Preces Quotidianae
That God's Name Be Honored
Prayer that God's name not be blasphemed through us and that hostile nations perish.
1. May Your name not be blasphemed among the nations through us. May all nations and kings who do not serve Your kingdom perish, and may they be laid waste with desolation.12
That God's Counsel Stand
Petition that every divine plan and decree be fulfilled.
3. Let every plan of Yours stand, and let everything You have decreed be brought to completion.3
Prayer for Daily Bread
Request for seed and bread for our sustenance.
4. Give seed to the sower, and give the staff of bread for our sustenance.4
Plea for Mercy and Remembrance
Begging God not to be angry or remember our sins, and to look upon His people.
. Do not be very angry with us, and do not, in time, remem—5 Remember our sins.✦6 Look—look at Your people, all of us.
Purity Our Way
Prayer that we never set up a stumbling block of iniquity before us.
6. Let us never place a stumbling block of iniquity before our eyes.✦
Prayer for God's Favorable Face
Request that God not set His face against us for harm.
7. Do not turn Your face against us to harm us,7
Allegory of Preaching and the Net
An allegorical meditation: the world as sea, people as fish, the Church as boat, the preacher as fisherman, and the Word as net.
On Preaching. Luke. v. 5. The world, the sea. People, fish; the Church, a boat.8 The preacher, the fisherman.9 The Word, the net.
Illumination Upon Reading the Word
Petition for opened eyes, removal of the veil, and teaching of God's statutes.
To the Word. Open my eyes, and I'll understand the wonders of your law. Take away, Lord, the veil from my heart while I read the Scriptures. Blessed are you, Lord; teach me your statutes.10
Read the original Latin
1. Ne per nos blasphemetur nomen Tuum in Gentibus.
2, Pereant omnes nationes et reges, qui regno 'Tuo non inserviunt, et desolatione desolentur.
3. Stet omne consilium "Tuum, et omnia quie decrevisti perficiantur.
4. Da semen seminanti, et da firmamentum panis ad victum.
. Ne irascaris nobis valde, et ne in tempore memi-
neris peccatorum nostrorum. Ecce, respice, populus Tuus omnes nos.
6. Ne ponamus unquam ante oculos nostros offendiculum iniquitatis.
7. Ne ponas faciem 'Tuam contra nos in malum,
In Predicatione. | Luc. v. 5. Mundus, Mare. Homines, Pisces, Ecclesia, Lembus. Przedicator, Piscator. Verbum, Rete.
Ad Verbum.
Revela oculos meos, et intelligam mirabilia de lege Tua.
Tolle, Domine, velamen cordis mei, dum lego Scripturas.
Benedictus es, Domine; doce me justificationes Tuas.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.64.9 — The cities of your sanctuary have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness; Jerusalem a desolation.
- ↩Ezek.14.3-Ezek.14.7 — Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have placed the stumbling block of their iniquity right before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Ezek.14.4 — Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet — I the LORD will answer him in accordance with the multitude of his idols. Ezek.14.5 — in order to seize the house of Israel in their heart—they who have turned away from me through their idols, every one of them. Ezek.14.6 — Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: Turn back and turn away from your idols, and from all your abominations turn your faces away.' Ezek.14.7 — For any man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourner who sojourns in Israel, who separates himself from following me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of him concerning me — I, the LORD, will answer him myself.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source has a stray apostrophe before Tuo (`regno 'Tuo`); translated as the expected pronominal `Tuo` (Your).
- 2 ↩`desolatione desolentur` is a Vulgate-style intensive (cognate construction): not mere hardship, but being left utterly desolate.
- 3 ↩Source reads 'quie'; translated as 'quae' (relative 'which/that'), the only grammatically and contextually plausible reading.
- 4 ↩firmamentum panis is the biblical Hebraism for the supporting supply of bread (the 'staff of bread'), not the cosmic firmament.
- 5 ↩Printed line ends mid-word at 'memi-'. Neighboring next section supplies 'neris', so the intended form is 'memineris' (and the object 'peccatorum nostrorum' falls in the next section).
- 6 ↩neris is the line-break completion of memineris from the previous section (…ne in tempore memi- / neris…). Rendered as the verb of that joined petition: do not forever remember our sins.
- 7 ↩in malum keeps the biblical contrast of setting the face for harm/calamity (not for good); 'harm' preferred over vague 'evil' for modern clarity while preserving the judicial-punitive sense.
- 8 ↩lembus is a small boat/skiff; rendered 'boat' for the Church-as-vessel allegory rather than a more technical 'skiff'.
- 9 ↩Source surface 'Przedicator' is not classical/medieval Latin; translated as intended 'Praedicator' (preacher), parallel to Piscator and to the section heading In Predicatione.
- 10 ↩justificationes (Vulgate psalm diction) rendered as 'statutes' (ordinances/just decrees), not forensic 'justifications'.
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