Preces Quotidianae
The Witness of Creation
The prayer opens with a litany of created things, calling upon the elements to witness or participate in devotion.
Things beneath the earth, stones, metals, minerals, and coal, Blood, and Fire, and a Vapor of Smoke.
Cleanse Me from Hidden Faults
The penitent asks God to reveal and cleanse hidden sins, and pleads for pardon for great sin.
Who can understand their faults?1 Cleanse me from hidden faults: Ps. 19. 12. And spare your servant from the sins of others:2 lest they rule over me. For the sake of your name, O Lord, pardon my sin; For it is great.✦ Ps.3 25. 11.✦
Rescue Me, O Lord
Overwhelmed by iniquities, the soul cries out for God's rescue and merciful help.
My iniquities have seized me,✦ and I could not see. They have multiplied beyond the hairs of my head,4 and my heart has abandoned me. .5 May it please you, Lord, to rescue me, Lord, look to help me; Ver.✦6 13.7 Make your mercies wonderful toward me,✦ You who save those who hope in you.✦
I Have Sinned
The penitent confesses sin, turns back to God with a whole heart, and acknowledges wrongdoing.
I said, Lord, have mercy on me, Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. I have sinned, but I am ashamed, and I turn away from my evil ways, and I turn to my heart, and with my whole heart I return to you, and I seek your face, and I plead with you, saying, I have sinned, I have done wrong, and I have acted wickedly.
Read the original Latin
Subterranea, Lapides, Metalla et Mineralia, Carbones,
Sanguis, et Ignis, et Vapor Fumi.
Delicta quis intelligit ὃ
ab occultis munda me: Psal. xix. 12. Et ab alienis parce servo tuo:
ne mei dominentur. Propter nomen tuum, Domine,
propitiare peccato meo;
Multum est enim. Psa/. xxv. 11.
Comprehenderunt me iniquitates mee,
et non potui ut viderem, Multiplieatze sunt super capillos capitis mei,
et cor meum dereliquit me. . Complaceat tibi, Domine, ut eruas me,
Domine ad adjuvandum me respice; Ver. 13. Mirifica misericordias tuas in me,
Qui salvos facis sperantes in te.
Ego dixi, Domine, miserere mei,
Sana animam meam, quia peccavi tibi.
Peccavi, Sed erubesco, Et avertor a viis meis malis, Et convertor ad cor meum, Et in universo corde meo ad te revertor, Et quaro faciem tuam, Et deprecor te, dicens,
Peccavi, inique egi, impie gessi,
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.25.11;Ps.25.11 — For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great. Ps.25.11 — For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.
- ↩Ps.25.11 — For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.
- ↩Ps.40.13;Ps.41.12 — For evils have surrounded me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has forsaken me. Ps.41.12 — By this I know that you are pleased with me, because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
- ↩Ps.39.14;Ps.41.13 — Turn your gaze away from me, that I may brighten again, before I depart and am no more. Ps.41.13 — But as for me, in my integrity You have upheld me, and You have set me before Your face forever.
- ↩Ps.16.7;Ps.18.7 — I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel; even in the night my kidneys instruct me. Ps.18.7 — In my distress I called upon the LORD, and to my God I cried for help. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry before him entered his ears.
- ↩Ps.17.7 — “Show the wonder of your steadfast love, O Savior of those who take refuge from those who rise up against your right hand.”
Notes
- 1 ↩Trailing Greek ὃ in the supplied Latin is treated as residual/corrupt matter, not as part of the sense; the sentence is read as the Vulgate Psalm opening Delicta quis intelligit?
- 2 ↩Latin ab alienis can mean sins that are another's / foreign to oneself; the Hebrew tradition behind this psalm line is often rendered 'presumptuous sins.' Translation follows the Latin surface sense.
- 3 ↩Source 'Psa/.' is a truncated citation label for Psalm; rendered as the standard modern abbreviation 'Ps.'
- 4 ↩Source reads 'Multiplieatze'; most plausible intended reading is 'Multiplicatae' (they have been multiplied), matching the psalm sequence with the neighboring sections.
- 5 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period with no Latin content; treated as a segmentation artifact and left empty rather than invented.
- 6 ↩Ver. is a rubrical abbreviation (likely Versus / Verse); left unexpanded as in the source.
- 7 ↩Bare numeral preserved as a structural/section marker, not translated as prose.
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