Innocent III: DIALOGUS INTER DEUM ET PECCATOREM

Alterum Innocentii in bibliotheca Vaticana monumentum reperi, Palatino codici insertum, inscriptumque Dialogus Innocentii tertii inter Deum et peccatorem, quem dialogum utrum ante an post pontificatum scripserit ignoro, neque enim ipse de se Innocentius loquitur, sed cujuslibet peccatoris personam cum Deo loquentem introducit; nec vero quisquam miretur, dialogum hunc in Gestis non recenseri, multa enim alia sive edita, sive inedita Innocentii scripta auctori Gestorum ignota fuerunt. Accipiat igitur Christiana Ecclesia hanc quoque a nobis magni pontificis lucubrationem, quae dum religiosissimum auctoris animum comprobat, legentium pariter pietatem excitat morumque emendationem impense suadet.

I found another monument of Innocent in the Vatican Library, inserted into a Palatine codex, and inscribed Dialogue of Innocent III between God and the sinner, which dialogue, whether he wrote it before or after the pontificate, I do not know, for Innocent does not speak about himself, but introduces the person of any sinner speaking with God; nor indeed should anyone marvel that this dialogue is not reviewed among the Deeds, for many other writings of Innocent, whether published or unpublished, were unknown to the author of the Deeds. Let the Christian Church therefore receive this lucubration of the great pontiff from us as well, which, while it approves the most religious mind of the author, likewise arouses the piety of readers and earnestly urges the emendation of morals.

DIALOGUS INTER DEUM ET PECCATOREM.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN GOD AND THE SINNER.

Quia pius et misericors Dominus, fratres charissimi, permittit, imo gratum ei, a miseris se mortalibus invocari, erigitur mihi quoque audacia, licet indigno et peccatori, clamandi ad Deum voce magna, et ipsius clementiam invocandi. Non igitur onerosum sit vobis, quia proficere poterit Domino adjuvante ad poenitentiae fructum, quasi dialogum in auribus charitatis vestrae constituam quoddam colloquium inter peccatorem et Deum. Non enim dedignatur Altissimus hujusmodi colloquia servorum suorum, dicente ad eum Job: "Loquere et ego respondebo tibi, aut certe ego loquor et tu responde mihi (Job XIII)." Ipso itaque attendente de coelo et residente in excelso gloriae suae, tanquam immutabili Deo apud quem non est transmutatio neque vicissitudinis obumbratio, ego prostratus in terra et adhaerens humiliter pavimento, tanto competentius personam assumam peccatoris in hoc colloquio, quanto prae caeteris reum et culpabilem immundum et peccatorem esse me fateor et agnosco.

Because the pious and merciful Lord, dearest brothers,
permits, nay is pleased, to be invoked by wretched mortals,
boldness is lifted up for me also, though unworthy and a sinner,
to cry out to God with a great voice,
and to invoke his clemency. Therefore let it not be
burdensome to you, since it may be able to profit, the Lord helping,
unto the fruit of penitence, that I set up, as it were, a dialogue
in the ears of your charity, a certain colloquy between the sinner and God.
For the Most High does not disdain colloquies of this sort of his servants,
Job saying to him: “Speak and
I will answer you, or indeed I speak and you answer
me (Job 13).” With him himself, then, attending from
heaven and sitting in the height of his glory, as to
the immutable God with whom there is no transmutation nor overshadowing of vicissitude, I, prostrate
on the earth and humbly clinging to the pavement, so much
the more fittingly will assume the person of the sinner in this
colloquy, inasmuch as before the rest I confess and acknowledge
myself to be guilty and culpable, unclean and a sinner.

Incipiens ergo et aperiens mentis meae desiderium sic loquor verbis meis ad eum:

Therefore, beginning and opening the desire of my mind, thus I speak with my words to him:

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Deus aeterne, cujus natura bonitas, et opus misericordia est, qui etiam cum iratus fueris, misericordiae recordaberis, quibus verbis digne te potero invocare ut et tu digneris invocantem misericorditer exaudire? Scio quia Redemptor meus, Filius tuus, doctor veritatis et sapientiae, cum ad eum diceret unus ex discipulis suis: Domine, doce me orare; ait: "Dicite: Pater noster qui es in coelis (Luc. II) ." Si igitur, Domine, sic orando invocavero te, poterone percipere quod verbum illud a fideli propheta tuo probatum in me impleatur?

