Historical text
EVENING DEVOTIONS.
O Lord my God, Who art present everywhere, I prostrate myself before Thee and praise Thee before I take my rest.
Deign to receive my heartiest thanks for the blessings and graces Thou hast been pleased to give me this day. Enlighten my mind that I may know my own ingratitude, and move my will to bewail my sins and to amend my life. Amen.
Examine your conscience about the sins, faults, and omissions of the past day.
AN ACT OF FAITH.
O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.
DEVOTIONS FOR CONFESSION.
PRAYER TO THE HOLY GHOST.
Come, O Holy Ghost, replenish the hearts of Thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy divine love.
V. Send forth Thy spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
O God, Who by the light of the Holy Ghost didst instruct the hearts of Thy faithful, grant us by the same Spirit, to love and relish what is right and just, and a constant enjoyment of His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
(Now make your examination of conscience.)
ACT OF CONTRITION AFTER THE EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE.
O my God, I am most heartily sorry for all my sins, and I detest them above all things from the bottom of my heart, because they displease Thee, O my God, Who art most deserving of all my love, for Thy most amiable, and adorable perfections. I firmly resolve, with the assistance of Thy grace, never more to offend Thee, and to amend my life. Increase my sorrow, O my God, and strengthen me in my resolution.
Ah, my Jesus, I see how much Thou hast done and suffered for me, and I have been so ungrateful to Thee. How many times, for the sake of some miserable pleasure or fancy, have I bartered away Thy grace, and have lost Thee, O God of my soul!
My dear God, pardon me; I am sorry; I grieve with my whole heart, and I hope for pardon from Thee, because Thou art infinite goodness. If Thou were not infinite goodness, I should lose hope, and I should not even have the courage to ask Thee to have mercy on me.
Say seven Hail Marys in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows, and after each Hail Mary, the stanza:
Bid me bear, O Mother blessed,
On my heart the wounds impressed,
Suffered by the Crucified.
300 days Indulgence once a day. Plenary Indulgence once a month. Pius IX, June 18, 1876. (Raccolta, 1903, p. 285.)
Make frequent acts of contrition while waiting to go to Confession. Represent vividly to yourself, that the priest represents Our Lord Himself, and accuse yourself of your sins, and the necessary circumstances of the same, as you would do to Our Lord Himself, and follow the rules and counsels laid down for you.
AFTER CONFESSION.
O God and Father of Heaven, prostrate on my knees before Thee, I render Thee thanks for the great grace Thou hast granted me without any merit of mine. I now again possess Thy grace and favor. Thru the Holy Sacrament of Penance, in the Name of Jesus, all my sins have been forgiven. I am again become a child of God, through Jesus Christ, converted from the state of sin to the state of grace. Praise and thanks be to Thee, O God, for the sweet consolation that I now experience within myself! Strengthen me that I may sin no more, and never again lose this consolation and peace of conscience, and shun the occasions of sin.
Most Holy Virgin Mary, assist me. Thou art the Mother of perseverance; . all my hope is in thee.
My Queen, my Mother, I give myself entirely to thee; and to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being, without reserve. Wherefore, good Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me as thy property and possession.
Hail Mary, etc.
Indulgence 100 days, once a day. Plenary Indulgence once a month. Pope Pius IX, August 8, 1881. (Raccolta, 1903, p. 303.)
NO MORE SIN.
To sin bid adieu; for sinning is slaying
Your Jesus anew.
Bid cursing adieu; for cursing is stabbing
Your Jesus anew.
False swearing, adieu; such oaths stain the honor
Of Jesus anew.
To drink bid adieu; for drunkenness drowneth
His friendship in you. Obscenity, adieu; for this brings on Jesus
The scourges anew.
Bid slander adieu; this murders your neighbor
And Jesus anew.
Bid rancor adieu; for hating one only
Your love is not true.
Bid vengeance adieu; forgive or no pardon
Has Jesus for you.
Bid scandal adieu; it snatches from Jesus
The souls to Him due.
Yes, sin—sin, adieu—to Jesus we’ll ever
Be faithful and true.
