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Chapter 200PrecesPriv.1.200

Preces Quotidianae

Self-Abhorrence and Shame

The soul confesses its own foulness and shame, echoing the psalmist's cry of reproach.

That I myself abhor myself, O…1 42.2 6. The absurdity because of the foulness.3 Of desire, the baseness deserving of confusion.4 with reproach. That all day long my shame is against me, and the confusion of my face has covered me.5 Ps. 44.6

Fear of the Lord and Enticement

The soul laments its failure to revere God's majesty and its enticement by its own desire.

15. Ah, ah! Bah, bah!7 that I neither revered nor feared—✦8 xii.✦9 21.✦ the incomprehensibility of his glory, his dread power, the reverence due his presence, his exquisite justice, his lovable goodness.10 How was I enticed by my own desire?✦

Hating Discipline

The soul confesses its hatred of discipline and its refusal to submit to rebuke.

James.11 1. 14. How I have hated discipline!✦ And my heart wouldn't submit to rebuke?✦

The Dread of Judgment

The soul trembles at the coming judgment, envisioning the terror of death and the final assize.

Lord, see: fear and trembling have come over me, and the dread of death has fallen on me.✦ What fear, and trembling, and stiffening, and agony, and final crisis am I about to see?12 What confusion will seize me?13 By what darkness will I be surrounded?14 How dreadful Your judgment is, Lord! When the thrones are set, and the angels stand by,15 When people have been brought in,

Read the original Latin

Quod abhorreo ipse me, o . xlii. 6. absurditatem propter 4 turpitudinem Ὁ. desiderii, vilitatem confusione ) l dignam. opprobrio Quod tota die verecundia mea contra me est, et confusio faciei cooperuit me. Psa/. xliv.

15. Ah, ah! Vah, vah! quod non reveritus sum, neque extimui Zeb. xu. 21. Incomprehensibilitatem gloriz, Potentiam tremendam, Venerabilitatem presentiz, Exquisitam justitiam, Bonitatem amabilem. Quomodo illectus sum a propria concupiscentia ?

Jac. 1. 14. Quomodo detestatus sum disciplinam ?

Et increpationibus non acquievit cor meum ?

Ecce, Domine, Quod timor et tremor venerunt super me, Et formido mortis cecidit super me. Qualem timorem, et tremorem, et rigorem, et agoniam, et discrimen ultimum habeo videre ? Qu:e me confusio occupabit ? Quibus tenebris cireumdabor ? Quam tremendum est judicium Tuum, Domine? Positis thronis, Adstantibus Angelis,

Introductis hominibus,

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Heb.12.21 — And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear.'
  2. ↩Heb.12.21 — And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear.'
  3. ↩Heb.12.21 — And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear.'
  4. ↩Jas.1.14 — But each one is tempted by his own desire, being lured and enticed.
  5. ↩Prov.5.12 — And you will say, "How I have hated discipline, and my heart has despised correction!"
  6. ↩Prov.5.12 — And you will say, "How I have hated discipline, and my heart has despised correction!"
  7. ↩Ps.55.5-Ps.55.6;Ps.56.4-Ps.56.5 — My heart writhes within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Ps.55.6 — Fear and trembling came upon me, and horror overwhelmed me. Ps.56.4 — In the day when I fear, I trust in you. Ps.56.5 — In God I praise his word; in God I trust—I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Vocative after o is missing or truncated in the source; rendered as an incomplete address.
  2. 2 ↩Roman numeral xlii. is almost certainly a psalm number (paired with verse 6 in the next sentence).
  3. 3 ↩Ignored non-Latin debris '4' and 'Ὁ' as likely OCR/print corruption; sense taken as absurditatem propter turpitudinem.
  4. 4 ↩Stray ') l' treated as corruption; reading taken as desiderii, vilitatem confusione dignam.
  5. 5 ↩opprobrio may finish the prior list ('worthy of confusion [and] reproach') rather than stand alone; kept with this sentence as printed.
  6. 6 ↩Roman numeral xliv. with preceding Psa. points to Psalm 44; numbering scheme left unresolved.
  7. 7 ↩Latin Vah is an interjection of scorn, shock, or dismay (often biblical mockery or self-reproach). Rendered as modern 'Bah' to keep the doubled cry without archaic 'Fie'.
  8. 8 ↩Trailing 'Zeb.' is treated as a damaged book abbreviation belonging with the following numeral fragments (s5–s6), not as an object of the verbs. The confession clause is rendered without it.
  9. 9 ↩Normalized reading takes 'xu.' as a damaged Roman chapter numeral, most plausibly 'xii.' (especially if the preceding 'Zeb.' is a corrupt Hebrews label); less likely 'xv.'
  10. 10 ↩Source forms 'gloriz' and 'presentiz' read as gloriae and praesentiae (genitives). Accusative string treated as attributes Godward—what the speaker failed to revere/fear, or now confesses.
  11. 11 ↩Jac. is the conventional Latin abbreviation for Jacobus (James), as a scripture citation label.
  12. 12 ↩rigorem rendered as 'stiffening' (death-rigor / rigid chill of dying); discrimen ultimum as the last crisis/ordeal rather than a neutral 'distinction'.
  13. 13 ↩Normalized reading takes Qu:e as Quae (what). confusio kept as confusion/shame of face rather than mere embarrassment.
  14. 14 ↩cireumdabor corrected to circumdabor ('I will be surrounded').
  15. 15 ↩Ablative absolute retained as an open clause; the next section continues the scene (Introductis hominibus).

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