saints; there await us the blessed company of the elect.

Let the patient be filled with the understanding of the fact that by our sins we have deserved to die a thousand deaths, and, in consequence, he should be reconciled to accept whatever death Christ may send, wherever and whenever it may come.

Even if Eve had never lost our original innocence and we were not children of Adam, we would still be the property of God our Sovereign Lord, who could do with us what He would. Thus, we should understand the meaning of complete submission to Him in all things, and the offering of our life to Him.

Even though we were not subject to death at all, nevertheless, in imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Life, who willingly suffered death for us, and His Blessed Mother, the Mother of life, who likewise died, we should willingly accept death as a tribute of our devotion and love to them.

When the sick man's mind has become reconciled to the will of God concerning death, suggest to him the duties of a Catholic about to close his eyes on this world and face God. These duties are: i. To thank the Blessed Trinity with Christ and the Church for all the favors received from their infinite goodness. 2. To ask pardon for all the sins committed during life and to offer one's death in union with that of Christ. 3. To adore, praise, glorify and love God, admitting that we are in this world only for that purpose, and that we should terminate our life in the fulfilment of the end for which we were created. 4. To beseech Jesus Christ to accomplish these things in our name, and likewise ask the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and all the

saints. 5. To adore, honor and praise our Saviour, asking His pardon and forgiveness, praying to the Blessed Mother and all the angels and saints also to offer in our place our tribute and praise.

Outline to the sick man the duties of a Catholic towards the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, his Guardian Angel and all the angels of heaven, and the saints of the celestial court, especially those he should honor particularly, exhorting him to thank them, ask their pardon, offer them the loving Heart of Jesus i n satisfaction, and invoke their prayers and assistance especially at the hour of death.

Recall the Catholic's duties towards his fellow man. He should ask pardon of those whom he has offended or disedified, and forgive those who have offended him, saying with Our Blessed Lord: "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23, 34). If the sick person be a father or mother, a master or mistress, or a superior of a religious community, let him enjoin upon his subjects or children a wholesome fear of God and give them his blessing. Rather, let him ask God to bless them for it is not the place of a sinner to bless, but to pray God to bestow His benediction.

Remind the sick person to dispose of his worldly goods in a spirit of Christian charity, not forgetting the poor, the Church and spiritual works. Especially, counsel him tb make his will with all the necessary legal formalities so that his children and heirs may be spared the bitterness of litigation.

Dispose him to receive Holy Viaticum, forming his intention in union with that of the Blessed Virgin and the saints communicating for the last time.

Try to have him gain what indulgences he can, especially those applicable at the hour of death. To assist him in doing so, excite in him a great desire in this respect. Urge him to affirm that he desires only the glory of God; help him to acquire a true spirit of penitence, making acts of contrition and determination of amendment, after he has gone to confession. Place on his person blessed and indulgenced medals. Have him repeat again and again, Jesus, Mary, Jesus, Mary, always remembering that he ~should have the intention of pronouncing these holy names in union with the pure love which is and will always be evoked in heaven at the mere mention of these gracious names.

Early in his sickness dispose him to receive Extreme Unction, with the intention for which Christ instituted that sacrament, namely, to efface sin and destroy its effects, and to perfect in the Christian soul God's love and grace. Let him dwell upon the fact that this last of the sacraments is meant to strengthen the soul against the final onslaughts of the devil, and to help him to die a truly Christian death. Likewise, remind him that Extreme Unction can restore health if it be God's holy will to do so.

Help the patient achieve the proper dispositions for the reception of' this Extreme Unction, of which the first is really to desire that the designs of Christ in its institution may be fulfilled. The second is to adore Him who instituted this consoling sacrament, thanking Him for all the glory our loving Saviour has rendered His Eternal Father, and all the graces communicated through its instrumentality to the souls of the faithful.

The third disposition is humbly to confess one's sins again. The fourth is to offer to God the Father all the honor His Son has brought Him through this efficacious means, in atonement for the dishonor heaped upon Him by its improper use by sinners. The fifth disposition is for the sick soul to unite himself to all the holy dispositions of the saints when they received Extreme Unction. The sixth is to give himself to Christ that He may prepare the soul to receive the sacrament worthily. The seventh is to pray to the Blessed Mother, the angels and saints to supply any defects within him and to take his place in the presence of God, interceding for him that he may receive all necessary graces and dispositions.

Help the sick person to renew his baptismal promises. For this purpose: i. Encourage him to thank God for having been privileged to receive Baptism. 2. Urge him to ask God's pardon for any misuse of baptismal grace, offering in satisfaction the life and death of His Divine Son, with all the merits of Mary our Mother and of the saints. 3. Say with him these words, I renounce thee, 0 Satan; I renounce all your works and pomps; to Thee I cling, 0 Jesus, my Lord, my God, my King. I wish for Thee and nothing more. Be thou King of my heart now and forevermore."

