Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/33

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NIGHT PRAYER.
15

have committed? What shall I do to prevent my future relapse? Father, from henceforth the face of sin shall be more hideous to me than hell, and the least shadow of it more frightful than death. Forgive, O Almighty Lord, forgive, and have not the sins of my past life in remembrance. Why should the mighty Lord of heaven and earth be in wrath against so poor, so contemptible an object? Behold me, O God, not in thine anger, but according to the tender bowels of thy infinite mercy; for thou art our Father, and we are thy children; thou art our Maker, and we are as clay in thy hands; thou canst, with those waters drawn from the fountains of our blessed Saviour, cleanse our iniquities, and with the mixture of one drop of his most precious blood mould us again into vessels of honour. Of thee only, O merciful Father, I beg and hope for pardon; upon thee only do I call and depend for assistance, that I may hereafter constantly serve thee with a true and faithful obedience, and inseparably adhere to thee with a pure and perfect love for ever.

PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.

O GOD, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of thy servants departed full remission of all their offences, that, through the help of pious supplications, they may obtain the pardon of which they have been always desirous: who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.

V. Give them, O Lord, eternal rest.

R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.

V. May they rest in peace.

R. Amen.