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MEDITATIONS OF
Consider, then, how many benefits God hath bestowed upon you, and how you have abused them all in prejudice of the giver: and, in particular, how many inspirations have you despised! How many good motions have you made unprofitable! But, above all, how many times have you received the sacraments! And where are the fruits of it? What is become of all those precious jewels, with which your dear spouse adorned you? All these have been buried under your iniquities. With what preparations have you received them! Think of this ingratitude, that, God having run so far after you, you have run from him to lose yourself.
Affections and Resolutions.- 1. Be confounded at your misery. O my God! how dare I appear before thine eyes? Alas! I am but the corruption of the world, and a very sink of sin and ingratitude. Is it possible that I have been so disloyal, as not to have left any one of my senses, or any one of the powers of my soul, which I have not corrupted, violated, or defiled? And that not so much as one day of my life has passed, in which I have not brought forth such wicked effects? Is it thus that I have recompensed the benefits of my Creator, and the precious blood of my Redeemer?
2. Crave pardon, and cast yourself at the feet of your Lord, like the prodigal child, like a penitent Magdalene, or like a woman who has defiled her marriage- bed with all kinds of adultery. Have mercy, O Lord, upon this poor sinner! Alas! O living fountain of compassion, have pity on this wretch.
3. Resolve to live better. No, O Lord, never more, with the help of thy grace- never more will I abandon myself to sin. Alas! I have loved it too much: now I detest it, and embrace thee. O Father of mercy, i will live and die in thee!
4. To expiate my past sins, I will accuse myselí of them courageously; and will not leave one unbanished from my heart.