Preces Quotidianae
Meditation on the Last Judgment
The chapter opens with a meditation on the Last Judgment, setting the tone for penitential reflection.
First Meditation. On the Last Judgment.
Confession and Lament
A heartfelt confession of sin, acknowledging God's mercy and the speaker's failure to revere Him, followed by cries of lament and self-reproach.
Father without beginning, only-begotten Son, life-giving Spirit: kind, merciful, long-suffering, rich in mercy, full of tender compassion—You who love the righteous and have mercy on sinners, who pass over offenses and grant what is asked, God of the penitent, Savior of those who sin: I have sinned against You, Lord, and I have done this and that. (Josh.)1 7.✦2 20.3 Ah, ah! Woe, woe!4 How was I enticed by my own desire? How I hated discipline! I neither revered nor feared the incomprehensibility of Your glory, the majesty of Your presence, Your dread power, Your searching justice, Your lovable goodness.5
Cry for Deliverance
In desperation, the speaker calls out to the angels and laments their wretched state, ending with a plea for deliverance from the body of death.
So I will call out—if there is anyone who will answer me. To which of the holy angels should I turn? I am a wretched man! Who will free me from this body of death?✦
Read the original Latin
MEDITATIO PRIMA. JUDICII EXTREMI.
ParERprincipio carens, Fili unigenite, Spiritus vivifice, Clemens, misericors, longanimis, Multze misericordiz, multorum bonorum viscerum, Qui justos diligis, et peccatoribus misereris, Qui transis delicta, et largiris petita, Deus poenitentium, Servator peccantium ; Peccavi Tibi, Domine, Et sic et sic feci, Jos. vii. 20. Ah, ah! Vah, vah! Quomodo illectus sum a propria concupiscentia? Quomodo detestatus sum disciplinam? Neque reveritus sum, neque extimui, Incomprehensibilitatem gloriz, Venerabilitatem preesentiz, Potentiam tremendam, Exquisitam justitiam, Bonitatem amabilem.
Vocabo ergo, si est qui mihi respondeat, Ad quem Angelorum sanctorum convertar? Infelix ego homo!
Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩Normalized heavily OCR-corrupt openings and endings: ParERprincipio → Pater, principio; Multze misericordiz → multae misericordiae; Jos. retained as scripture cue (likely Josh. 7:20).
- 2 ↩Likely the chapter numeral of the Josh. 7:20 citation split across s2–s3.
- 3 ↩Likely the verse number completing Josh. 7:20 with preceding vii.
- 4 ↩Latin vah is a cry of horror/grief; rendered as 'Woe' to distinguish it from Ah while keeping the same intensity.
- 5 ↩Normalized OCR forms gloriz → gloriae and preesentiz → praesentiae; objects understood as genitives of divine attributes addressed in second person.
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