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, O Lord, this mortal enemy 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 death. O all ye blessed angels and saints of God, pray for me, a poor sinner. LITANY FOR A HAPPY DEATH. O Lord Jesus, God of Goodness, and Father of mercies, I approach to thee with a contrite and humble heart: to thee I recommend the last hour of my life, and the decision of my eternal doom. When my feet, benumbed with death, shall admonish me that my mortal course is drawing to an end,-merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When mine eyes, dim and troubled at the approach of death, shall fix themselves on thee, my last and only support,-merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my face, pale and livid, shall inspire the beholders with pity and dismay; when my hair, bathed in the sweat of death and stiffening on my head, shall forebode my approaching end,-merciful Jesus, have mercy on me, When mine ears, soon to be for ever shut to the discourse of men, shall be open to hear the irrevocable decree which is to cut me off from the number of the living, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my imagination, agitated by dreadful spectres, shall be sunk in an abyss of anguish, when my soul, affrighted with the sight of my iniquities and the terrors of thy judgments, shall have to fight against the angel of darkness who will endeavour to conceal thy mercies from mine eyes and to plunge me into despair,merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my poor heart, yielding to the pressure, and exhausted by its frequent struggles against the enemies of its salvation, shall feel the pangs of death,-merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When the last tear, the forerunner of my dissolution, shall drop from mine eyes, receive it as a sacrifice of expiation for my sins; grant that I may expire the victim of penance, and in that dreadful moment, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my friends and relations, encircling my bed, shall shed the tear of pity over me and învoke thy clemency in my behalf,-merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When I shall have lost the use of my senses, when the world shall have vanished from my sight, when my agonizing soul shall feel the sorrows of Death,-merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my last sigh shall summon my soul to burst from the embraces of the body and to spring to thee on the wings of impatience and desire, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my soul, trembling on my lips, shall bid adieu to the world and leave my body lifeless, pale, and cold, receive this separation as homage which I willingly pay to thy Divine a Majesty, and in that last moment of my mortal life, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When at length my soul, admitted to thy presence, shall first behold the splendour of thy Majesty, reject me not, but receive me into thy bosom where I may for ever sing thy praises; and in that moment, when eternity shall begin to me, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. O God, who hast doomed all men to die, but hast concealed from all the hour of their death, grant that I may pass my days in the practice of holiness and justice, and that I may deserve to quit this world in the peace of a good conscience, and in the embraces of thy love, through Christ our Lord. Amen. DEVOTIONS FOR CONFESSION. A PRAYER BEFORE THE EXAMINATION. My God, my Creator, my Redeemer, my Judge, give me thy grace that I may worthily prepare for this sacrament. Oh, inspire and enlighten my soul, that I may discern all the sins which I have committed against thee. Remove, I beseech thee, remove all indifference and forgetfulness from my mind. It is my wish to confess my sins to thee and to thy minister: let me not, I pray thee, pass over anything in this examination. Let me see every action of my past life in its true light, as it is now seen by thee, and as I myself shall behold it at the hour of my death. Oh save me from the great misfortune of thinking of myself otherwise than I deserve. Thou knowest, O Lord, what I am : teach me, in thy mercy, to know myself. Place before me all mine iniquities, and let me know my sins. Thou hast said that the just man falls seven times a day. Oh preserve me, great God! from the presumption of thinking that I myself am without sin. If the just man sins against thee, how must I appear in thine eyes? I have sinned, my God, I know that I have sinned. On thee I call, to show me each separate fault. Oh bring all my offences to my mind such as they truly were, and such as they will ever stand registered against me, unless I repent of them and confess them to thy minister. Bring them all to my mind, in every circumstance and aggravating detail, that I may weep over the past, and obtain thy protection for the future. Let such, dear Lord and Saviour, let such, I pray thee, be the fruits of this confession. Let me not displease thee and sin against thy Holy Spirit, by concealing any thing through shame or neglect. Oh preserve me from thus adding guilt to guilt! Give me thy grace and knowledge, that I may completely remember all my sins, and may completely and frankly confess them: and, oh give me those sentiments of gratitude for thy goodness, and that holy love for thee, which may fill my heart with lasting sorrow for having offended thee, my great, my kind, my merciful Creator. Amen. A SECOND PRAYER BEFORE THE EXAMINATION. Great God, who knowest the impulses of our hearts, and who searchest our most secret thoughts and most hidden desires, I humbly approach thee and beg of thee to make known to me the extent of my misery and guilt. I know, O Lord, that I have had the misfortune to offend thee in a thousand ways: I know it in general, though I may have forgotten each |