“Sweet Jesus, for how many ages hast Thou hung upon Thy Cross, and still men pass Thee by and regard Thee not except to pierce anew Thy Sacred Heart ! How often have I, too, passed Thee by, heedless of thy great sorrow, Thy many wounds, Thy infinite love ! How often have I stood before Thee not to comfort and console Thee, but to add to Thy sorrow, to deepen Thy wounds, to scorn Thy love. Thou hast stretched forth Thy Hands to comfort me, to raise me up, and I have taken those Hands that might have struck me into Hell and have bent them back on the Cross and have nailed them there rigid and helpless. Yet I have but succeeded in engraving my name in Thy palms for ever. Thou least loved me with an infinite love, and I have taken advantage of that love to sin the more against Thee. Yet my ingratitude has but pierced Thy Sacred Heart, and forth upon me has flowed Thy Precious Blood. O Sweet Jesus, let Thy Blood be upon me not for a curse but a blessing. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on me ! Amen. ”
“Behold me at Thy feet, O my Lord, begging Thy pity and mercy. What wilt Thou lose by granting me a deep love for Thee, a profound humility, a great purity of heart, of mind and of body, a fraternal charity, a sincere sorrow for having offended Thee, and the grace to offend Thee no more? What wilt Thou lose, O my God, by enabling me to receive worthily Thy Beloved Son in Holy Communion, by assisting me to act through love for Thee in all my thoughts, works, penances and prayers; by bestowing upon me the favor of loving Thy holy mother most tenderly and trustfully; the grace of final perseverance in my vocation, and of dying a good and holy death? I am a beggar covered with wounds and rags, asking for alms. Behold, O Lord, all my wretchedness! See my proud intellect, my cold and stony heart! See my mind filled with worldly thoughts, my will disposed to evil, and my body rebellious to every good work! Help me, O my God, to correct myself. This grace I implore through Thine own infinite goodness and mercy. To obtain it I offer Thee the merits of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Master and Redeemer. I have no merits of my own. I am destitute of all good, but His wounds are my hope: vulnera tua, merita mea. Had I shed my blood, for love of Thee, like Thy Son, wouldst Thou not grant me this favor? How much more oughtest Thou to hear me now, since He shed His blood for me. Art not Thou He who has promised in Thy gospel that whatsoever I ask for the good of my soul, Thou wilt grant me: ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ Now, as Thou canst not recall Thy word, I beseech Thee to hear me: I supplicate Thee through Thine infinite goodness, through the heart of Thy Son wounded with love for me through the infinite charity of the Holy Ghost, through the love Thou bearest toward Thy most holy daughter, Mary, and for the honour of the whole heavenly court, into which I ask Thee, one day, in Thy mercy to admit me. Amen.”
“O Mother of Sorrows, by the anguish and love with which thou didst stand at the cross of Jesus, stand by me in my last agony. To thy maternal heart I commend the last three hours of my life. Offer these hours to the Eternal Father in union with the agony of our dearest Lord, in atonement for my sins. Offer to the Eternal Father the most precious blood of Jesus, mingled with your tears on Calvary, that I may obtain the grace of receiving Holy Communion with the most perfect love and contrition before my death, and that I may breathe forth my soul in the adorable presence of Jesus. Dearest Mother, when the moment of my death has at last come, present me as your child to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive me for having offended Him, for I knew not what I did. Beg Him to receive me into His kingdom of glory to be united with Him forever. Amen.”
St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows 