Meditations On Divine Mercy

[ChiRho]

JOHANN GERHARD

A Classic Treasury of Devotional Prayers

Translated by Matthew C. Harrison

I am offering these prayers and meditations as an oasis from the seemingly endless desert of discussion and debate.

May this thread provide sanctuary and haven from the devil, according to Christ Jesus our Lord!

Pax Christi,

ChiRho

[ChiRho]

O HOLY GOD, just Judge, do not remember the faults of my youth (Psalm 25:7). Do not recall any more the sins of my past (Jeremiah 31:34). The root of evil desire produced so much poison fruit in my childhood. The evil of original sin produced so many actual sins. The thoughts of my heart are depraved and perverse from earliest childhood, even from tender infancy (Genesis 6:5). If I were a day-old infant, in Your sight I would still not be innocent (Job 14:4). The faults and failures that weigh on me are as many as the days of my life; in fact, they are many more because even a righteous person falls seven times in a day, I believe that I, hopeless and unrighteous, have fallen seventy times seven times in a day.

Life increased and the web of sins increased. However much You kindly added to the length of my life, my defective and corrupt nature added an equal amount to the weight of my sins. I look back at my life and find the most foul and filthy cloak of sins. When I compare the course of my life to the light of Your precepts, I find only darkness and blindness. My youth should have been picked like a tender young flower, worn as a crown of virtue, and offered to You as a fragrant scent. The best of my years should have belonged to You, the Creator of nature. But the filth of sins polluted that flower of my youth in the foulest way. The stinking filth of transgressions fouled it terribly and miserably. Of all our years, the earliest are the most apt time for us to serve God. However, I used most of mine to serve the devil. The memory of many sins committed in my promiscuous and uncontrolled youth weighs heavy on my mind. Worse yet, many more of these sins escape my memory. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults (Psalm 19:12).

For the disobedience of my youth, I offer to You, holy Father, the obedience of Your Son. I offer to You the perfect innocence of the one who became obedient to You, even to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Even as a boy of twelve, Christ showed a holy obedience to You and followed Your will with great willingness (Luke 2:42). This obedience, O just Judge, I offer as the price and satisfaction for the great disobedience of my youth.

AMEN.

Meditations on Divine Mercy (Johann Gerhard) Translated by Matthew C. Harrison (II; pgs 34-35)

[ChiRho]

O HOLY GOD, just Judge, no one is innocent in Your sight. No one is free from the uncleanliness of sin (Job 14:4). I do not possess that glory that I must bring with me when I stand before Your throne of judgement (Romans 3:23). I do not have the robe of innocence in which I must be clothed in Your sight. Seven times, no, many more times in every hour I fail (Proverbs 24:16). Every day I sin seventy times seven times. The spirit is sometimes willing, but the flesh is always weak (Matthew 26:41). The inner man is at times strong and firm, but the outer man is faint and weak. I do not do the good that I want to do, but I do the evil that I do not want to do (Romans 7:19). Depraved and impious thoughts appear in my mind. Vain, useless, and harmful words come out of my mouth. Perverse, depraved, and unbefitting deeds pollute me. All my righteous deeds are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

I do not dare to assert my righteousness before You (Romans 10:3). Instead, I deeply humble myself before Your most righteous tribunal. I cry out to You from the depths (Psalm 130:1,3). Lord, if You hold our sins against us, who will survive? If You enter into judgment against us, who will remain (Psalm 143:2)? If You measure us by the severe examination Your righeousness demands, how will we be able to stand before You? If You require an exact accounting for my life, I cannot give an excuse either for a thousand sins or for one (Job 9:3). My mouth is stopped (Romans 3:19). I confess that before You I am worthy of eternal suffering. I tearfully confess that I justly deserve eternal imprisonment.

For these sins that I commit every day of my life, I offer to You, O holy Father, the precious blood of Your Son, which was poured out on the altar of the cross. His blood cleanses me from all my transgressions (1 John 1:7). My sins hold me captive and are powerful enemies, but still more precious and efficacious is the ransom of Your Son. May that most perfect, full, and holy ransom of Christ avail for me, for the forgiveness of my transgressions. AMEN.

Meditations on Divine Mercy (Johann Gerhard) translated by Matthew C. Harrison (III; pgs 36-37)

[Caelum]

Nice post's, I love them and appreciate you taking the time to post em :D

Nate

[JVAC]

I have always enjoyed this short prayer:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.


-James

[Lotar]

I posted this in the Lutheran Wisdom thread, but it's more appropriate here:

Creator God, O lord of all,
who rule the skies, you clothe the day
in radiant color, bid the night
in quietness serve the gratious sway
of sleep, that weary limbs, restored
to labor's use, may rise again,
and jaded minds abate their fret,
and mourners find release from pain.

-St. Ambrose of Milan

[ChiRho]

I was reading through the prayer thread today and I remembered this...so dug it up.

PaX Christi,

ChiRho

[Jim47]

Very nice confessions. Thanks

[pastel]

These seem to be nice ones, and I've only skimmed them for now. Will return later to ponder them more in depth since I'm having a case of eye strain right now. ;)

[pastel]

Very nice confessions. Thanks for the posting.

[Qoheleth]

ChiRho, and everyone, If you have not read Johann Gerhards, "Sacred Meditations", pick it up. Humbling, humbling, humbling and yet so comforting.


Q