ORATIO XXX. PRO SACERDOTE QUI HABET CELEBRARE.
The Priest's Terrified Conscience
The priest confesses that his unworthiness makes the very act of offering sacrifice deepen his guilt, yet he finds a slender hope that God does not charge negligence as though a worthy offering had been made.
Lord God, the duty of my ministry compels me to offer saving sacrifices for the sins of the people; yet my conscience terrifies me, for I bear the guilt of a priesthood I assumed unworthily. If the sacrifice is offered by me — the offscouring of all priests — the guilt of a defiled conscience is only increased; nevertheless, to the majesty of the Judge of all flesh the sin of negligence is not charged as though an offering had been made.✦
A Cry for Mercy Before the Day of Vengeance
The priest pleads with God to temper judgment with mercy, invoking the parable of the unfruitful tree to ask for one more season of grace before the axe falls.
In the midst of all this, almighty God, I implore the balancing scale of your mercy. I greatly fear the day of vengeance, with my conscience as my accuser, lest by your mercy you judge me unworthy — you who do not shut out from the time of repentance the one whom you call back. Hold back your axe, Lord, until the Holy Spirit, the keeper of the vineyard, moves a basket of manure to the root of this unfruitful tree.✦
Spare Me — The Witness of the Merciful God
The priest calls upon God's proven mercy toward David, Peter, and the penitent thief as living proof that no sinner is beyond the reach of divine pardon.
Spare me, Lord, spare me, most merciful one — you who called David back to forgiveness after his fall; you who looked with compassion on Peter's bitter tears as he wept; you who by divine grace illuminated the thief, that guilty man charged with so great a crime, for whom confession soon won the sight of God's Son as faith's reward, punishment turned to pardon, lamentation to everlasting joy — while still a confessor on the cross, he became after the cross a possessor of paradise.✦✦✦
The Intercession of the Faithful and Christ Our Atonement
The priest asks that the prayers of the faithful supply what his own unworthiness cannot, and concludes by appealing to Christ himself as the true sacrifice and atonement for all sins.
But because the words of your merciful pardon are lacking — for the works of an unworthy priest do not commend them — at least receive the prayers of those standing by, so that through their intercessions before you they may win pardon for me, and through their merits the sacrifices may wholesomely bring us the remedy for our wounds. And because, almighty God, you have been made a sacrifice for our sins on behalf of us all, be present to us as our atonement in the sacrifice for our offenses, you who live and reign, etc.✦
Read the original Latin
Impellit me, Domine Deus, ministrandi officium, hostias salutares offerre pro populi delicto: terret conscientia indebiti sacerdotii pro reatu proprio. Si a me omnium sacerdotum peripsemate sacrificium offeratur, pollutae conscientiae crimen augetur; tamen majestati universae carnis judicis non offertur, negligentiae reatus ascribitur. Inter haec tuae, omnipotens Deus, libramen pietatis imploro; cujus diem ultionis, accusante conscientia, pertimesco, ne indignum misericordia tua judices, quem a tempore poenitentiae non excludis. Suspende, Domine, securim, donec cultor vineae Spiritus sanctus admoveat cophinum stercoris ad radicem infructuosae arboris. Parce mihi, Domine, parce clementissime, qui Davidem post lapsum clementer ad veniam revocasti; qui Petri misericors amare flentis lacrymas respexisti; qui latronem tanti facinoris reum divina gratia illustrasti, cui mox obtinuit confessio perspicere Dei Filium, fides praemium, poena veniam, lamenta gaudium sempiternum; dum confessor in cruce, possessor paridisi exstitit post crucem. Sed quia verba venia pietatis tuae indigent, quae indigni sacerdotis opera non commendant, saltem astantium vota suscipe; ut et mihi suis apud te precibus veniam, et eorum meritis sacrificia nostrorum vulnerum salubriter nobis conferant medicinam. Et quia, omnipotens Deus, pro nobis omnibus factus es hostia pro peccatis, adsis nobis satisfactio in sacrificio pro delictis, qui vivis et regnas, etc.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.4.13 — when slandered, we speak gently; we have become like the world's refuse, the scum of everything, even to this moment.
- ↩Luke.13.8 — And he answered and said to him, 'Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure;
- ↩2Sam.12.13 — David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the LORD.' And Nathan said to David, 'The LORD has also put away your sin; you shall not die.'
- ↩Luke.22.62 — And he went out and wept bitterly.
- ↩Luke.23.40-Luke.23.43 — But the other one answered, rebuking him: 'Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same judgment?' Luke.23.41 — And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we have earned; but this man has done nothing wrong. Luke.23.42 — And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Luke.23.43 — And he said to him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
- ↩Heb.10.12 — But this one, having offered a single sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.
Orationes sive Meditationes — Collection for Princess Adeliza of Normandy companion
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