About the work:
A second excerpt from the “Craft of Dying” reflects on Christ’s death and draws from it five pieces of advice for those on the point of death.
Furthermore, forasmuch as Saint Gregory saith: Every doing of Christ is our instruction and teaching; therefore such things as Christ did dying on the cross, the same should every man do at his last end, after his cunning and power. And Christ did five things on the cross. He prayed, for He said these psalms: Deus, Deus meus, respice in me; and all the psalms following unto that verse: In manus tuas, Domine (Into your hands, O Lord). [Ps. 24;16; Ps 30:6] Also He cried on the cross, as the apostle witnesseth. Also He wept on the cross. Also He committed His soul to the Father on the cross. Also wilfully He gave up the ghost on the cross.
First He prayed on the cross. So a sick man, that is in point of death, he should pray; namely in his heart, if he may not with his mouth. For Saint Isidore saith: That it is better to pray still in the heart, without any sound of voice outward, than to pray with word alone, without devotion of heart.
The second was He cried. So should every man in his dying cry strongly with the heart, not with the voice. For God taketh more heed of the desire of the heart than of the crying of the voice. The crying of the heart to God is nought else but the great desiring of man to have forgiveness of his sins, and to have everlasting life.
The third was He wept. With His bodily eyes and with tears of the heart, in token that so should every man in His dying weep with tears of his heart, that is to say, verily repenting of all his misdeeds.
The fourth He commendeth His soul to God. So should every man in his end, saying thus in heart and mouth, if he may, and (if not) else in heart: Lord God, into Thine hands I commend my spirit; for truly Thou boughtest me dear.
The fifth was He gave up wilfully His spirit. So should every man in his death; that is to say, he should die wilfully, conforming fully therein his own will to God’s will, as he is bound.
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From Ars Moriendi, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Craft_of_Dying/craft
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