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Chapter 129PrecesPriv.1.129

Preces Quotidianae

Meditation on Human Frailty

The meditation begins with a heading on human frailty, then opens with a plea for mercy and a series of scriptural reminders of our weak, fleeting substance.

Second Meditation. On Human Frailty. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak.1 6. 2. Remember what my substance is. Psalm.2 89. 47. Remember that I am flesh, a spirit that goes forth and does not return. Psalm.

Our Days Are Like Grass

A series of scriptural allusions compares human life to grass, a flower, dust, and a breath, emphasizing our utter transience.

77.3 39. My days are like grass, like the flower of the field. Is.✦4 40. 6. The breath will pass through me, and I will not endure, nor will I know my place any longer.✦5 — Ps.6 102. 15, 16. For I am dust and ashes, Gen.✦ 17.✦ 27. Earth and grass, Is.7 40. 6. Flesh and a breath, Ps.

Strangers and Pilgrims

Further scriptural allusions describe humanity as rot, a worm, a stranger, and a dweller in a house of clay, with days that are few and evil.

77.8 39. Rot and worm, Job.✦ 17.9 14. As a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, Psalm.10 39. 14. Dwelling in a house of clay, Job. 4. 19. Whose days are few and evil, Genesis.11 47. 9. Today and not tomorrow, Proverbs.✦ 27.12

A Body of Sin in a World of Corruption

The meditation turns to our fallen condition, describing life as a morning that does not last, a body of sin, and a world of corruption, ending with a plea for forgiveness.

1. Morning, and not until evening, Is.✦13 37.✦ 13. In a body of sin, Rom.✦14 6. 6. In a world of corruption, 2 Pet.✦ 1. 4. Full of miseries, yet of short life. Job.✦15 14. 1. Like a flower that withers once it has bloomed, and like a shadow that does not last.✦ (Remember this, Lord, and forgive; pardon it. Ps.16 74.

A Closing Plea

The chapter ends with a brief, poignant question about the value of life and blood, likely a fragment of a larger prayer.

18. For what good is there in my blood,17

Read the original Latin

MEDITATIO SECUNDA. FRAGILITATIS HUMANAE.

MisERERE mei, Domine, quia infirmus sum, 56]. vi. 2. Memorare qui mea substantia, Psal. lxxxix. 47. Recordare quod caro sum, Spiritus vadens, et non rediens. Psal.

lxxvin. 39. Sicut foenum dies mei, sicut flos agri, 4s. xl. 6. Spiritus transibit in me, et non subsistam, Nec cognoscam amplius locum meum. — Psa/. cii.

15, 16. Ego enim pulvis et cinis, Gen. xvii. 27. Terra et foenum, 4s. xl. 6. Caro et flatus, Psal.

lxxvin. 39. Putredo et vermis, Job. xvn. 14. Ut advena et peregrinus in terra, Psal. xxxix. 14.

Habitans domum luteam, Job. iv. 19. Cujus dies pauci et mah, Gen. xlvii. 9. Hodie et non cras, Pro. xxvn.

1. Mane, et non usque ad vesperam, s. xxxvii. 13. In eorpore peccati, JARom. vi. 6. In mundo corruptionis, 2 Pet.

i. 4. Repletus miseriis, sed brevis vitz, ὑοῦ. xiv. 1. Sicut flos, dum floruit, marcescit, Et, sicut umbra, non subsistit. ( Memor esto hujus, Domine, et ignosce, remitte, Ps. lxxiv.

18.

Qu: enim utilitas in sanguine meo,

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Isa.40.6;Ps.103.15 — A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its faithfulness is like the flower of the field. Ps.103.15 — As for mortals, their days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they blossom.
  2. ↩Ps.103.16 — For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
  3. ↩Gen.18.27 — Then Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have now ventured to speak to the Lord, though I am but dust and ashes."
  4. ↩Gen.18.27 — Then Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have now ventured to speak to the Lord, though I am but dust and ashes."
  5. ↩Job.17.14 — I have called the Pit, 'You are my father; my mother and my sister, to the worm.
  6. ↩Prov.27.1 — Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
  7. ↩Isa.38.13 — I composed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones — from day to night you bring me to an end.
  8. ↩Isa.38.13 — I composed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones — from day to night you bring me to an end.
  9. ↩Rom.6.6 — We know this: our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
  10. ↩2Pet.1.4 — Through these he has granted to us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
  11. ↩Job.14.1 — Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of turmoil.
  12. ↩Job.14.2 — Like a flower he comes forth and withers; he flees like a shadow and does not remain.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Trailing ', 56]' looks like citation/OCR debris, not part of the petition; it is not rendered in the English.
  2. 2 ↩Source reads 'Memorare qui mea substantia' (incomplete); intended sense is the psalmic 'Memorare quae mea sit substantia'—'Remember what my substance is.'
  3. 3 ↩Source reading lxxvin. is almost certainly a corruption of lxxvii. (Psalm 77), completing the citation begun at the previous section’s final Psal. and matching the Vulgate verse of the preceding petition.
  4. 4 ↩Source 4s. is treated as the biblical abbreviation Is. (Isaiah), matching the following xl. 6. citation to Isaiah 40:6.
  5. 5 ↩Spiritus here is the mortal breath/wind of the psalm’s mortality image, not the Holy Spirit; rendered breath to keep that force clear.
  6. 6 ↩Source — Psa/. is a damaged abbreviation for Psalm (Psal./Ps.).
  7. 7 ↩Source abbreviation “4s.” treated as “Is.” (Isaiah), matching the following xl. 6 citation pattern and the neighboring foenum/flos tags.
  8. 8 ↩Source reads 'lxxvin.'; treated as corrupt for Vulgate Psalm chapter lxxvii. (77), continuing the previous section's 'Caro et flatus, Psal.' citation toward v. 39.
  9. 9 ↩Source reads 'xvn.'; treated as corrupt for xvii. (17), matching Job 17:14 with 'Putredo et vermis'.
  10. 10 ↩Ut here is comparative ('as/like'), not purpose: no finite verb follows; sense matches the psalmic self-description as advena/peregrinus.
  11. 11 ↩Source reads 'mah'; almost certainly a corruption of 'mali' (evil/miserable), matching Gen 47:9 'parvi et mali' / 'few and evil'.
  12. 12 ↩Source reads 'xxvn.'; treated as corrupt Roman numeral for xxvii (27), consistent with neighboring OCR patterns (e.g. lxxvin., xvn.) and with Prov. chapter following 'Hodie et non cras'.
  13. 13 ↩Trailing book tag 's.' is treated as a truncated 'Is.' (Isaiah), matching the citation pattern of neighboring Job./Gen./Pro. tags.
  14. 14 ↩Normalized 'eorpore' as 'corpore' (body) and 'JARom.' as 'Rom.' (Romans); both look like OCR/print garbling in an otherwise standard Romans tag.
  15. 15 ↩Normalized 'vitz' as vitae ('of life'); treated Greek-looking 'ὑοῦ' as corrupted book label Iob/Job before xiv. 1.
  16. 16 ↩ignosce and remitte are near-synonyms (forgive / remit); both retained to keep the doubled petition force.
  17. 17 ↩Source reads 'Qu: enim utilitas'; most plausible intended reading is 'Quae enim utilitas' (cf. Ps 29/30 Vulgate: Quae utilitas in sanguine meo), with the following section continuing 'dum descendo in corruptionem?'.

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