7. Consoling the Afflicted

Remember always that the Son of God has said that whatever is done to the least of His little ones i s done to Him. Be assured that consolation offered to those who are afflicted is given likewise to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother for whosoever consoles the Son certainly consoles the Mother. Consequently, when God gives you the opportunity to assuage the misery of some troubled soul, He surely bestows a very special grace. Your approach to this duty therefore, should be serious, mindful that you should do unto others as you would have them do to you.

Thus, you should cast the eye of your faith upon that great love with which our Saviour came into this world to console the afflicted, remembering the inspired words: "He hath sent me ... to comfort all those that mourn" (Isa. 61, 1-2). Regard your neighbor who is in trouble as a child of God and as your brother, extending to him that charity which consumed the Merciful Heart of Jesus. Approaching him with great kindness and understanding, talk to him with compassion. Then endeavor to impress upon his mind the seven following truths, which are truths of faith founded upon divine infallibility. ,

1. Providence guides and governs the world. "But thy providence, 0 Father, governeth it" (Wisd. 14, 3). Nothing on earth happens by chance but by the divine will or by God's permission. Whether He permits or wills a thing to happen to us, it is always for our good, if we on our part make use of i t . Consequently, we should accept whatever comes to us as having been sent by the hand of God and emanating from the loving Heart of our Creator.

2. God is our true Father, loving us far beyond the degree of our love for ourselves. He is a Father having only thoughts of love and peace, not of affliction and harshness. I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience ( J e r . 29, 11). He loves us with such devotion and takes such infinite care of us that He has assured us that even the hairs of our head are numbered. If then He has such regard for the simplest details of life, what must be His devotion in the important matters, such as our reputation, our health or life? He is in

deed a Father who is so powerful and wise and good that He knows how to take care of those who love and serve Him. We must always live in the fear of God, fulfilling the words of Sacred Scripture, "No evils shall happen to him that feareth the Lord" (Ecclus. 33, 1). "To them that love God, all things work together unto good" (Rom. 8, 28).

3. God bestows a signal grace upon us when, instead of treating us with the severity of an exacting judge, He accords us the kindness of a merciful father, punishing us not by the harshness due to an enemy, but with the paternal chastisement suitable to children. He often makes us suffer temporal punishment i n expiation for our sins, thus ensuring for us the eternal rewards we have merited in heaven. The sufferings He sends us in this world should be looked upon as being permitted here below so that we may not have to undergo torments in purgatory, where their severity would be multiplied a thousand fold. Consequently, we have every reason to thank God for adversity as the least of the punishments He could visit upon us, as the most merciful means He could employ to chastise us for sins. We should be like the prisoner at the bar who thanks his judge for a commuted sentence.

4. One of the greatest favors Our Lord can grant us is to send an affliction which enables us to share His cross. Thus, we learn to drink His chalice of bitterness; we come to know.ow the meaning of the cross which He chose as His instrument for the destruction of sin, the source of every evil. Through affliction He brings us closer to His Sorrowful Mother. Those who are dear to God have known the most suffering. " A l l that have pleased God, passed through many tribulations" (Judith 8, 23). "Because thou wast acceptable to God," said the Archangel Raphael to Tobias, "it was necessary that temptation should prove thee" (Tob. 1 2 , 13).

5. Sacred Scripture proclaims the cross as the glory, the treasure, the supreme good of the Christian on earth. "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ," cries St. Paul (Gal. 6, 14). And again in his Epistle to the Romans he says, "We glory also in tribulations" (Rom. 5, 3). St. James reminds us to "count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations" (James 1, 2).

Truly, it may be said that, when a great affliction comes upon us, we actually receive a treasure of priceless value. If we bear the cross pa

tiently, it will pay unlimited dividends. The greatest consolations in this world, even the spiritual and divine consolations, are merely little flowers which bloom and die. A great affliction is like a golden treasure, solid and enduring. It may be compared even to a precious stone of inestimable value, or to a fertile field which, being carefully cultivated, will enrich its possessor with an,infinity of spiritual and heavenly returns.

6. Nothing purifies the soul like suffering. Nothing embellishes it more, nothing renders it so pleasing to God. True Christian nobility which makes us like unto our Crucified King, is acquired only through suffering and affliction.

7. Finally, we must turn afflictions to holy advantage. First of all, he who bears them in a true Christian spirit renders supreme homage to God because the Son of Man, who came on earth to honor His Father and repay the ravages of sin, chose the cross and suffering as the most efficacious means at His disposal. Secondly, he acquires treasures of grace on earth and glory for eternity. On the other hand, the Christian who does not accept afflictions willingly deprives God of the glory He otherwise would have received, and inflicts on himself such a loss that if he could estimate its worth,he would be inconsolable.

Having outlined these principles to the person whom you wish to comfort, you must teach him how to derive real profit from adversity and recommend the following practices:

1. He should make an act of faith in all these truths because no true Christian can doubt them

2. He should make his peace with God by a good confession. Remind him that a person who suffers while in the state of mortal sin loses all the merit he would otherwise gain. He becomes like the impenitent thief; he is miserable in the sight of God and man alike. He is miserable in this world and will be infinitely more miserable in the next, if he does not repent.

