ORATIO XV. AD CHRISTUM, Cum recordatione beneficiorum ejus, et humanae miseriae.
The Foundation of All Mercy: Creation and Incarnation
The soul addresses Christ as the fount of piety and mercy, confessing that through His divine power it was created, and through His incarnation it has been restored.
To you, sweetest and most gracious Lord Jesus Christ, the fount of piety and of mercy, I turn myself especially; because through the power of your divinity, by which, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you as one God made all things out of nothing, I confess that I was created to exist; and through your incarnation, which you undertook in the distinctness of your own person, with the Father and the Holy Spirit nevertheless cooperating, I know that I have been restored and renewed.
Petitions Through the Hidden Years of Christ
A cascade of tender petitions invokes Christ's annunciation, incarnation, birth, circumcision, infancy, youth, baptism, fasting, hunger, and weariness as grounds for mercy.
I pray, then, to your most sweet mercy — most devout and most gentle Lord Jesus — through your holy annunciation: have mercy on my unhappy soul. Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, through your holy incarnation and your birth, have mercy on my soul. Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, through your circumcision, have mercy on me. Sweetest Lord Jesus, through your holy infancy, have mercy on me. Sweetest Lord Jesus, through your youth, have mercy on me. Sweetest Lord Jesus, through your baptism, have mercy on me. Sweetest Lord Jesus, through your fasting, your hunger, and your weariness, have mercy on me.
From Miracles to Pentecost: The Public Ministry and Beyond
The soul continues its litany through Christ's miracles, passion, death, burial, descent into the realm of the dead, resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Sweetest Lord Jesus, through your miracles — through which, even though you were truly human, you were recognized as true God — have mercy on me. Sweetest Lord Jesus, through the scourging, the spitting, and the slaps that you endured for us, have mercy on me. Sweetest and most merciful Lord Jesus, through the crown of thorns that you wore on your head, to take away the thorns of our sins, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me, sweetest Lord Jesus, through your cross and the death that you suffered on that same cross, to redeem us from death. Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus, through your tomb in which you lay in the flesh, and through your most gracious descent into the realm of the dead, where you visited the faithful and your friends who had been waiting there so long for you as their sweetest Redeemer; visiting them, triumphing gloriously over demonic domination, you mercifully snatched them away — while the infernal furies loudly accused their prince of having unjustly killed you, in whom he had found nothing of his own; for which unjust killing, those he had held captive so long, miserably bound in his chains, were then justly destroyed. Have mercy on me, Lord most sweet and most gracious Jesus, through your glorious resurrection, by which, on the third day after you were killed for sinners, you appeared alive and immortal to your disciples and friends, who were grieving and deeply crushed by your death; and through your most tender conversations, which you had with them over the course of forty days after your resurrection — in which, appearing to them with many convincing proofs, and speaking about the kingdom of God, you comforted and strengthened them, and repeatedly shared meals with them, having first given them the clearest signs and the truthfulness of the very flesh in which you had suffered death, removing from their hearts every doubt, and establishing them in the faith and belief of your resurrection. Have mercy on me, sweetest Lord Jesus, through your wondrous ascension, by which — with your disciples and your mother the Virgin watching — you made your way to heaven, placing human nature, which you had mercifully taken on for sinners and in which you had suffered death and destroyed death, at the right hand of the Father. Have mercy on me, sweetest Lord Jesus, through the coming of the Holy Spirit, whom you sent on the day of Pentecost, just as you had promised your disciples: filled with this Spirit and powerfully strengthened, and casting aside every fear, they proclaimed the truth of your resurrection to all nations, and taught them that if they believed in you and obeyed your commandments, setting aside every doubt, they would rise to the kingdom of heaven after the death of the flesh, and reign happily with you in eternal glory.
The Final Judgment as Ground for Mercy
A single petition invokes Christ's return to judge the living and the dead, asking mercy in light of the separation of the wicked from the good.
Have mercy on me, sweetest Lord Jesus, through your return to judge the living and the dead, by which judgment, separating the wicked from the good, you will condemn the wicked to eternal destruction; but the good — leading them with you to the heavens — you will place in eternal happiness.12
The Soul Turns Inward: Wonder, Lament, and Self-Examination
Stirred by the recollection of God's benefits, the soul rejects the memory of sin, laments its hidden infection by malice, confesses specific failings, and longs to linger longer in divine meditation.
