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Chapter 6Ansl.1.6

ORATIO VI. AD DEUM. Ne peccator pro ullo peccato desperare debeat, quia pius est et misericors Dominus, nec vult mortem peccatoris, sed vitam.

The Merciful God Who Cleanses

The Holy Spirit moves the sinner to compunction, and the merciful Creator, who made humanity in His own image, cleanses the repentant heart and receives the sacrifice of true confession.

Have mercy on me, God, according to your great mercy; and according to the multitude of your compassions, blot out my iniquity.✦ We believe that the Holy Spirit dictated this prayer, and that by whose inspiration a man, pricked with compunction — a sinner, yet faithful — asks God to have mercy on him, and that his iniquities be blotted out according to the multitude of His compassions; and he believes that He is the most almighty God and the most merciful Lord. Now this is the work of the Holy Spirit: that a sinner comes to be displeased with his own deeds, and strives to do the things that please his Creator. But this he cannot do by his own strength, unless he has been enlightened by the grace of that same Holy Spirit; whose heart, when He visits it through His grace, He immediately cleanses from every stain of vice. The Lord is indeed sweet and merciful toward His creature, whom He created in His own image and likeness; and whom He has enriched with such great honor — He will by no means let her perish except through her own great iniquity.✦ He is — yes, He is — the Creator of all things, sweet and gentle, and rich in mercy toward all who call upon Him, toward all who call upon Him in truth; and He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him, and He hears their prayer, and through His great mercy He leads them in safety to eternal glory.✦✦ For He has mercy on all, and hates nothing that He has made, overlooking the sins of men for the sake of their repentance, and sparing them, because the Lord is merciful. Now the Lord is merciful to sinners who cease from their wickedness, and who through true repentance and the good works of true repentance cleanse their evil deeds; and who through true confession, and the sacrifice of true confession, offer themselves to Him.✦

True Repentance and the Father's Compassion

Authentic repentance is a persistent mourning over sin, grounded in the knowledge that God, who remembers our frailty as dust and clay, shows far greater mercy than any earthly father to those who turn to Him with their whole heart.

True repentance and true confession mean lamenting the wrongs you've done — and never letting go of the things that still need to be mourned. The Father of children has mercy — how much more than any earthly father! — and so the merciful and compassionate Lord has mercy on all who fear him.✦ He himself knows what we are made of — he remembers that he fashioned us from clay.✦✦ He remembers that we are dust and ash — and yet we are made in his image.✦✦ When we truly look at — and honestly confess — the vast mercy our Creator shows toward his own creature, we must not despair of having our sins forgiven. If we repent with our whole heart and pursue his most tender goodness with tears that match our iniquities, we will without doubt obtain it.✦

The Despairing Sinner's Lament

A sinner overwhelmed by the enormity of habitual sin, repeated relapse after confession, and broken resolutions despairs of finding any path to salvation or forgiveness.

But perhaps someone, ruined in mind and now plunged into the very depths of eternal damnation, weighing the enormity of his own sins and losing hope in God's mercy, presumes to say to himself: 'What plan for recovering my salvation will I ever be able to find again, or what comfort, what forgiveness of sins holding out any promise, can I hope for?' From the moment I was first able to sin, I have never stopped sinning and doing wrong. I have always heaped sin upon sin, and the sins I could never quite carry out in deed, I have never stopped pursuing in wicked will and wicked desire. Wrapped up, then, in so many evils and iniquities, surrounded by so many crimes and sins, what can I now expect except eternal ruin and the eternal damnation of eternal ruin? In truth, at times when I have made some confession of sins through God's mercy and received penance for my sins from a priest, promising some amendment of my wrongs, immediately — or after only a brief delay — I committed the same sins, or worse ones, and like a dog I have returned to my vomit; what I had, as it were, thrown up through confession with my mouth and heart, I took back in even more foully. I have even sworn, repeatedly, that from then on I would stop sinning, completely abandon the path of wickedness, and follow the way of righteousness. But neither the fear of that very perjury could keep me from sinning, nor the fear of God beholding everything from on high.

