Prayer at the Agnus Dei
O Innocent Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on me; for nothing is more pleasing to thee than to have compassion on those that are miserable. Give me tears of repentance, that I may mourn for the evil I have committed. In thee I place all my hope, because thou alone art my salvation, my strength, my refuge, and the fountain of all my good. I most humbly beseech thee, by the anguish of thy passion, and by thy sufferings on the cross, especially at that hour when thy blessed soul left thy body, to spare me in that dreadful moment, and have mercy on my soul. Let me experience the multitude of thy tender mercies, when I shall be in conflict with the pangs of death. Let thy passion and death stand then between my soul and thy justice. I accept the sentence of my death, in whatever manner I am to suffer it, in union with thy death on the cross. I humbly submit to it, and now offer it to thy divine majesty as a sacrifice and a just punishment due to my sins. I commend my soul into thy hands, and most earnestly entreat thee to give me thy blessing this day, and to grant me perseverance in thy service, that on the day of judgment I may be ranked in the happy number of those blessed souls, who are to be invited by thee to take possession of the kingdom of thy glory. During the time of my sojourn here on earth, preserve me from thirsting after the false goods of this world.—May I always remember thy vinegar and gall, and rest contented with what is sufficient to support nature. May I every day increase in thy love, and may all created objects be of little account with me, that thou mayest be the only delight of my soul and my everlasting joy.