without reserve to Thee, that he may be purged from all the remains of his natural self, and may be accepted of Thee; through the merits of Thy SON our SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. Amen.

For those in Prolonged Illness.

GOD, Who dost mercifully accept the offering of our weakness, give Thy servant grace to abide in communion with Thee, that the lengthened season of sickness which hinders his work in the world may train him for the contemplation of Thy glory in the life of the Blessed, through JESUS CHRIST our SAVIOUR. Amen.

For those who cannot fix their thoughts.

GOD, Who needest not our words,

but searchest into the hearts of Thy people, look down with Fatherly Love upon Thy servants who through weakness of body are unable to fix their thoughts, although desiring to approach Thee with reverence. Invigorate their exhausted faculties; tranquillize their perplexed mind; cheer them in their despondency; enlighten them in their darkness;

raise them out of themselves to contemplate the joy of Thy countenance, and establish them in their communion with Thee by the consciousness of their acceptance; through JESUS CHRIST Our LORD. Amen.

For the Aged.

LORD GOD, Who hast mercifully

ordained our weakness as a means of weaning us from the world, ere we be called into Thine immediate Presence, have mercy upon the aged. Pardon the sins of their earlier life; grant that they may use for penitence the time which remains; destroy whatever may be lingering within them of the longing for this world's gain or social mirth; open their eyes to the solemnity of the end which is approaching; provide for them the instruction, the warning, and the consolation of Thy minister, and make them disposed to profit thereby; arouse them out of false security; quicken their prayers with faith and love; soften their prejudices; calm their tempers; deliver them from habits of long-continued sin; bring them to realize the efficacy of the means of Thy restoring grace; fix their hearts upon objects

of Divine satisfaction; give them a foretaste of the joy of Thine everlasting kingdom; stablish their hearts in the tranquillity of a life hallowed by communion with Thee; in their hours of wakeful repose let Thy HOLY SPIRIT refresh them with the consciousness of Thy ceaseless care; in their slumber let Him seal to them instruction by His mysterious power; in their pain let Him strengthen them to accomplish the work for which their life is prolonged; in their exhaustion let Him so control them that they may rejoice to depend only upon Thee; enable them to assist others by word and example in the way of holiness; draw them to habitual intercession in behalf of those for whom they can no longer work; gladden them with domestic happiness by the children whom Thou hast given them; sweeten their solitude, if then alone, by Thine own all-sufficing comfort; perfect them as their outer faculties decay in the maturity of their spiritual energies, that they having lived on earth in the communion of Thy saints may attain when the time of weakness and expectation shall be over to a glorious resurrection of the flesh and the eternal blessedness of Thy children;

through the merits and mediation of Thy SON JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

Amen.

For the Relatives of Persons recently de

O

ceased.

GRACIOUS FATHER, enable these Thy servants to bow before Thee in humble submission to Thy Divine appointment. Draw them, we pray Thee, unto Thyself, that while they mourn the loss of him they have so much loved, they may obtain consolation in the fuller knowledge of that Love of Thine which at the first provided for them so great an earthly blessing, and is now effectual to supply the place of every gift which Thy wisdom removes and grant them, when this life of trial is ended, to find with him, who has been taken from them, a merciful judgment in the last day and a joyful entrance into Thy glory, through the merits of JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Amen.

For the same.

GOD, the protector of them that put their trust in Thee, do Thou mercifully comfort Thy servants in their present sorrow; relieve them in every

future difficulty, and teach them as earthly means of reliance are withdrawn to confide the more simply in Thy Fatherly care, Who hast promised to supply all our need; through JESUS CHRIST our SAVIOUR. Amen.

A Prayer of S. Ignatius.

SOUL OF CHRIST, SANCTIFY ME.
BODY OF CHRIST, SAVE ME.

BLOOD OF CHRIST, INEBRIATE ME.

WATER FROM THE SIDE OF CHRIST, WASH

ME.

PASSION OF CHRIST, COMfort me.

O GOOD JESU! HEAR ME.

WITHIN THY WOUNDS HIDE ME.

SUFFER ME NOT TO BE SEPARATED FROM
THEE.

FROM THE MALIGNANT ENEMY DEFEND ME.

IN THE HOUR OF MY DEATH CALL ME:
AND BID ME COME UNTO THEE;

THAT WITH THY SAINTS I MAY PRAISE
THEE,

TO AGES OF AGES. AMEN.