Look Down from Heaven and Save

God beholds the wretched sinner from His heavenly dwelling and is asked to send holy fear, reveal His hidden sweetness, prevent the sinner from being swallowed by the abyss of despair, and confirm confident hope in His omnipotent mercy.

You see, O sweetest lover of humanity—God, you see from your sanctuary, and you look down from the heights of heaven's dwelling: a wretched person turning his back on you, despising you by rejecting your commands, and because of his great sins, despairing of your great mercy. And though he is so wretched and a sinner, you look upon him nonetheless, and you see one created by you, sustained by your gifts while he still lives in this life. Send your holy fear into his soul, O good God, and remove the harmful fear from his heart. Look upon him, and enlighten his blinded heart, so that he may see and understand how great and how lovely is the abundance of your sweetness, O Lord—which you have hidden from those who despair of you, but have made complete for those who hope in you. Let him not be swallowed up, O sweetest God—let the storm of water not engulf him, nor the deep abyss consume him, nor the pit press its mouth over him: that is, the abyss of his own iniquities and the despair of your mercies.✦ We believe, O most merciful Creator of humanity—God, that you are almighty, and that you do all things whatever you wish. For the Prophet says of you: 'Whatever the Lord has willed, he has done in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the abysses.'✦ And we know that you do not wish sinners to be destroyed, but to turn from their sins and to live.✦ If, therefore, you are almighty—as truly you are—since whatever you wish to do, you can do; and you do not wish sinners to perish, but to repent from their evils and to live: then from the abundance of your mercies we ought not to despair, but, confident in the hope of pardon, to await your mercy. It is altogether true that our sins are many and great; but we are certain that your mercy is many-sided and great.✦

From Death to Life: A Prayer of Resurrection Hope

Created by God's goodness yet dead through sin, the sinner prays to be raised now from the death of sin to the life of righteousness and at the last day to eternal glory, through the merits of the living Creator.

We know, almighty and merciful God — we know that you are the supreme Spirit, unchanging and eternal, living with the life that you yourself are, in your eternity; and we, your creatures, were created by you through your goodness and mercy. But when we sin — that is, when we fail to do what you command and do what you forbid — we die through our sin, even though in some life we continue to exist, granted to us by your mercy even after we are dead.1 But if we again stand before you in obedience, and with your grace helping us hold ourselves back from evil works, we are joined to you — the living Spirit and our Creator — through good works, and we come alive again; and after death we are destined to live with you in eternal glory, if from now on, for as long as we have life, we persevere in upright works.2 When the prophet Elisha had died and been buried, and a dead man was laid touching his bones, he rose alive and was permitted to live again — by the merits of the prophet and the touch of his body.3 If, then, a dead man rose by the touch of a dead prophet, how much more will we come alive if we are joined to you, our Creator, through good works — you who are the living and immortal Spirit.4 Have mercy on us, then, our Creator; have mercy on us according to your great mercy, and according to the abundance of your compassion blot out our iniquity, and raise us up in this present life from death to life — that is, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness — and at the end of the age, having been justified by your mercy, raise us up to eternal glory.56 May you yourself deign to grant this to us, who live and reign through eternal ages. Amen.

Read the original Latin

Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam; et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem meam. Credimus quod hanc orationem Spiritus sanctus dictaverit, cujus inspiratione compunctus homo peccator, sed et fidelis et sibi postulat a Deo misereri, suasque iniquitates secundum multitudinem miserationum ejus deleri, quem et omnipotentissimum Deum et misericordissimum Dominum esse credit. Est autem hoc opus Spiritus sancti, quod peccatori sua facinora displicent, et ea agere satagit quae Creatori suo placent. Sed et hoc suis viribus non valet, nisi ejusdem Spiritus sancti gratia illuminatus; cujus cor, cum per suam gratiam visitat, protinus ab omni labe vitiorum emundat. Dulcis est vero Dominus et pius erga creaturam suam, quam creavit ad imaginem suam et similitudinem; et quam tanto ditavit honore, nullo modo nisi ejus magna iniquitate patitur perire. Est autem, est omnino universitatis Creator suavis et mitis, et multae misericordiae omnibus invocantibus se, omnibus qui invocant eum in veritate; et voluntatem timentium se facit, et deprecationem eorum exaudit, et per suam magnam misericordiam salvos ad sempiternam gloriam ducit. Miseretur enim omnium, et nihil odit eorum quae fecit, dissimulans peccata hominum propter poenitentiam, et parcens illis, quia pius est Dominus. Est autem misericors Dominus peccatoribus a suis nequitiis cessantibus, et per veram poenitentiam veraeque poenitentiae bona opera suas malitias mundantibus; et per veram confessionem, veraeque confessionis sacrificium, sese mactantibus.

