stand how much it imports to reverence God in prayer, to the end that He may hear us.
3. This humiliation being made, I will kneel down in the place appointed for prayer, and forthwith it is good to cross myself with inward feeling of the words that then are spoken; desiring of God by that sign to deliver me from those enemies that are wont to molest us in prayer, saying with this affection, " Per signum crucis de inimicis nostris libera nos Deus noster," " By the sign of the cross from our enemies deliver us, our God;" and then presently I should add, i{ In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti," " In the name of," &c, as one that intends to begin his prayer not in his own virtues, but in the virtues of the most blessed Trinity. Some are accustomed immediately to say the general confession, in order to begin with humiliation, and to comply with the saying of the Wise man, that " the just" man in the beginning of prayer is first an accuser of himself. [1] Others are used to begin with thanksgiving, following the order that St. Basil prescribes; of which we will speak in the first part, in the meditation of the examination of the conscience.
But although everyone may begin with that which is most conducive to his devotion, yet that which generally is convenient for all is, to begin with a short prayer, preparatory, as it were, to that which we intend; in which we may beseech our Lord to direct that work to His honour and glory, and to give grace necessary to perform it as He requires. This brief prayer I must make speaking to God our Lord, whom I behold as present, saying to Him with great earnestness and affection of heart:
Colloquy. — I offer to Thee, O Lord, whatever I shall here think, speak, or treat of, to the end that all may be ordained purely to Thy honour and glory; and
- ↑ Prov. xviii. 17, juxta Septuag.
