O LORD God Almighty, three persons, and one substance, eternal and omnipresent, before all, and in all, God blessed forever!

I consecrate to your use, and commit into your custody, this day and for my whole life, my body and my soul, my sight and hearing, my taste, touch, and smelling; all my thoughts and affections; my words and actions; all without, and all within me; my sensitive and intellectual faculties, my imagination and memory; my faith and my perseverance; beseeching you in mercy to take charge of them day and night, and keep them safe from all the dangers and temptations which beset me, and which attempt to enter at these avenues every hour and moment.

Hear me, O blessed holy Trinity, and preserve me from all evil, and all scandal, and especially
from all deadly sin.

Protect me from the subtle treachery, and violent assaults, and perpetual hostilities of evil spirits; and shield me from the malice of all my enemies, visible and invisible; and under your mighty protection, conduct me safe at last to those blissful mansions which you have prepared for those who love you, inhabited by patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, confessors and virgins, and all the holy men and women who have walked in fear of You, and done the will of
their heavenly Father faithfully from the beginning of the world.

Root out from me, I pray you, all confident boasting, spiritual pride, arrogance and haughtiness of spirit, and beat down my soul with true compunction for my sins, and a profound unaffected humility.

Open a vent for the tears of repentance; and when you have softened this rock within my breast, let those streams gush out abundantly (Psa 78.20).

Deliver me, O Lord, from the snare of the hunter, and do not let my soul fall prey to those who seek its ruin, but keep me ever safe and steadfast in the performance of your will. Teach me to do the thing that pleases you, for you are my God (Psa 143.10).

Give me a right judgment and a perfect understanding of Divine truths, that I may have worthy apprehensions of your unmeasurable goodness. Direct my prayers to you on all occasions,
and let me ask for those things which you delight to give, and are best for me to receive. Kindle in my heart a holy zeal, such as may incline your mercy effectually to blot out the remembrance of all my past offences committed against your Divine majesty.

O Lord, hear; O Lord hearken and act: Do not delay for your own sake, O my God (Dan 9.19). If you reject my petitions, and turn away your face, I die; if you show the light of your countenance, I am renewed to life (Psa 104.29, 30).

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

From Augustine's Meditations, chapter 39.

Cover photo by Sikunov from Pixabay.

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