SR
← Preces Privatae (Private Devotions)/Book 1 · Preces Privatae (Private Devotions)
Chapter 9PrecesPriv.1.9

Preces Quotidianae

Do Not Despise the Work of Your Hands

A plea grounded in Scripture that the Lord not despise the work of his hands or his image, but speak the word that makes the supplicant clean.

Do not despise the work of your hands.✦ Ps. 138.1 8. Do not despise your image, even though it bears the marks of sin.2 Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Lord, only say the word, and I will be made clean.✦ Matt. 8.3 2, 8.

Savior of Sinners, Remember Me

Addressing Christ as Savior of sinners, the pray-er asks not to be despised but to be regarded with the compassionate eyes that looked on Magdalene, Peter, and the thief, and to be remembered with the thief in Christ’s kingdom.

And you, my Savior Christ—Christ, my Savior! Savior of sinners, of whom I am the first.4 1 Tim.5 1.✦ 15. Do not despise me; do not despise me, Lord. Do not despise the price of your blood, the seal of your name; do not despise me, Lord. Instead, look on me with your eyes—those same eyes with which you looked on Magdalene at the banquet, Peter in the courtyard, and the thief on the cross.6 So that with the thief I may humbly call on you: Remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.7

Tears of Repentance and Abundant Love

The prayer asks for the gift of bitter tears like Peter’s and for the assurance of forgiveness given to Magdalene, so that a forgiven heart may love much.

Luke 22. 42.✦ May I weep bitterly with Peter, and say:8 Oh, who will give my eyes a fountain of tears, and I will weep day and night!✦ With Magdalene may I hear you saying, "Your sins are forgiven you." And with her may I love much; because many things—and manifold—✦9 have been forgiven,✦10

Read the original Latin

Opus manuum tuarum ne despicias. Ps. exxxviii. 8. Imaginem tuam ne despicias, Etsi notas peccati gerentem. Domine, si vis, potes me mundare.

Domine, dic tantum verbo, et mundabor. Mat. vin. 2, 8.

Et tu mi Salvator Christe, Christe Salvator mi! Salvator peccantium, quorum ego primus, 1. 7m. 1. 15. Ne me despicias, Ne me despicias, Domine. Pretium sanguinis tui, Signaculum nominis tui ne despicias, Ne me despicias, Domine, Quin respice me oculis tuis, Illis quibus respexisti Magdalenam in convivio, Petrum in aula, Latronem in patibulo. Ut eum Latrone humiliter te invocem, Memento mei, Domine, in regno tuo.

Luc, xxii. 42. Cum Petro defleam amare, et dicam, |. O quis dabit oculis meis fontem lacrymarum, Et plorabo die ac nocte! Cum Magdalena audiam te dicentem, Dimissa tibi sunt peccata tua : Et cum ipsa multum diligam ; Quia multa mihi, et multiplicia

dimissa sunt,

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.138.8 — The LORD will accomplish what concerns me. O LORD, your steadfast love endures forever; do not forsake the work of your hands.
  2. ↩Matt.8.2-Matt.8.3 — And behold, a leper came and was bowing before him, saying, 'Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me.' Matt.8.3 — And stretching out his hand, he touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
  3. ↩1Tim.1.15 — The saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
  4. ↩Luke.22.42;Luke.22.62 — Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; but not my will, but yours be done. Luke.22.62 — And he went out and wept bitterly.
  5. ↩Jer.9.1 — Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, that I might leave my people and go away from them—for they are all adulterers, a company of traitors.
  6. ↩Luke.7.47 — Therefore I tell you, her many sins are forgiven, as her great love shows. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.
  7. ↩Luke.7.47-Luke.7.48 — Therefore I tell you, her many sins are forgiven, as her great love shows. But the one who is forgiven little loves little. Luke.7.48 — And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source uses Roman numeral exxxviii; rendered as Arabic 138 for modern readability (Vulgate psalm numbering).
  2. 2 ↩Imaginem tuam is the human person as God's image; notas peccati are the visible/indelible marks or stains of sin the image still carries.
  3. 3 ↩Source reads 'vin.'; taken as corrupt/abbreviated 'viii.' (chapter 8), matching Matt. 8:2 and 8 cited in s4 and the leper/centurion material of the surrounding prayers.
  4. 4 ↩Trailing 1. begins the citation continued in s3–s5 (1 Tim. 1:15).
  5. 5 ↩Source reads 7m.; most plausible intended abbreviation is Tim. for Timothy, completing 1 Tim. 1:15 with neighboring fragments.
  6. 6 ↩Pretium sanguinis tui and Signaculum nominis tui are taken as the objects of ne despicias: the redeemed price of Christ's blood and the seal of his name on the petitioner.
  7. 7 ↩Source has eum Latrone; translated as cum Latrone (with the thief), the most plausible intended reading before ablative Latrone.
  8. 8 ↩Source ends with '|.' — treated as a print/divider mark before the following petition, not as spoken text.
  9. 9 ↩Clause ends incomplete at multiplicia; neighboring next section begins dimissa sunt, which likely completes the thought as 'because many and manifold [sins] have been forgiven me.'
  10. 10 ↩Fragment continues the previous unit (PrecesPriv.1.9.4.s5): 'Quia multa mihi, et multiplicia dimissa sunt' — 'because many and manifold [sins] have been forgiven me,' echoing Luke 7:47–48 with Magdalene.

Preces Privatae (Private Devotions) companion

A prayer for every moment, already on your phone

Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.

Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.

  • One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
  • Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
  • Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →