Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/165

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thee. I have already promised thee rather to die than offend thee again. Once more I make this promise, and hope through thy mercy to keep it.

I promise also to shun the occasions of sin, and to take the following means to keep me from falling again (here name the means). But thou knowest my weakness, O my God. Give me thy grace, that I may remain true unto thee until my death, and teach: me m the hour of temptation to have recourse to thee. Mary, help me! Thou art the Mother of perseverance, I place all my hopes in thee.

Returning from Confession, say:

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour: because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. ( Luke i. 46, 49.) Be pleased, dear Lord, to ratify in heaven the sentence of absolution which thy minister has pronounced upon me in thy name; receive the confession I have made, and finish the work thy mercy has begun, by fortifying me against my accustomed weaknesses, and granting me the grace never more deliberately to offend thee. Receive, Eternal Father! the satisfaction which my Saviour made thee when expiring on the cross, and let it not only satisfy for my debts, but also obtain for me the graces necessary to love and serve thee in future. Mercifully grant that the absolution I have received may extend to all the sins of my life, for which I am heartily sorry.

O my soul, cherished object of a Saviour’s love, purchase of his blood, and child of his tenderest mercies, u give praise to him. for he is good: for his mercy endureth for every (Psalm cxvii. 1.) But "what shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? Where-