Est autem vera poenitentia veraque confessio, et perpetrata mala plangere, et plangenda amplius non amittere. Quomodo vero miseretur Pater filiorum, et multo magis quam pater carnalis filiorum, miseretur pius et misericors Dominus omnium se timentium. Ipse enim novit figmentum nostrum; cognovit etiam unde nos fecit limum nostrum. Recordatur enim quod pulvis sumus, et cinis, sed tamen ad ejus imaginem facti. Intuentes autem vereque confitentes tantam misericordiam Creatoris nostri erga creaturam suam, non de remissione culparum desperemus. Quoniam si ex toto corde poeniteamus, nostrasque iniquitates dignis fletibus insequamur, ejus indulgentissimam pietatem proculdubio consequemur.

Sed fortasse aliquis mente perditus, et jam ipsis voraginibus aeternae damnationis immersus, considerans enormitatem scelerum suorum, desperans de misericordia Dei, dicere apud se praesumit: Quod consilium recuperandae salutis jam amplius invenire potero, aut quam consolationem, aliquam veniam scelerum promittentem, sperabo? Ex quo peccare potui, nunquam a peccatis et malis operibus cessavi. Peccatis peccata semper accumulavi, et peccata, quae aliquando operibus implere non potui, malis voluntatibus ac malis desideriis perficere nunquam cessavi. Tantis ergo malis et iniquitatibus involutus, tantis criminibus et peccatis circumdatus, quid jam exspectare possum nisi aeternam perditionem aeternaeque perditionis aeternam damnationem? Aliquando vero si aliquam misericordia Dei peccatorum confessionem feci, et peccatorum poenitentiam a sacerdote accipiens, aliquam emendationem malorum promisi, statim, vel post parvam moram, eadem mala vel pejora peccata feci, et quasi canis reversus sum ad vomitum; quod quasi per confessionem evomueram ore et corde, sordidius resumpsi. Juravi etiam saepius me deinceps cessare a peccatis viam iniquitatis omnino dimittere viamque justitiae sequi. Sed neque timor ipsius perjurii me a peccatis retinere potuit, neque timor Dei cuncta ab alto conspicientis.

Ecce vides, dulcissime amator hominum Deus, ecce vides de sanctuario tuo, et respicis de excelso coelorum habitaculo, miserum hominem ad te dorsum ponentem, teque in tuis praeceptis spernentem, et propter sua magna peccata de tua magna misericordia desperantem, et quamvis nimis miserum, et peccatorem, respicis tamen et vides a te creatum, et dum in hac vita existit, tuis beneficiis sustentatum. Immitte, bone Deus, in animam ejus timorem tuum, et aufer de corde ejus timorem noxium. Respice, et illumina cor ejus obcaecatum, ut videat et intelligat quam magna sit, et quam amabilis multitudo dulcedinis tuae, Domine, quam abscondisti desperantibus de te, perfecisti autem sperantibus in te. Non eum demergat, dulcissime Deus, non eum demergat tempestas aquae nec absorbeat profundum, neque urgeat super eum puteus os suum, scilicet abyssus iniquitatum suarum, et desperatio miserationum tuarum. Credimus, clementissime creator hominum Deus, te esse omnipotentem, et omnia quaecunque vis facientem De te enim Propheta dicit: Omnia quaecunque voluit Dominus fecit in caelo, et in terra, et in mari, et in omnibus abyssis. Scimus autem quia non vis peccatores perdere, sed a peccatis cessare, et vivere. Si ergo omnipotens es, sicut vere es, quia quidquid vis, facere potes; et non vis peccatores perdere, sed a malis resipiscere, et vivere; de multitudine miserationum tuarum non debemus desperare; sed, securi de spe veniae, misericordiam exspectare. Verum est omnino quia multa sunt et magna peccata nostra, sed certi sumus quia multa est et magna misericordia tua.

