since, in the Sacrament of Penance, hast thou hot purified my soul from its deliberate and voluntary faults!
For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.
O God, thou lovest truth, hear me then whilst I bear witness against my own ingratitude. Who ever had stronger motives for fidelity than I? Thou hast been pleased to pour thy graces and lights into my soul, thou hast manifested to me secrets and mysteries hidden from the lovers of the world: I am then more guilty than they.
Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow,
“ For if the blood of goats and oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God 1” ( Heb . ix. 13, 14.) O my God, my Jesus ! it is thou alone who canst restore innocence to my soul which thou prizest so much. Thou wilt wash me in thy blood, a single drop of which would suffice to purify the entire world, and I shall become whiter than snow.
To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness; and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.
It is then, O my God, that thou wilt make my soul hear words of joy and gladness; thou wilt assure her that whatever may be her trials in this life all is well since she is thy friend; that thou wilt never withdraw thy eyes from her; that her name is written in thy heart; and then, all her powers which had been humbled and cast down by the sight of he miseries and offences shall exult with a holy joy.