3. He must humiliate himself before God because of his sins, the cause of all his sufferings, realizing that he is worthy of hell and the eternal wrath of his Maker. He must strive to realize also that, even if God should send him the most awful afflictions and if all the forces of earth should rise up to crush him, he could not rightly complain,

because a single mortal sin merits the most dreadful punishment, the everlasting torments of hell, one moment of which surpasses the most ghastly torture life can inflict. Consequently, the sufferer on earth should accept gladly whatever affliction comes to him in requital for his offenses; he should remember the words of Sacred Scripture, "Thou art just, 0 Lord: and thy judgment is right" (Ps. 118, 137). "For we have sinned, and committed iniquity, departing from thee . . . and we have not hearkened to thy commandments . . . Everything that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment (Daniel 3, 2 9 - 31). Humility inclines the heart of God towards His erring creatures. "Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation" (1 Pet. 5, 6).

4. The afflicted person should adore the holy will of God, making an act of submission, resignation and self- annihilation in all things, seeking only that the Kingdom of God be established in his own and in all hearts. Make him repeat the words of Christ in Gethsemani: "Not my will, but thine be done" (Luke 2 2 , 42). Recall also St. Gertrude's prayer: "0 Lord, I beg Thee and desire with all my heart that Thy adorable will be done in me and in all creatures."

5. Let him bless and thank God in affliction. I will bless the Lord at all times" (PS. 33, 2 ) . Certainly, this should apply in time of suffering more than at any other time for it has been truly said that affliction is a proof of God's goodness. Should not he who owes a great debt and is forgiven by his creditor, make some gesture of his gratitude? How much does the sinner owe, who is indebted for the remission of eternal punishment and who is made to undergo temporal sufferings instead of these torments of hell which he has so justly deserved!

6. He ought to adore our crucified Lord covered with wounds from head to foot, called so aptly by the Prophet Isaias, "A man of sorrows" (Isa. 53, 3). He ought to surrender himself to the boundless love that nailed his Redeemer to the cross, and in union with it accept with perfect love and resignation every cross sent to him.

7. If Divine Providence should employ certain individuals to become the cause of suffering, the person who is harassed or hurt should not seek vengeance nor let his heart be filled with bitterness towards them. He should rather exert towards them great charity and forgiveness, in

imitation of the Master who said, "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23, 34).

8. if suffering be caused by the tragic illness or death of someone dear and cherished, the person thus afflicted should remember that Christ gave His own life for us, a life so precious that one moment of i t was worth more than an infinite number of lives of men and angels. Consequently, in the hour of sorrow, let each one give himself to Jesus in union with the incomprehensible sacrifice made on Calvary, offering to Our Lord the life of our friends and even our own, in satisfaction for his offenses and in return for Our Lord's offering of His own life for us.

9. Though it is permitted and expected that a person should use every legitimate means to recover and restore his health, he must never make the mistake of placing all his faith in human expedients. Rather let him have supreme confidence in God and in prayer. As evidence of Our Lord's pleasure in the trust we show in Him, the sick person ought to ponder these words spoken to St. Gertrude by the Saviour: "When a soul torn by pain or affliction places himself firmly under my protection, that soul so touches my Heart, that to it the words of Sacred Scripture are applied: 'One is my dove, my perfect one is but one. ... the chosen of her that bore her' (Cant. 6, 8). It so transfixes my Heart that, if I were to know I could not succor the soul in its misery. my own Heart would suffer (were that possible), and its sufferings would be so great that not even the infinite delights of heaven could assuage its misery. The glance of my dove which transfixes my Heart like an arrow of love is the firm and unshakable confidence that I can and will assist i t in all things. And so strong is that confidence in its impelling force that I could not disregard it" (Legatus Divinae Pietatis lib. 3. C. 7).

10. The afflicted person ought to picture the innumerable army of the saints and martyrs in heaven, who while e they were on earth knew so many sufferings. He must remember that they, too, were once human beings like himself, beset with all human weaknesses. He should find encouragement in their example, and beg them to make him participate in their patience and their love for God.

11. He ought to think of all the thousands of people on earth who

suffer in every conceivable way without the consolations he has or the spiritual helps and graces. This thought should urge him to bless God and to bear patiently the trials of life.

12. He must have recourse to the Mother of God, the true consolation of the afflicted, whose heart i s filled with compassionate mercy especially for those who suffer. "0 clement, 0 loving, 0 sweet Virgin Mother," cries the Church. Never has the Blessed Virgin Mary been found wanting by those who have confidence in her. Her Divine Son gave her power in heaven and on earth over His creatures. She was given to us as our refuge, our help and our consolation in all our necessities.

In the recommendation of these acts of virtue remember three things:

1. Do not suggest their use all at once, but encourage the sick person to employ these spiritual helps on different occasions

2. You should assist the patient to put them into practice, especially if he is unable to do so himself. Make the following suggestion: "Tell Almighty God that you renounce your own will and wholly accept His."

3. Kneel and pray with the patient from time to time. The prayers, "We fly to thy patronage," "Remember, 0 most Blessed Virgin' and others to Our Lady will be very helpful and consoling.