Lord! I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid. What, then, O Lord, wouldst thou have me do? My heart is ready, ready to do what thou commandest, ready to shun what thou forbiddest. I know that not every one pleases thee that says to thee, Lord, Lord, but he that keeps thy commandments. O Jesus, Master! have mercy on me, and teach me to do thy will; that I may not be a servant that knows his Lord’s will, but does it not, and so be worthy to be beaten with many stripes. Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt.
Our daily bread.
O Jesus, good Shepherd! who camest from heaven, to visit thy sheep, as a shepherd visits his flock, and feedest, too, thy sheep in the richest pastures. But who is there that feeds a flock, and does not eat of its milk and of its flesh? yet thou feedest thy sheep with thy own Flesh and Blood, nay, layest down thy life for thy sheep.
Behold, O good Shepherd, I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost; I am wandering in trackless ways, and find no pasture. Seek thy sheep again, lay me on thy shoulders, and carry me back to the place of pasture, where thou hast first placed me, and nothing will be wanting either to my body or soul. Give me bread out of the earth to nourish the one, and with the Bread of Heaven strengthen the other, that I may not faint by the way.
Forgive us our trespasses.
O Jesus, most loving Redeemer, who hast loved us, and given thyself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify to thyself an acceptable people. We were sold for nothing, and were to be redeemed without money:[1] yet with a price, oh, with how great a price were we bought For we were not redeemed with corruptible things, like gold and silver, but with thy precious Blood. Forgive us, then, our debts, for which thou hast paid so ample a price. But if thou shouldst mark iniquities, who shall endure it, since there is none to redeem or to save us? For who is there beside thee, who can forgive sins? Not a brother, nor any man will redeem us, for with thee alone, O supreme Redeemer, is there mercy and plentiful redemption!
And lead us not into temptation.
O Jesus, my Saviour, and most loving Physician! who camest into the world to save sinners, who hast thyself borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows, having been thyself tempted in all
- ↑ Isa. lii. 3.
