reason, the Chaplet should be prayed in the hearing of patients, even if they are unconscious, because it is known that patients in that condition very often are able to hear very well, and so are able to follow the prayer and make it their own, enabling them to claim the Lord’s promises. Family and friends, if they are present, should be invited to join in the prayer. Sacrament of Penance in Serious Illness Confession is a great comfort to the sick and dying, opening them to the fullness of God’s mercy, especially if the patient is conscious. Jesus confided to St. Faustina that she should speak of His mercy and tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [The Sacrament of Penance], for it is there that the greatest miracles take place. Jesus asserted that when one comes with faith to confession to reveal one’s misery to His representative, the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full (1448). Jesus told St. Catherine of Siena that knowing the weakness and infirmity of man, by which he falls into mortal sin and loses the grace which he drew from Holy Baptism in virtue of the Blood, it was necessary to leave a continual Baptism of Blood which He provided in the Sacrament of Holy Confession. The soul receives the Baptism of Blood, with contrition of heart, confessing, when able, to His ministers who hold the keys of the Blood, sprinkling It, in absolution upon the face of the soul (The Dialogue: A Treatise of Prayer). 68
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==