Sweetest Lord Jesus, stirred by these most tender recollections and devout memories, I turn over and over again, in the secret place of my heart, with deep wonder and great sweetness, these immense benefits you have mercifully bestowed on the weak and on sinners. And with your goodness coming to my aid, I at last reject the feeble memories and recollections of sin that drag us toward damnation and the ruin of damnation itself; and I gaze upon, honor, and embrace those things that taste of the divine and are accustomed to lift up my weak and sinful soul. But alas, my unhappy soul — sweetest and most kind Lord! Alas, a soul so unhappy, so grievously tormented by such great destruction — and unless it is sustained by your most merciful love, it is descending to hell in a single moment! For behold, when I carefully examine the secret place of my heart, I find that very unhappy soul of mine — which I had thought stood clean and immaculate before your divine majesty — not a little infected by the poison of malice and iniquity. Indeed, quite often when I begin to speak with someone for some useful purpose, I immediately — or after a short delay — fall into detraction, or I murmur shamelessly about something, or I yield to the vice of foolish curiosity, or I endure within my very own inward parts the shameful thoughts and unlawful, shameless impulses of evil thinking. Again and again — alas, such unhappiness, such utter ruin! I confess, sweetest Jesus, and I spread out before you my iniquities, which my wretched soul suffers within. For while I forget what lies behind and strain forward toward what lies ahead, I want to linger longer — if I could — in those most tender recollections I spoke of above.✦
The Sudden Collapse of Devotion
The soul confesses its inability to sustain devotion, describing how carnal pleasure suddenly destroys every tranquility and how the sweet fragrance of virtue gives way to the stench of vice.
I want to delight in you and to gather all my thoughts into a single bundle, and with every disturbance of the mind set aside, I long to cling to God in steadfast perseverance — yet suddenly, through some misery I can't name, I find myself sliding back into empty and harmful things: and it's like death striking without warning. Like a sudden, killing blow — or like a rabid dog that won't hold back from tearing into a person even when beaten away — carnal pleasure disturbs and destroys every tranquility of mind and every uprightness of justice that I believed I possessed. And I who thought I was standing in the citadel of the virtues because of their sweet fragrance — I now perceive an intolerable and most foul stench of vices.
The Cry of the Wretched Soul and the Shield of Grace
The soul cries out in desperation, quoting Romans 7:24, acknowledges that only Christ's grace can deliver, and pleads for mercy, deliverance, and divine judgment against its enemies.
What then shall I do, sweetest Lord Jesus, lover of humanity and Creator, renewer and Redeemer of sinners? Where can I turn, surrounded by so many evils, wrapped in the darkness of the worst pleasures? Wretched man that I am — who will deliver me from this body of death?✦ Who, indeed, unless it be the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ?✦ Have mercy, then, sweetest Lord Jesus — have mercy on your creature, have mercy on my sinful soul. Look, sweetest Lord Jesus — look on her misery, and set her free; because of her enemies, snatch her away. Open her eyes, lest she ever fall asleep in death — lest her enemy say, 'I have prevailed against her.'✦3 Judge, Lord, those who harm her; overcome those who assail her.✦
Armed Defense, Healing, and the Hope of Eternal Glory
The soul calls upon Christ to take up arms in its defense, expresses faith in His protection, begs healing for its many sins, and prays for the grace to amend its life and come at last to eternal happiness.
Take up your arms and shield, and rise up to help her.✦ her. I believe, sweetest Lord Jesus, I believe that if you seize your weapons to defend her, and with the shield of your will's purpose you defend the soul that you created, because no enemy — no darts of the adversary — even if they assault from without or have tried to rage within, will in any way be able to overcome the soul that you protect. Sweetest and most merciful Lord Jesus, heal her — overwhelmed by so many evils, overcome by so many iniquities, stained by so many sins. Helper of the poor, defender of orphans, heal her and help her — created by you, redeemed by you, cleansed through you. Sustain her effort, strengthen her desire, and grant her this span of life in which she must live in this world — so to run through it, and by your ineffable mercy so to amend all her iniquities, and through true penitence and true confession to purify, correct, cleanse, and wipe away — so that, your most indulgent piety granting it, purified from every stain of vice, cleansed, corrected, and wiped clean after the death of the flesh, she may be able to come to you, her sweetest Creator, her most loving Lord, and to possess your unspeakable glory with all your saints in eternal happiness through ages everlasting. Amen.
