most holy life and innocent death, I humbly beseech thee to forgive me all my sins, as readily as thou forgavest and promisedst paradise to the robber when hanging on the cross. I now cast all my sins into thy deep and sorrowful wounds. Whatever I lack that is requisite to my contrition and penance, vouchsafe mercifully to supply out of the riches of thy own satisfactions and merits, and of all the sorrows, pains, and labours which thou didst cheerfully undergo in thy most holy body, and didst will thyself to endure for us, even to the bitterest death.
And as thou, the fountain of all mercy, of thy love alone, and with the sighs of thy inmost heart, didst pray for thy enemies, nay more, didst shed thy blood for thy very tormentors; so make me an unworthy partaker in thy most holy life and passion. Let not their fruit be lost to me, but let me be delivered from all my sins, and the punishments I deserve for them, and devote myself wholly and entirely to thee, thy worship, and love.
Grant me, O most merciful Saviour, never again to crucify thee by my sins, but by the virtue and merit of thy cross, to grieve sincerely for my past sins, valiantly to overcome present temptations, and henceforward to hold on the way of the cross and of penance, and to persevere even to the end in good works; for to thee I desire to live, and in thee to die.
To thee I commend my body and soul, and all that I have, with my friends and benefactors, both living and dead. O Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us, and make us all resolutely to shun sin, and fulfil thy commandments, to thy greater glory and our own salvation. Amen.
A most elegant oblation of St. Bernard for forgiveness of sins.
O Lord Jesus Christ, in union with thy sorrow with which thou didst undertake to advocate the cause of my sorrow, and to find a remedy for my sins, together with all that sorrow and are truly penitent, and that seek thee in truth, I confess to thee all my sins, both of evil done and good left undone, or done carelessly, or without a pure intention, just as they are known to thee in number, weight, and measure, with the lost days of my life, in which I have offended thee and detracted from thy praise, and fallen from thee, my highest good and drawn my neighbour with me in my fall.
Accept then, O Lord, the years that remain to me out of this my wretched life; and for those which I have lost by my misconduct, despise not,
