Preces Quotidianae
Pleading Before the Lord
The heading introduces a prayer of pleading, focusing on our own frailty before God.
Pleading.1 On our side, as far as we're concerned.
Remembering Our Frailty
A chain of scripture verses and liturgical markers recalling human weakness, mortality, and the fleeting nature of life.
Because I am weak. Remember what my substance is.2 And he remembered that they are flesh, a spirit that goes out and does not return. For He Himself knows how we are made; He remembered that we are dust.3 Man is like grass: his days are like a flower of the field—so he blossoms.4 — Verse. 15. For the spirit will pass through him, and he will not last,5 and it won't know its place anymore. Verse. 16.
The Misery of Our Condition
A section heading and a series of citations that cry out from human misery, culminating in God's attentive mercy.
The misery of our condition. We have become utterly miserable.✦6 Ps. 79. 8.✦ And he saw when they were in distress, And he heard their prayer. (44.7
Our Duty in Prayer
A brief rubric shifts the focus to the office of prayer, introducing penitents and their posture.
A Broken and Humbled Heart
A concluding prayer that confesses iniquity and meditates on sin, offering a broken heart to God.
For a broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm.10 17.✦11 For I will declare my iniquity, and I will reflect on my sin.
Read the original Latin
ALLEGATIO. EX PARTE NOSTRA, QUOAD NOS.
Quoniam infirmus sum. Memorare qua mea substantia. Et recordatus est, quia caro sunt,
spiritus vadens, et non rediens. Quoniam Ipse cognovit figmentum nostrum, Recordatus est, quoniam pulvis sumus. Homo sicut fcenum : Dies ejus, sicut flos agri, sic efflorescit. — Vers. 15. Quoniam spiritus pertransibit in illo, et non subsistet,
et non cognoscet amplius locum suum. Vers. 16.
Miseria conditionis.
Miser facti sumus nimis. Psa/. lxxix. 8. Et vidit cum tribularentur,
et audivit orationem eorum. ( 44.
EX PARTE NOSTRA, QUOAD OFFICIUM.
(1.] Penitentes.
Quia cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies. Psal h. 17. Quoniam iniquitatem meam annunciabo,
et cogitabo pro peccato meo.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.79.8 — Do not hold against us the sins of former times; let your compassion come swiftly to meet us, for we are brought very low.
- ↩Ps.79.8 — Do not hold against us the sins of former times; let your compassion come swiftly to meet us, for we are brought very low.
- ↩Ps.51.17 — Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
Notes
- 1 ↩ALLEGATIO is a structural heading in the Preces tradition (legal-devotional ‘allegation/pleading’ of one’s case before God). Rendered as ‘Pleading’ rather than the more formal ‘Allegation’ for modern readability.
- 2 ↩Latin has 'qua'; the familiar Vulgate psalm reading is 'quae mea substantia' ('what my substance is'). Translated to that intended sense.
- 3 ↩figmentum nostrum rendered as 'how we are made' (our frame/formation); Ipse is capitalized in the source and taken as God.
- 4 ↩Source reads 'fcenum'; translated as the intended 'foenum' (hay/grass).
- 5 ↩spiritus may mean breath, wind, or spirit; kept as 'spirit' for consistency with s1, though the floral image often supports 'wind'.
- 6 ↩Latin has singular Miser with plural facti sumus; rendered as plural agreement (miseri), the expected sense.
- 7 ↩Source fragment is a parenthetical citation numeral only ('( 44.'), not prose; rendered as a verse marker pending later reference resolution.
- 8 ↩officium may mean clerical/sacred office, daily duty, or the Divine Office; rendered as 'office' to keep the heading sense open.
- 9 ↩Source reads '(1.]'; treated as the numbered rubric '(1.)' (likely OCR/print damage of a closing parenthesis).
- 10 ↩Abbreviated citation label 'Psal h.' — likely a psalm reference (Psal. = Psalm); the trailing 'h' is uncertain and may be a truncated or corrupt numeral/letter (e.g. li / L).
- 11 ↩Bare numeral, almost certainly a verse number belonging with the preceding psalm citation label.
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