Mercy & Contrition

Prayer for the Dying

This brief prayer appears in older Catholic manuals and collections of indulgenced prayers, where it is offered for sinners throughout the world who are near death. Its author is not securely identified. Its language joins devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with compassion for the sorrows of the Immaculate Mother. Catholics pray it to ask that Christ’s redeeming Blood cleanse and save those undergoing their final agony, especially people who may have no one else praying beside them. The closing aspiration turns again to the Heart of Jesus, recalling His agony and pleading for mercy. It is especially fitting during daily prayers or when someone is dying.

O most merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I pray Thee by the agony of Thy most Sacred Heart and by the sorrows of Thine Immaculate Mother, wash in Thy Blood the sinners of the whole world who are now in their agony and are to die this day. Amen. Heart of Jesus, once in agony, have pity on the dying.

When to pray it: Pray it for anyone near death and for all those throughout the world who will die this day.

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