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Chapter 268PrecesPriv.1.268

Preces Quotidianae

Fragile as Dust

The soul confesses its frailty as dust and wind, pleading that the Lord will not pursue a straw.

Dust, fragile; wind, light; flesh, dissolved. Job.✦ 12. 35. And You, Lord, will not pursue a straw.✦1

A Flea Before the King

Citing 1 Samuel 24:15, the soul asks whether the Lord will pursue a flea, acknowledging its own littleness.

1 Sam.✦2 24. 15.✦ Will you pursue a flea?3

Spare Your Suppliant

The soul, as a wretched creature and willing suppliant, begs for mercy, citing David's sparing of Shimei as a type of divine clemency.

3. Your creature—already wretched—even a suppliant of my own free will.4 Spare Your suppliant.5 2 Sam. 19. 19. David spared Shimei, who had cursed him.✦6 And David was a man after Your own heart—so You, then, spare me.

Sackcloth and Ropes

Recalling that the kings of Israel are merciful, the soul adopts the posture of a penitent suppliant, pleading for its life.

Look, we've heard that the kings of Israel are merciful; so let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, go out to meet him, and say, 'I beg you, let my soul live.'

Ahab's Humility

The soul argues that if God spared Ahab when he humbled himself, He will also spare the penitent soul, citing 1 Kings 21:29 and Psalm 80.

Perhaps he will save our lives.7 Is any king of Israel more merciful than You? 1 Kings. 21. 29.✦ Because You, Lord, spared Ahab, who had given himself over to sin, when he humbled himself—spare me also, I beg You.8 Psalm. 80.

How Long, O Lord?

The soul asks how long the Lord will be angry with His people and with one who pleads and offers prayers.

4. How long will you be angry with your people? With one who is pleading, who offers prayers?9

No Hiding Sin

The soul declares that it does not hide sin as Adam did, citing Job 31:33 and Psalm 141:4, and refuses to make excuses for sin.

Job.✦ xxx.10 33. — Surely, Lord, I do not hide✦ sin, as Adam did,✦ Psalm 141 4✦ I don't make excuses for sin.✦11

Read the original Latin

Pulvis, fragilis, Ventus, levis, Caro, dissolutus. Job. xii. 35. Et Ta, Domine, non prosequeris stipulam.

Sam. xxiv. 15. Án insectaberis pulicem ?

3. Creatura 'lu, Et jam miser, Etiam supplex ultro. Parce supplia. 2 Sam. xix. 19. David pepercit Shemei maledicto; . Et David vir secundum cor Tuum, Tu igitur parce.

Ecce audivimus, quod reges Israel clementes sunt; ponamus ergo saccos in lumbis, et funes in capitibus nostris, et egrediamur in occursum, dicamus, Vivat, oro, anima mea;

Forsitan salvabit animos nostras. Num ullus Rex Israel Te clementior ? l Reg. xxi. 29. Quia Tu, Domine, Achabo pepercisti, qui se dederat peccato, cum se humiliaret, Parce et mihi, quzeso. Psal. lxxx.

4. Quamdiu irasceris populo Tuo ? Supplicanti, preces offerenti?

Job. xxx. 33. — Certe, Domine, non abscondo

peccatum, sicut Adam,

Psal. cxli. 4. — Non excuso excusationes in peccato.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Job.13.25 — Will You terrify a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff?
  2. ↩Job.13.25 — Will You terrify a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff?
  3. ↩1Sam.24.15 — After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog, after a single flea.
  4. ↩1Sam.24.15 — After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog, after a single flea.
  5. ↩2Sam.19.19 — And the crossing was made to pass over the house of the king, and to do what was good in his eyes. And Shimei son of Gera fell before the king as he crossed the Jordan.
  6. ↩1Kgs.21.29 — Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; in the days of his son I will bring the disaster upon his house.
  7. ↩Job.31.33 — If I have covered my transgression like Adam, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
  8. ↩Job.31.33 — If I have covered my transgression like Adam, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
  9. ↩Job.31.33 — If I have covered my transgression like Adam, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
  10. ↩Ps.141.4 — Do not bend my heart toward any evil thing, to practice wicked deeds with people who do wrong; and let me not eat their delicacies.
  11. ↩Ps.142.4 — When my spirit grows faint within me, you know my path. In the way I walk they have hidden a snare for me.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Normalized reading takes printed 'Ta' as a corruption of 'Tu' (You).
  2. 2 ↩Latin has only 'Sam.'; rendered as 1 Sam. because the following section cites 2 Sam., so this citation is 1 Samuel.
  3. 3 ↩Án is an interrogative particle (often rhetorical). insectaberis is future of insector, 'pursue/harass/hunt'; pulicem is 'flea'—echoing David's plea to Saul.
  4. 4 ↩Source reading 'Creatura 'lu' looks corrupt; rendered as Creatura Tui ('Your creature'), the most plausible private-devotion formula.
  5. 5 ↩Source 'Parce supplia' is almost certainly a garble of Parce supplici / Parce supplicanti; rendered as the standard petition 'Spare Your suppliant.'
  6. 6 ↩maledicto may be taken as 'the cursed one' or 'who had cursed'; context of 2 Sam favors Shimei as the one who cursed David.
  7. 7 ↩Latin has gender-mismatched animos nostras; most plausible intended reading is animas nostras (cf. 1 Kings 20:31 Vulgate), rendered here as lives in the context of seeking spare from death.
  8. 8 ↩quzeso treated as quaeso ('I beg' / 'please'); almost certainly a typographic corruption.
  9. 9 ↩Datives Supplicanti and preces offerenti are taken as continuing the object of irasceris from s2 (angry with the one who pleads and offers prayers), not as a new independent clause.
  10. 10 ↩Source reading is the placeholder/corrupt form 'xxx.'; sense cannot be recovered from this section alone.
  11. 11 ↩Cognate construction 'excuso excusationes' echoes Vulgate Ps 141:4 'ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis'; rendered as a first-person refusal to plead excuses for sin, not as judicial 'exculpation' of others.

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