Read the original Latin
Ad te, dulcissime et benignissime Domine Jesu Christe, qui fons pietatis es et misericordiae, potissime me converto; quia et per potentiam divinitatis tuae, qua cum Patre et Spiritu sancto unus Deus omnia ex nihilo fecisti, me creatum esse fateor; et per incarnationem tuam, quam in proprietate personae tuae, cooperante tamen Patre et Spiritu sancto, suscepisti, me refectum et renovatum esse scio. Oro itaque dulcissimam misericordiam tuam, piissime et suavissime Domine Jesu, per sanctam annuntiationem tuam, miserere infelicis animae meae. Dulcissime Domine Jesu Christe, per sanctam incarnationem et nativitatem tuam, miserere animae meae. Dulcissime Domine Jesu, Christe, per circumcisionem tuam, miserere mei. Dulcissime Domine Jesu, per sanctam infantiam tuam, miserere mei. Dulcissime Domine Jesu, per juventutem tuam, miserere mei. Dulcissime Domine Jesu, per baptismum tuum, miserere mei. Dulcissime Domine Jesu, per jejunium tuum, famem et fatigationem, miserere mei.
Dulcissime Domine Jesu, per miracula tua, per quae, etsi homo verus eras, verus Deus agnoscebaris, miserere mei. Dulcissime Domine Jesu, per flagella, sputa et alapas quas pro nobis suscepisti, miserere mei. Dulcissime et misericordissime Domine Jesu, per spineam coronam, quam in capite tuo portasti, ut spineas peccatorum nostrorum auferres, miserere mei. Miserere mei, dulcissime Domine Jesu, per crucem tuam, et mortem quam in eadem cruce passus es, ut nos a morte redimeres. Miserere mei, Domine Jesu, per sepulcrum tuum in quo secundum carnem jacuisti, et per benignissimam descensionem tuam ad inferos, in quibus fideles et amicos tuos, qui te ibi suum dulcissimum Redemptorem diu exspectaverant, visitasti; visitans a daemoniaca dominatione, gloriose triumphans misericorditer eripuisti; infernalibus furiis suum principem valenter incusantibus quod te, in quo de suo nihil invenerat, injuste interfecerit; pro qua injusta interfectione juste tunc perdebant quos tandiu captivos et suis infeliciter vinculis alligatos tenuerant. Miserere mei, Domine dulcissime et benignissime Jesu, per gloriosam resurrectionem tuam, qua tertia die, postquam pro peccatoribus occisus es, discipulis et amicis tuis de tua morte dolentibus et nimis afflictis vivus et immortalis apparuisti, et per dulcissima colloquia tua, quae cum eis per dies quadraginta post resurrectionem tuam habuisti; in quibus in multis argumentis apparens eis, et loquens de regno Dei, eosque confortans et refovens et cum eis saepius convescens, praemissis evidentissimis signis et veritate tuae carnis, in qua mortem passus es, auferens ab eorum cordibus omnem dubitationem, ad fidem et credulitatem tuae resurrectionis solidasti. Miserere mei, dulcissime Domine Jesu, per admirabilem ascensionem tuam, qua discipulis tuis et matre tua Virgine aspicientibus, coelos petens, humanam naturam, quam misericorditer pro peccatoribus susceperas, et in qua mortem passus mortem destruxeras, ad dexteram Patris collocasti. Miserere mei, dulcissime Domine Jesu, per adventum sancti Spiritus, quem sicut promiseras discipulis tuis die Pentecostes misisti: quo impleti et vehementissime confortati, omni timore postposito, veritatem tuae resurrectionis cunctis gentibus annuntiarent, eosque docerent quod si in te crederent et tuis praeceptis obedirent, omni dubitatione posthabita, regnum coelorum post mortem carnis ascenderent, et in aeterna gloria tecum feliciter regnarent.
Miserere mei, dulcissime Domine Jesu, per reditum tuum ad judicandos vivos et mortuos, quo judicio malos a bonis separans, aeterna perditione damnabis; bonos vero tecum ad coelos ducens, in aeterna felicitate collocabis.
