For a Happy Death

O LORD Jesus Christ, Prince both of life and of death, whose we are in life and in death, I beseech thee by thy holy death for us upon the cross, that thy coming to me in death may not find me asleep, careless and unemployed, but watching and ready for thee. I beseech thee, let me not depart this life in impenitence, nor die an unprepared death; but strengthen and fortify me with the true Catholic faith, with sincere contrition, with a good confession and fitting satisfaction, and with the most holy Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Extreme Unction. Then, when all the vain and fleeting things of earth leave me, forsake me not, O thou who abidest ever with thy chosen; be with me in that last dread agony when my struggle with the enemy will be most deadly and decisive. May thy holy angels be with me then, and shield me from all temptations, and give me consolation and fortitude amidst my sufferings. May faith and hope and charity and patience be strong within me. Enable me with unclouded consciousness to commend my soul into thy hands, and may I fall asleep in holy peace, and so pass in safety into the kingdom which thou hast purchased for us with so great a price. Remember me then, O Lord, as thou didst promise to remember the penitent thief at his last hour, and in thy mercy didst bestow on him what thou hadst promised. Amen.