Preces Quotidianae
The Cry for Mercy
The penitent, resolved to repent and clinging to Christ's Passion, cries out for mercy, acknowledging that it is not hard for God's power nor unbecoming to His justice and clemency.
For one who is resolved and longing to repent — reviewing sins with bitterness, truly angry with himself over the sins he has committed, remembering Your most bitter Passion and clinging to it.1 Spare, Lord; be gracious. Spare me, Lord; be gracious. Have mercy on me, for it is not hard for the One who is powerful, nor unbecoming to Your justice,2 nor unusual for Your clemency.3
The Lament of the Prodigal
The penitent reproaches himself for trading the Bread of Angels for earthly things and for leaving the Father's table, exclaiming woe and bewilderment.
Is this how it is — that for leeks and garlic I traded the Bread of Angels?45 Is this how it is — that for the pods of pigs I left the Father's table? Woe to me, wretched and senseless!6 Who has bewitched me, that I should be so foolish?7
The Return to the Father
The penitent expresses a firm resolve to return to God, confesses unworthiness, and casts himself down in prostration, relying on God's goodness.
Oh, if only You would deign to receive me! My mind is wholly set on returning. For it was better for me then, just as it is now.8 So I am wholly confounded—not worthy to name Your Name, nor to call upon it, nor even to think of it in my heart, without Your innate goodness. And yet, relying on that goodness, as a suppliant, cast down, I return to You.9 Prostrate,
Read the original Latin
Poenitere disponenti et cupienti ; Peccata cum amaritudine recogitanti, Certe Sibi ipsi de peecatis admissis indignanti, Passionis Tus amarissimze recordanti, Eique adhzrenti. Parce, Domine; propitius esto. Parce mihi, Domine, propitius esto ; Miserere mei, Quia non est difficile potenti nec indecens justitice Tue. nec insolitum Clementize III. Siecine, ut pro porris et allis Panem Angelorum? Siccine ut pro porcorum siliquis Mensam paternam ? Va misero mihi, v: insensato! Quis me fascinavit Ut sie desiperem ?
O si Tu modo recipere digneris, Omnino mihi reverti mens est: Melius enim mihi tum fuit, prout nunc est. Totus ergo confusus, Nec dignus nominare Nec invocare Nomen Tuum Nec in corde cogitare Absque ingenita Tua bonitate ; Sed enim illa fretus, Supplex, Demissus, revertor ad Te;
Prostratus,
Notes
- 1 ↩Normalized OCR corruptions: peecatis→peccatis; Passionis Tus amarissimze→Passionis Tuae amarissimae; adhzrenti→adhaerenti.
- 2 ↩Normalized justitice Tue→justitiae Tuae.
- 3 ↩Normalized Clementize III.→clementiae Tuae, parallel to justitiae Tuae in s3.
- 4 ↩Normalized Siecine→Siccine; allis→alliis (garlic).
- 5 ↩Panem Angelorum kept as Bread of Angels (psalmic/Eucharistic title), not flattened to generic food.
- 6 ↩Normalized Va→Vae; read v: as et (or a second vae) before insensato.
- 7 ↩Normalized sie→sic.
- 8 ↩prout nunc est is slightly elliptical: rendered literally as “just as it is now,” keeping the tum/nunc contrast without rewriting prout as a comparative quam (“than”). Sense likely continues the prodigal-return theme of looking back on a better state.
- 9 ↩Absque ingenita Tua bonitate is taken as governing the whole unworthy-to-name/invoke/think series: without God’s inherent goodness the speaker has no standing even to use the Name. Sed enim is rendered “And yet” to keep both the adversative turn and the reinforcing force of enim.
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