I have just updated by parish website's Downloads Page to include a leaflet produced by the Guild of Catholic Doctors. It includes prayers for the dying and prayers to be said immediately after someone has died.
The prayers should be led by the priest if he is present - he would also give the sacrament of anointing, viaticum, and the apostolic blessing with the plenary indulgence. However, the prayers in this leaflet can be very helpful for the family and for the dying person to repeat again after the priest has gone, or if a priest cannot be had.
The family may request that the priest use the older form of the rites. However if the priest is unable to do so (because he doesn't have the relevant book, because he does not know any Latin etc.) it is obviously more important for the person to receive the sacraments than to worry about which rite is used.
5 comments:
Remins me of my grandmother Mary. She had only been ill for 2 weeks when she asked to go into hospital. She had a lifelong fear of going to hospitals but this evening the doctor was summoned much to his annoyance. He said she could wait until the morning but she insisted. My mother got her settled in the hospital & then went home. It transpires that my nan had requested a Priest & the nurses kept saying 'leave it till the morning Mary'. But again she insisted & the Priest was summoned & she received the Sacrament of Extreme Unction (is that what it was called Fr Tim?)& duly confessed & anointed went to sleep & died a peaceful & holy death. She was one who always insisted on carrying documents saying in case of accident please call a Priest.
My point is, if a relative wishes to see a Priest please do your utmost to call one..don't delay..for we know neither the day or the hour & must be always ready.
Very nice prayers indeed.
I wonder why so many people these days prefer not to think about, or talk about death.
After all, we are all going to die.
And, I have to say, I wonder why the new rite of Anointing the Sick is so different from the old rite of Extreme Unction.
(As I understand it, it is illicit to administer this sacrament to sick people indiscriminately : only to those who are gravely ill.)
The new Rituale Romanum, although it contains the same rite of unction, (somewhat simplified,) does not seem to put the quite the same emphasis on the remission of sin.
I don't doubt its validity, of couse, but I regret the removal of the old prayer.
Lovely idea but unless we are mistaken there is no simple Act of Contrition. Our son has been a police officer for some years now and has had to sit with people who are in danger of dying. He has given and obtained great comfort from praying with these people while awaiting the paramedics. One thing he always does is to whisper a simple Act of Contrition into their ear. Thank you so much for The hermeneutic of continuity, which is a daily source of inspiration, and comfort to us in these troubled times. Yours in Christ
When my grandmother died this past January I was by her bedside with a handful of my closest family members.
As it was clear that she was dying imminently I sat by her side and prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet. I was on my second chaplet when her laboured breathing suddenly became very soft and gentle. I had my Daily Roman Missal with me which had prayers for the dying and I knelt by her bedside and prayed the prayer for the commendation of the soul and quite literally as I came to the "Amen" at the end of the prayer she breathed her last breath. It was definitely a moment of divine grace.
It was the first time I had ever been in the presence of a dying person and it was difficult to watch my grandmother die, but it was also a very grace filled moment. The Daily Roman Missal also had a prayer to pray in the presence of the dead which I prayed after she had died. She had received the last rites a few days earlier.
Although my grandmother hadn't been practicing her Catholic faith for the last several decades of her life, I entrusted her to God's mercy as she was dying. As Christ told St. Faustina "When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person not as the just judge but as the Merciful Savior."
Dr Wright - yes the older rite placed much more emphasis on the forgiveness of sin - as did the old funeral prayers.
dorothy & barry - it would be good to have an act of contrition but these were compiled as prayers to be said for the dying rather than by them. There could be another leaflet for those who are dying to say themselves.
Also occurs to me that a traditional custom mentioned in many lives of the saints was for the dying person to have a crucifix to hold and to kiss.
More work to do here...
Post a Comment