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Chapter 107PrecesPriv.1.107

Preces Quotidianae

A Prayer for Household Blessing

A petition for flourishing children, abundant harvests, and peace within the household, drawing on Psalm 144.

May our sons be like young plants in their youth; our daughters well-formed, like a temple; our storehouses overflowing from one into another; our sheep fruitful; our oxen fat; may there be no breach in the wall, [1]1 nor any way out, nor any outcry.✦

Longing for God's Presence

A citation from Psalm 27 expresses the soul's single desire to dwell in the Lord's house and behold his beauty.

Ps. [2]2 cxhv. [3]✦3 12, 13, 14.✦ One thing I have asked of the Lord; this I will seek:✦ so that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the delight of the Lord and visit his holy temple. [4]4

The Prayer for Sufficiency

A request for neither poverty nor riches, but only daily bread, guarding against pride and theft.

Lord, I have asked two things of you: Do not deny me before I die: put vanity and lying words far from me.✦ Give me neither poverty nor riches. Grant only what is necessary for my sustenance. [5]✦5 so that I may not become proud when I have had my fill, and I say, "Who is the Lord?"✦ or, driven by poverty, I steal,

Learning Contentment in All Circumstances

A closing prayer to avoid false oaths and to learn the secret of being content in both plenty and want.

and swear falsely by the name of my God.✦ Let me also learn to live with plenty,✦ and may I learn to be brought low,✦

Read the original Latin

Fili nostri sint sicut novellae plantationes in juventute sua; Fihw nostrz compositz, ut similitudo templi; Promptuaria nostra, eructantia ex hoc in illud, Oves nostre foetosz, Boves nostr: crassz, Ne sit ruina maceriz,

neque transitus,

neque clamor. Psal. cxhv. 12, 13, 14. Unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram,

ut inhabitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus vitz: mez : Ut videam voluptatem Domini, et visitem templum ejus sanctum. Duo rogavi te, Domine,

Ne deneges mihi antequam moriar, Vanitatem et verba mendacia longe fac a me. Mendicitatem, et divitias, ne dederis mihi. TTribue tantum victui meo necessaria,

ne forte satiatus, superbus fiam,

et dicam, Quis est Dominus ?

aut egestate compulsus furer,

et perjurem nomen Dei mei. Discam et abundare,

discam et humiliari,

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.144.14 — Our princes are laden with tribute, there is no breach, no one goes out to exile, and there is no outcry in our streets.
  2. ↩Ps.144.14 — Our princes are laden with tribute, there is no breach, no one goes out to exile, and there is no outcry in our streets.
  3. ↩Ps.27.4 — One thing I have asked of the LORD, and this I will seek: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
  4. ↩Ps.27.4 — One thing I have asked of the LORD, and this I will seek: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
  5. ↩Prov.30.7;Prov.30.8 — Two things I ask of you; do not withhold them from me before I die: Prov.30.8 — Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread allotted to me.
  6. ↩Prov.30.8 — Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread allotted to me.
  7. ↩Prov.30.9 — lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' and lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
  8. ↩Exod.20.7;Deut.5.11 — You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain. Deut.5.11 — You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain.
  9. ↩Phil.4.12 — I know what it is to be brought low, and I know what it is to have abundance. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret — both to be filled and to go hungry, both to have plenty and to be in need.
  10. ↩Phil.4.11 — Not that I am speaking from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source is heavily OCR-corrupted (Fihw/nostrz/compositz/foetosz/crassz/maceriz, etc.). Translated from the most plausible corrected reading as a first-person prayer form of Psalm 143/144: Filiae nostrae compositae; Oves nostrae foetosae; Boves nostri crassi; maceriae.
  2. 2 ↩Abbreviated citation label for Psalm(s); rendered as the conventional modern short form.
  3. 3 ↩Source reading cxhv. looks corrupt as a Roman psalm number. Context of neque transitus / neque clamor points to Vulgate Psalm 143 (Hebrew 144), commonly written cxliii.; left as transmitted rather than silently emended.
  4. 4 ↩Source reading 'vitz: mez' is treated as the intended 'vitae meae' (of my life), the standard continuation of Ps 26:4 Vulgate after the preceding 'Unam petii a Domino...'.
  5. 5 ↩Source reading 'TTribue' treated as typographic error for 'Tribue' (grant/assign).

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