Isaiah, chapter 35, verse 3-4
3 Strengthen hands that are feeble, make firm
knees that are weak, 4Say
to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he
comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you.
Let us pray. Most gracious God, Father of
mercies and God of all consolation, Thou wish none to perish that believes and
hopes in Thee, according to Thy many mercies look down favourably upon Thy
servant (handmaid) N.____ whom true faith and Christian hope commend to Thee.
Visit him (her) in Thy saving mercy, and by the passion and death of Thy
only-begotten Son, graciously grant to him (her) forgiveness and pardon of all
his (her) sins that his (her) soul in the hour of its leaving the earth may
find Thee as a Judge appeased, and being washed from all stain in the Blood of
Thy same Son may deserve to pass to everlasting life. Through the same Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Isaiah in this chapter is
proclaiming the deliverance of Israel specifically but upon examining the
wording in this verse it is referring to the day of our death. On that day our
hands will be feeble but our hearts must remain strong. Will you be vindicated
and what recompense will be due you.
Honestly few will be due recompense but our Lords love is such that he wishes
to save us at this final hour with the sacrament which was formerly called the “Last
Rites”.
1524 In addition
to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave
this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ,
received at this moment of "passing over" to the Father, has a
particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the
power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day." The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the
sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father.
1525 Thus, just
as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity
called "the sacraments of Christian initiation," so too it can be
said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum
constitute at the end of Christian life "the sacraments that prepare for
our heavenly homeland" or the sacraments that complete the earthly
pilgrimage.
Such is the Love of our Lord that
we should be delivered. His love is such
that by receiving our Lord in the viaticum he delivers us to the Father saying
here is blood of my blood and He transfers His recompense; His vindication to
us. There is no greater love than this!
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