I glorify Thee for the anguish of Thy Soul at the grievous dishonour brought upon Thee by the thrice-repeated denial of Thee by Peter the apostle, when, to the challenge of a woman, he made answer in the words: "I know not the man."
I praise and magnify Thy Name for ever, for that gentle look which Thou didst mercifully vouchsafe to cast upon blessed Peter, that so, immediately upon the second crowing of the cock, he might be brought to a sense of his guilt; and going out at once from among those wicked men, might mourn with bitter tears, and with deep contrition of heart, his terrible sin of denying Thee,
He indeed did not, like wretched Judas, fall hopelessly into the pit of despair; but saved by Thy unspeakable mercy, and trusting to Thy boundless store of pity and loving-kindness, of which he had so often felt the tenderness, he sought at once with bitter lamentations that wholesome medicine of penance, which Thou hast provided for the healing of the disease of sin, and found set open wide before him the gate of infinite mercy.
O the surpassing love and pity of the Saviour! How inexhaustible is that fountain of Divine Mercy and overflowing grace, which has been opened to us; to which the sinner may always resort in the sure hope of being forgiven, and the just of always finding therein abundant stores of grace! Would to God, then, that I might always have ready such a fountain of tears, that, like blessed Peter, I might be sure of worthily bewailing my sins, and of obtaining, by the help of his merits and intercession, the pardon which they need, and the grace which I have lost. Peter, indeed, fell because, in fear of death, he thrice denied the truth; but I, on the slightest cause, daily swerve from the path
