# The Path To Heaven/The Holy Mass

Prayers before Mass.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Priest. O Lord, open thou our lips.
Congregation. And our mouths snail declare thy praise.
P. O God, incline unto our aid.
C. O Lord, make haste to help us.
P. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
C. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
P. Let us adore the Lord of glory.
C. Let us adore the God of our salvation.
P. The King of Heaven inviteth us and graciously calleth us into his sacred presence; to him we owe all the days of our lives; let us give this day at least to his service.
C. Let us adore the Lord of glory.
P. The angels are always assembled in their choirs above, the saints join their hymns; behold now the Church also prepareth her solemn offices, and summoneth all her children to bring in their tribute of prayer and praise.
C. Let us adore the God of our salvation.
P. Come, let us rejoice before the Lord; let us sing joyfully to God our Saviour; let us make haste to approach his presence, and proclaim his praises; for the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods: in his hands are all the ends of the earth.
C. Let us adore the God that made us.
P. Let us adore and fall down before the Lord who created us; for he is the Lord our God, and we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
C. Let us adore and fall down before him.
P. To-day, if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, but listen awfully to his word, and bend your knees before his holy altars.
C. We will adore the Lord of glory; we will worship the God of our salvation.
P. Glory be to the Father, &c.
C. As it was in the beginning, &c.
Hail, Mary. I believe.
​Enlighten those who, sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; and direct our feet into the ways of peace, O God of Israel.
P. The Lord be with you.
C. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O almighty and eternal God, who hast appointed us six days in which we may labour, and hast consecrated the seventh to thyself; grant, we beseech thee, that according as thou hast commanded, we may sanctify this day, by devoting it entirely to thy love and service. Mercifully forgive us all our past neglect; pardon the sins of which we have been guilty during the course of the week, and give us grace henceforth to avoid them. Make us sensible, O God, of the daily blessings we receive from thy bounty; that as we know thee by faith, we may love thee by charity; and fixing all our hopes on the happiness of a future life, we may patiently suffer, in submission to thy holy will, what thou dost now permit, and may come at length to the joys of thy heavenly kingdom; through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
Prayer for the Sick.
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my praise.
P. I said, O Lord, be thou merciful to me.
C. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.
Let us pray.
O almighty and everlasting God, the eternal salvation of those who believe in thee, hear us, we beseech thee, in behalf of thy servants who are sick, for whom we humbly implore thy mercy; that their health may be restored, if it be expedient for them, and that they may render thanks to thee in thy church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for the Dead.
Psalm cxxix. De profundis.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.
​Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt observe iniquities: Lord, who shall endure it?
For with thee there is merciful forgiveness, and because of thy law I have waited for thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on his word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning-watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy: and with him there is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord.
And may perpetual light shine upon them.
Let us pray.
O God, the giver of pardon and lover of the salvation of mankind, we beseech thy clemency; grant that the members of this congregation, that our relations, and benefactors, who have departed this life, may by the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary and of all thy saints come to the fellowship of eternal happiness.
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of thy servants departed the remission of all their sins, that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon which they have always desired; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
O almighty and eternal God, grant us an increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may deserve to obtain what thou hast promised, make us to love what thou hast commanded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Acts of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Contrition.
An Act of Faith.
I firmly believe there is one God; and that in this one God there are three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; that the Son took to himself the nature of man. from the Virgin Mary's womb, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and that in this our human nature he was crucified and died for us; that afterwards he rose again and ascended into heaven, from thence he shall come to repay the just everlasting glory, and the wicked everlasting punishment; moreover, I believe whatsoever else the Catholic Church proposes to ​be believed, and this because God who is the sovereign truth, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, has revealed all these things to this his Church.
C. Grant, O God, that we may humbly receive and firmly hold fast all those truths which thou hast revealed, and which thy Church has proposed to our belief.
An Act of Hope.
O my God, relying on thy almighty power and thy infinite mercy and goodness, and because thou art faithful to thy promises, I trust in thee that thou wilt grant me forgiveness of my sins, through the merits of Jesus Christ thy Son; and that thou wilt give me the assistance of thy grace, with which I may labour to continue to the end in the diligent exercise of all good works, and may deserve to obtain the glory which thou hast promised in heaven.
C. This hope thus founded on thy mercy, thy power, and thy promises, still more, O God, confirm and strengthen in us.
An Act of Charity.
O Lord, my God, I love thee with my whole heart; and above all things because thou, O God, art the sovereign good, and for thy own infinite perfections art most worthy of all love; and for thy sake, I also love my neighbour as myself.
C. Thus only, O God, can we satisfy our duty of loving thee above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves.
An Act of Contrition.
O my God, who art infinitely good, and always hatest sin, I beg pardon from my heart for all my offences against thee; I detest them all and am heartily sorry for them, because they offend thy infinite goodness, and I firmly resolve by the help of thy grace never more to offend thee, and carefully to avoid the occasions of sin.
C. Wherefore, O God, we come before thee this day, to beg pardon for all our past transgressions, and to implore thine assistance for the time to come.
And now, O God, calling to mind with the greatest gratitude the blessed passion and death of thy Son Christ our Lord, as also his resurrection from the dead, and his glorious ascension into heaven, we prepare to offer to thy divine Ma​jesty a pure, a holy, and a spotless victim —for so thou hast ordained — the holy bread of eternal life and the chalice of our salvation. Look down, therefore, upon them, O Lord, with a propitious and serene countenance, and accept them, as thou wast pleased to accept the offerings of thy righteous servant Abel, and the sacrifice of our father Abraham, and that which thy high-priest Melchisedech offered unto thee, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim. Amen.
Private Prayer before Mass. (St. Gertrude.)
O almighty, everlasting God, seeing that it is the true faith of thy Church that the holy sacrifice of the Mass instituted by thy Son is infinitely pleasing to thy divine Majesty, and renders thee an infinite worship and praise, and since by it alone thou canst be worthily and adequately worshipped and praised; impelled by an ardent desire of thy honour and glory, I purpose to assist at this present sacrifice with the utmost devotion of which I am capable, and to offer this most Holy Oblation to thee in union with thy priest. I offer thee not only this sacrifice, but all those which shall be this day offered from every part of the world; and I protest before thee that if it depended on me whether they should be offered or omitted, I would put forth all my powers to procure and further their being offered. And were I able now to raise up to thee, of the stones which are scattered over the earth, most devoted priests, who should day by day and with glowing fervour offer to thee this sacrifice of praise, I would most gladly do it. But, being what I am, I implore thee, O most holy Father, through Jesus Christ thy Son, to pour into the hearts of all thy priests, and especially those who might perchance otherwise offer thee this acceptable sacrifice coldly and without due recollectedness, the spirit of grace and of fervour that they may be enabled to celebrate thy tremendous Mystery with becoming awe and devotion. Grant to me, and to all those who are here present with me, that we may join in this most sacred action with reverence and devotion, so that we may have our portion in its fruit and effect. - I confess to thee, O almighty God, and to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, and to all the Saints, my own sins and those of all the world; and I lay them on thy sacred altar, that they may be entirely blotted out by the virtue of this sacrifice. Do thou deign to grant us this grace, by that love which held back thy hand from smiting when thy most beloved Son, thy only Son, was immolated by the hands of ungodly men. Amen.
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