What can I do for my sins but humbly confess them and lament them, and incessantly implore Thy mercy for them? Hear me, I beseech Thee, in Thy mercy, when I stand before Thee, O my God.
All my sins displease me exceedingly; I will never commit them any more; I am sorry for them, and will be sorry for them as long as I live: I am willing to do penance for them, and to make satisfaction to the utmost of my power. Forgive, O my God, forgive me my sins, for Thy holy Name's sake. Save my soul, which Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.
-Bk. IV, ch. ix.
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One morning during her last illness, when the Community were reciting the Confiteor at her bedside before she received Holy Communion, she was deeply affected by the sense of her own unworthiness, and confided later to Mere Agnes de Jesus: "When I saw Our Lord about to give Himself to me, I realized the urgent need for this humiliation: I confess to Almighty God, to Blessed Mary ever a Virgin, to all the Saints, that I have sinned exceedingly...How necessary at that moment to ask pardon of God! I felt like the publican, like the greatest of sinners, and was so moved at the thought of the whole court of Heaven imploring the Divine Mercy on my behalf."
She had copied on one of her breviary markers the following texts from the Gospel: Lord, thou knowest that I love thee (John xxi, 16); be merciful to me a sinner (Luke xviii, 13).
-Esprit de Sainte Therese
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For a more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.
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