Prayers & Devotionals

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Let us pray the ROSARY daily and wear the BROWN SCAPULAR

"The ROSARY and the SCAPULAR are inseparable" - Sr. Lucia of Fatima

REALITY OF LIFE

Statistically, there are one hundred fifty one thousand six hundred (151,600) deaths worldwide every day, 6,300 per hour, 105 per minute and nearly 2 per second. Over a million souls grieve in pain and sorrow from relatives and friends as a result of these deaths every day.

This sad pain of reality is so hard to comprehend especially in the view- point of Catholics who always desire the grace of a happy and spiritually provided death. Statistics also reveal majority of these daily deaths are sudden and unforeseen, e.g. the 911 terrorist attack, where thousands perished suddenly, the death of Kobe Bryant, daughter and others in a helicopter crash ( where only 2 hours earlier Kobe was at mass). We must therefore be focused in God’s friendship to be in the state of grace always.

As Catholics how do we address this reality? The mystery question would be. How many of these souls would go straight to heaven, how many would go to purgatory for a state of purification or even be condemned to hell?

SPIRITUAL ACTS OF MERCY BY THE LIVING

In view of this reality of life, we as Catholics ponder and reflect on one of the very few quotes of St Jeanne Jugan, the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, “Little, very little, be very little before God”.

In our littleness and in humility, we are invited by the God of Mercy to perform spiritual acts of Mercy, by sacrifices and by prayers, for:

  • The sick and the dying and all who will die today.
  • The relief and the release of the suffering souls in Purgatory.
  • Those whom we are bound to pray for, seeking and in need of our prayers in unison with all the faithful performing this spiritual act of mercy; all with afflictions, physical and spiritual.
  • The sanctification of the family and Eucharistic-centered life for all.

ST. GERTRUDE THE GREAT

According to tradition, St Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the prayer on the following pages (that we title ‘Prayer of St Gertrude’) would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in Purgatory, each time she piously recited it.

St Gertrude the Great was a 13th century German nun, writer and mystic who was graced with many heavenly visions, including being one of the earliest mystics to whom Jesus encouraged a devotion to His Sacred Heart. It is recounted that Jesus showed her a vast number of souls entering Heaven from Purgatory as a result of her faithful and frequent recitation of this prayer.

WHAT IS EXERCISE FOR A HAPPY DEATH?

St John Bosco recommended this exercise to be used monthly for the members of the Religious Order he founded and all his students. It is also spiritually nourishing for all ages especially for the sick, elderly and the dying, starting with the prayer of Pope Benedict XIII to obtain from God the grace of not dying an unprovided death followed by the Litany for a holy death, the prayer to St Joseph and the prayers listed thereafter.

DISCIPLES OF MARY, COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED (DOMCA)

DOMCA heeds the call for the faithful who may perform privately a spiritual work of mercy of prayer and sacrifice of one hour monthly in any place (e.g. home or any place of worship) and on any convenient day for the intentions indicated on previous page.

The Apostolate envisions:

  • Inviting 744 (24 hours x 31 days ) faithful apostles of prayer to perform one hour of this spiritual work of mercy monthly; day of the month to be indicated so that the total of 744 hours be covered each month
  • Storing details in a data base of the faithful apostles of prayer for communication if deemed necessary
  • Following the set of prayers as printed.

PRAYERS FOR RECITAL ON A GIVEN DAY EACH MONTH

  • The Holy Rosary (5 decades)
  • The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
  • The Chaplet of the prayer of St Gertrude (5 decades – prayer to be said on each Hail Mary, and in place of the Our Fathers say ‘Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace’. Amen
  • Exercise for a Happy Death

PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY by ST GERTRUDE

“Eternal Father, I offer to you the Most Precious Blood of Jesus in union with the masses said throughout the world today for the Holy Suffering Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, for those of my own home and in my family. Amen.”