His dulcissimis recordationibus et piis memoriis animatus, dulcissime Domine Jesu, et haec tanta beneficia infirmis et peccatoribus a te misericorditer collata, dum in secreto pectoris mei dulciter et cum magna admiratione volvo et revolvo; infirmas memorias et recordationes peccati, quae ad damnationem et damnationis perditionem trahunt, tua opitulante bonitate, aliquando respuo; et ea quae divina sapiunt, et infirmam animam et peccatricem sublevare solent, respicio, veneror et amplector. Sed heu infelici animae meae, dulcissime et benignissime Domine! heu tantae perditioni infelicem animam tam graviter vexanti, et nisi misericordissima pietate tua sustineatur, in puncto ad infernum descendenti! Ecce enim dum cordis mei secretum diligenter inspicio, ipsam infelicem, animam meam, quam ante divinam majestatem tuam mundam et immaculatam stare putaveram, veneno malitiae et iniquitatis non parum infectam invenio. Saepius vero dum etiam causa alicujus utilitatis cum aliquo loqui incipio, statim, vel post parvam moram, in detractionem incurro, vel pro aliqua re impudenter murmuro, vel vitio curiositatis ineptae succumbo, vel malarum cogitationum turpitudines motusque illicitos et impudicos in ipsis interioribus meis sustineo. Iterum atque iterum heu tantae infelicitati, tantaeque perditioni! Fateor, dulcissime Jesu, et expando coram te iniquitates meas, quas intus patitur misera anima mea. Dum enim ea quae retro sunt obliviscens ad ea quae ante sunt me extendere volo, atque in his dulcissimis recordationibus, quas superius commemoratus sum, diutius si possem [ al.
possum] delectari cupio, atque omnes cogitationes meas quasi in fasciculum colligens, omni perturbatione animi remota, adhaerere Deo perseveranti continuatione desidero, subito nescio qua miseria me relabi ad inania et noxia conspicio: et tanquam mors subito [ al. subita] interficiens, vel quemadmodum canis rabidus, qui nec percussione repulsus a laceratione hominis se temperat, carnalis delectatio omnem tranquillitatem animi, omnemque rectitudinem justitiae, quam me credebam habere, perturbat ac destruit. Et qui putabam me stare in arce virtutum pro suavi odore earum, sentio intolerabilem ac teterrimum fetorem vitiorum.
Quid ergo faciam, dulcissime Domine Jesu, amator hominum et creator, reformator et Redemptor peccatorum? Quo me convertam tantis circumdatus malis, tantis involutus pessimarum delectationum tenebris? Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus. Quis autem, nisi gratia Domini mei Jesu Christi? Miserere ergo, dulcissime Domine Jesu, miserere creaturae tuae, miserere peccatricis animae meae. Intende, dulcissime Domine Jesu, intende miseriae ejus, et libera eam; propter inimicos ejus eripe eam. Illumina oculos ejus, ne unquam obdormiat in morte, ne quando dicat inimicus ejus: Prae valui adversus eam. Judica, Domine, nocentes eam, expugna impugnantes eam.
Apprehende arma et scutum, et exurge in adjutorium. ejus. Credo, dulcissime Domine Jesu, credo quoniam si arma tua ad defensionem ejus arripias, et scuto conae voluntatis tuae animam quam creasti defendas, quia nullus hostis, nullius jacula inimici, etsi foris expugnent, vel etiam intus saevire tentaverint, animam quam defendis ullo modo poterunt superare. Dulcissime et misericordissime Domine Jesu, sana eam multis malis obrutam, multis iniquitatibus superatam, multis facinoribus maculatam. Adjutor pauperum, defensor pupillorum, sana et adjuva eam a te creatam, a te redemptam, per te mundatam. Sustine conatum ejus, conforta desiderium ejus, et concede ei hoc spatium vitae, in quo in hoc mundo conversanda est, sic percurrere, et cunctas iniquitates suas per ineffabilem misericordiam tuam sic emendare, et per veram poenitentiam et veram confessionem purgare, corrigere, mundare et abstergere, ut, tua largiente indulgentissima pietate, ab omni labe vitiorum purgata, mundata, correcta et abstersa post mortem carnis, ad te dulcissimum Creatorem suum, piissimum Dominum suum pervenire valeat, tuamque inenarrabilem gloriam cum omnibus sanctis tuis in aeterna felicitate possidere per aeterna saecula. Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Phil.3.13 — Brothers, I do not yet consider myself to have taken hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
- ↩Rom.7.24 — Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- ↩Rom.7.25 — Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
- ↩Ps.12.4-Ps.12.5 — May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks great things. Ps.12.5 — Because they say, 'With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are with us—who is lord over us?'
- ↩Ps.34.1 — Of David, when he changed his demeanor before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.
- ↩Ps.34.2 — I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Notes
- 1 ↩reditum tuum ad judicandos vivos et mortuos: echoes the Apostles' Creed ('inde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos'); the prayer addresses Christ's Second Coming directly.
- 2 ↩bonos vero: vero carries strong contrastive force here — 'but the good, on the other hand' — marking the turn from condemnation to salvation within the same judgment.
- 3 ↩Prae valui: the parsing is uncertain (possibly praevalui, 'I have prevailed'). The normalized text reads 'Prae valui adversus eam' as two words. The translation follows the most plausible intended sense: the enemy boasting of victory.
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