Scimus, omnipotens et misericors Deus, scimus quia tu es summus spiritus, incommutabilis et aeternus, vivens vita tua, quae tu ipse es, et aeternitate tua, et nos creatura tua, a te creati bonitate et miseratione tua. Nos autem cum peccamus, id est, cum ea quae jubes non facimus, et quae prohibes facimus, per peccatum nostrum morimur, licet in aliqua vita, nobis etiam mortuis tua miseratione concessa, existamus. Si vero iterum tibi obedientes existimus, et a malis operibus tua gratia adjuti nos retineamus, tibique, qui vivus spiritus es et creator noster, per bona opera jungimur, iterum reviviscimus; et post mortem in aeterna gloria tecum victuri, si deinceps quandiu vixerimus in rectis operibus perseverantes existamus. Eliseus propheta cum mortuus esset et sepultus, et quidam, qui erat mortuus, ejus ossibus tangeretur, resurrexit vivus, et iterum est, meritis prophetae et tactu corporis, vivere permissus. Si ergo tactu prophetae mortui resurrexit qui erat mortuus, multo magis nos reviviscimus, si tibi nostro Creatori per bona opera jungimur, qui es vivus et immortalis spiritus. Miserere ergo nostri, Creator noster, miserere nostri secundum magnam misericordiam tuam, et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem nostram, et resuscita nos in hac praesenti vita a morte ad vitam, id est a morte peccati ad justitiae vitam, et in fine saeculi per tuam misericordiam justificatos, resuscita ad aeternam gloriam. Quam ipse nobis praestare digneris, qui vivis et regnas per aeterna saecula. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.51.1-Ps.51.2 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Ps.51.2 — Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
  2. ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  3. ↩Ps.145.8-Ps.145.9 — Gracious and merciful is the LORD, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Ps.145.9 — The LORD is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
  4. ↩Ps.145.18 — The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
  5. ↩Ps.51.17 — Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
  6. ↩Ps.102.13 — But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; your remembrance endures to all generations.
  7. ↩Gen.2.7 — Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
  8. ↩Ps.102.14 — You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor — yes, the appointed time has come.
  9. ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
  10. ↩Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  11. ↩Joel.2.12-Joel.2.13 — Yet even now, declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Joel.2.13 — Tear open your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents from sending disaster.
  12. ↩Ps.69.2 — Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
  13. ↩Ps.135.6 — Whatever the LORD pleased, he did—in the heavens and in the earth, in the seas and all the deeps.
  14. ↩Ezek.33.11 — Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'
  15. ↩Ps.51.1;1Pet.4.8 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1Pet.4.8 — Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The phrase 'in aliqua vita, nobis etiam mortuis tua miseratione concessa, existamus' is compressed: the idea is that some form of existence persists even after spiritual death, sustained only by God's mercy.
  2. 2 ↩'Si vero iterum tibi obedientes existimus' — the conditional construction carries both a present reality and a future hope; rendered as 'if we again stand before you in obedience' to capture the ongoing posture.
  3. 3 ↩Allusion to 4 Kings 13:21 (Vulgate), the resurrection of a dead man by contact with Elisha's bones. Candidate scripture allusion pending Moses resolution.
  4. 4 ↩The argument moves from a lesser miracle (resurrection through a dead prophet's remains) to a greater hope (spiritual resurrection through union with the living God). 'Multo magis' is rendered as 'how much more' to preserve the a fortiori force.
  5. 5 ↩'Secundum magnam misericordiam tuam' and 'secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum' echo Psalm 51:1 (Vulgate 50:3). The double 'resuscita' frames both a present spiritual resurrection and a future eschatological one.
  6. 6 ↩Possible echo of Psalm 51:1 (Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam). Candidate allusion pending Moses resolution.

Orationes sive Meditationes — Collection for Princess Adeliza of Normandy companion

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