larity; I am an ungrateful, unfaithful, and rebellious creature, and deserve that thou shouldst close in my regard that salutary fountain which thou hast established in thy church to cleanse the sinner: this is what I might expect from thy justice; but when I reflect on that mercy which is never wearied in seeking the lost sheep, and which, when found, treats it with ineffable sweetness, far from giving way to despair, I hope with a firm confidence for the pardon of my offences.
With a firm faith in thee, divine Jesus! I go to thee in the person of thy minister, and placing myself in spirit at the foot of the cross, I shall hope that the merits of the all-atoning blood which was shed upon it to take away the sins of the world, will be applied to my poor soul, by the absolution 1 shall fervently hope to receive. To supply for my want of contrition, I offer thee all the sorrow which thy divine heart felt for my sins in the Garden of Olives, begging through the merits of that sacred heart, that thou wilt cleanse me from them, and grant me the grace to avoid them in future. Amen.
PRAYER AFTER CONFESSION.
O JESUS, how worthy art thou of my love, and what thanks do 1 not owe! I hope that through the merits of thy blood, thou hast forgiven me my sins. For this I thank thee with my whole heart, and I bum with the desire to praise thy mercy in heaven through all eternity. Until now, 0 my God, I have offended thee often, but for the time to come, I will never offend thee again. 1 am anxious to change my life. Thou dost merit all my love, and therefore I will love thee truly and dearly. I will never again be separated from
