Prayer of One Who Is Sick or Afflicted

O MOST loving Jesus, I accept with most ready will this sickness [or, this affliction] which thou hast sent me from thy paternal Heart in token of thy love, and I offer it to thee with thankfulness, in that same love wherein thou hast sent it upon me. Wherefore I lay all my pain and my anguish in thy most sacred Heart, beseeching thee that thou wouldst deign to unite them to thine own most bitter Passion, to absorb them therein and render them perfect and acceptable to thee. And since by reason of the multitude of my sorrows and pains I cannot praise thee as I ought, do thou praise thy Father for my sufferings with that praise wherewith thou didst praise him upon the cross in thine own extremest agony. And as thou didst give him thanks with all thy heart for all the contumely and the pain which he laid upon thee, so do thou thank him for these my sufferings. And finally, with that same love wherewith thou didst accept all thy wounds and all thy reproaches and offer them to thy Father with perfect gratitude, do thou offer to him this my outward and inward affliction, together with thy most holy Passion, to his everlasting praise and glory. Amen.