me, or who have ever injured me. I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart, that I have offended thee. O Lord, be merciful to my sins.
This is a most easy and excellent method of making frequently an act of contrition.
Another hindrance is temptation, which urges us to sin, and hinders us from following the Divine will . Hence one who is freed from past sins, both dreads and seeks to avoid those which are future. But who can fly from them without the help of God? Therefore, from the knowledge we have of our own weakness, and of the power of so many enemies, to whom our life is always exposed, we Pray,
And lead us not into temptation.
We acknowledge, O Lord, that without thee we can do nothing, and that all our sufficiency is of thee; let not, then, thy grace desert us, nor permit us to be driven back, and beaten down by any temptation of the world, the flesh, or the devil. Thou seest our frailty, and the great power and craft of those who tempt thy creatures, so dearly redeemed. We doubt not, that all things are brought about by the loving counsel of thy providence; and that not to suffer, but to be conquered by temptation, is evil. Suffer us not, then, O Lord, to be tempted beyond what we are able, lest perchance we fail under the temptation; but help us to overcome it. Let but thy grace prosper us, and the victory will be easy.
Another hindrance is the punishment we often meet with when freed from guilt. The many adversities of this life, as famine, wars, diseases, loss of property, reputation, life, sometimes affects severely even pious minds. So that we have cause finally to pray.
But deliver us from evil.
That which our feelings incline us to think evil, is not so in reality, and in itself, unless it is made so through our fault. For from thee, O Lord, proceed all things, whether life or death, honour or poverty; how, then, can they be evil, when they proceed from the Highest Good? These, however, become evil, not unfrequently, through our fault, that is to say, through our impatience, cowardice, and mistrust. Strengthen us, then, with thy grace and comfort, and make all things work together for good to those that love thee. Here cut and burn me, as a physician the patient who draws his last hope of life from these remedies, however severe. Here correct and chastise me, as a father the son for whom the inheritance is reserved. Nay more, prove, and try, and purify me, as a refiner the gold which is