EXERCISE FOR A HAPPY DEATH

PRAYER OF POPE BENEDICT III

O most merciful Lord Jesus, by your agony and sweat of Blood and by Your death, deliver us we beg of you, from a sudden and unprovided death. O most kind Lord Jesus, by Your most cruel and ignominious scourging and crowning with thorns, by Your Cross and most bitter Passion and by Your goodness, we humbly pray that You would not allow us to die suddenly without the holy Sacraments. O most loving Jesus, by all Your labours and sorrows, by Your Precious Blood and most sacred Wounds, by those last words on the Cross:

” My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?” and by those others: “Father into Your hands I commend My Spirit,” we most earnestly beg You to deliver us from a sudden death. Grant us, we pray of You, time for repentance; grant us a happy passing in Your grace, so that we may praise You and bless You forever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be

LITANY TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR A HAPPY DEATH

Lord Jesus, God of goodness and Father of mercies, I approach You with a contrite and humble heart; To You I recommend my last hour and the decision of my eternal doom.

– When my feet, benumbed in death, shall warn me that my mortal course is drawing to a close,
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my hands, cold and trembling, shall no longer be able to clasp the crucifix and against my will, I am forced to let it fall on my bed of suffering,
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my eyes dim and troubled at the approach of death, shall fix themselves on You, my last and only support, Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my lips, cold and quivering shall pronounce for the last time, Your adorable Name,
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my ears, soon to be shut forever to the words of men, shall be opened to hear Your voice pronouncing the sentence by which my condition is to be irrevocably fixed for all eternity
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my imagination, agitated by horrible and fearful spectres, shall be drowned in an abyss of anguish; and my spirit, troubled with the sight of my ill-doings and the fear of Your justice, shall wrestle with the powers of darkness, who will strive to take from me the consoling sight of Your mercies and plunge me into the pit of despair,
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my weak heart, weighed down with the pain of my illness shall be overtaken by the horror of death and be exhausted by the efforts it has made against the enemies of my salvation,
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When I shed my last tear, the sign of my dissolution, receive it as a sacrifice of expiation, so that I may expire a victim of penance; and in that dreadful moment,
Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When those present, encircling my bed, shall be moved by compassion for me and invoke Your clemency on 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 from my body, accept it as a sign of holy impatience to come to You, Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When my soul, trembling on my lips shall bid adieu to this world and leave my body lifeless, pale and cold. Receive this separation as a homage which I willingly pay to Your divine Majesty and in that moment, Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
-When at length my soul, admitted to Your presence, shall first behold the immortal splendour of Your Majesty, reject it not, but receive me into the loving bosom of Your mercy, where I may ever sing Your praises, Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.

Let us pray: O God, Who has doomed all men to die but has concealed from all the hour of their death, grant that I may spend my days in the practice of holiness and justice; and that I may deserve to quit this world in Your holy love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

PRAYER TO ST JOSEPH TO OBTAIN THE GRACE OF A HAPPY DEATH

Most glorious St Joseph, blessed Spouse of Mary, you have merited to be chosen as Guardian for the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ and who while embracing Him affectionately did have a foretaste of the bliss of Heaven. I beseech you; obtain for me the full pardon of my sins and the grace of imitating your virtues so that I may walk in the path that leads to eternal happiness.

As you had the privilege of having Jesus and Mary at your deathbed and in their arms did breathe forth your soul, I earnestly pray of you to protect me from my enemies in that last moment. So that, consoled by the sweet hope of coming to possess everlasting glory in heaven with you, I may expire pronouncing the most holy names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Amen

For the intentions of the Pope to gain the Indulgences:
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
For the one among us who will be the first to die:
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be

PRAYER FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY

O Almighty God, Who by the love which you bear for all men, has deigned to take our humanity to live laboriously, to suffer a most cruel passion and finally to die on the Cross.

I beseech you by the infinite merits purchased for us by your Precious Blood, look mercifully on the torments which are endured by those holy souls in Purgatory, who having departed this vale of tears in your grace, still suffer in cruel flames, in order to atone for the sins, for which they have not yet given full satisfaction of your divine justice.

Accept, O merciful God, the prayers
which I offer for them, deliver them from that dark prison and call them to the glory of Heaven. I recommend to you the souls of my relations, of my benefactors, both spiritual and temporal and in a special manner of those to whom I may have been an occasion of sin by my bad example.

Most holy Virgin, Mother of Mercy,
Comforter of the Afflicted, intercede for these souls that by your powerful intercession, they may be admitted to enjoy that Kingdom which is prepared for them. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted, pray for us.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us
St Joseph, pray for us.
St Jeanne Jugan, pray for us.

Faithful apostles of prayer who may desire to join this private spiritual act of mercy please email to: prayerwarrior@domcamissions.com (please indicate name, address, email address and preferred day to pray)