Eternal God, whose nature is goodness, and whose work is mercy, who even when you are angered will remember mercy, with what words shall I be able worthily to invoke you, so that you too may deign mercifully to hear the one invoking? I know that my Redeemer, your Son, the doctor of truth and wisdom, when one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach me to pray; said: "Say: Our Father who art in the heavens (Luke 2)." If therefore, Lord, by praying thus I shall have invoked you, shall I be able to receive that that word, approved by your faithful prophet, may be fulfilled in me?

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Pro certo quod sic orare docuit te Filius consubstantialis mihi et coaeternus; sed quia tu temetipsum mihi non exhibes sicut filium, non potes in oratione praedicta digne invocare me sicut patrem. Nam ex persona mea dicit propheta: "Si ego Pater, ubi est amor meus? (Malac.

For a certainty the Son, consubstantial with me and coeternal, has taught you thus to pray; but because you yourself do not present yourself to me as a son, you cannot in the aforesaid prayer worthily invoke me as Father. For in my person the prophet says: "If I am Father, where is my love? (Malac.

I.)" Si autem me tanquam Patrem, homo quem creavi, diligeres, mandata mea tanquam filius qui patrem diligit custodires; exhibitio enim operis, probatio est dilectionis. Sed consideranti mihi omne genus hominum et universum statum in carne viventium, rarus occurrit in praelatis et subditis, in regibus et ministris, in claustralibus et professis, in dominis et servis, in clericis et laicis, qui adimpleat meam voluntatem in exsequendis mandatis meis, et tanquam patri amorem exhibeat mihi filialem. Omnis sexus et aetas corrupit viam suam, ut eat post concupiscentias suas contemnendo universam traditionem evangelicam et doctrinam.

1.)" If, however, you were to love me
as Father, O man whom I created,
you would keep my commandments as a son who loves his father;
for the exhibition of the work is the proof of love. But as I consider every kind of humankind
and the whole estate of those living in the flesh, rare
is he found among prelates and subjects, among kings and ministers, among the cloistered and the professed, among lords
and servants, among clerics and laics, who fulfills my
will in executing my commandments, and, as to a
father, exhibits to me filial love. Every
sex and age has corrupted its way, so as to go after its concupiscences,
contemning the entire evangelical tradition
and doctrine.

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Mirabilis facta est scientia tua, Domine, contra me, et non potero ad eam. Claudis os meum et obstruis rationibus tuis, ut ad invocationem tuam prosilire non audeam verbis orationis praefatae. "Loquor tamen ad Dominum meum, cum sim pulvis et cinis (Gen.

Marvelous has your science become, O Lord, beyond me, and I shall not be able to attain to it. You shut my mouth and obstruct it with your reasonings, so that at your invocation I may not dare to leap forth with the words of the aforesaid prayer. "Yet I speak to my Lord, since I am dust and ashes (Gen.

XVIII)," mutabo verbum, si forte digna inveniatur invocatio mea in auribus tuis; assumam ad te invocandum illam orationem fidelis prophetae tui David, cui perhibuisti testimonium tuum dicens: Inveni virum secundum cor meum (Psal. LXXXVIII). Sic enim orando clamabo ad te, Domine: "Miserere mei." Et itidem ego dixi: "Domine, miserere mei;" et alibi: "Miserere mei, Domine, et exaudi orationem meam (Psal. IV)."

(Gen. 18)," I will alter the word, if perhaps a worthy invocation be found in your ears; I will take up for invoking you that prayer of your faithful prophet David, to whom you bore your testimony saying: I have found a man according to my heart (Psal. 88). Thus in praying I will cry to you, Lord: "Have mercy on me." And likewise I said: "Lord, have mercy on me;" and elsewhere: "Have mercy on me, Lord, and hear my prayer (Psal. 4)."

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Non bene sonat oratio illa in ore tuo, quia non habes me pro Domino, quia non times me sicut servus timere debet dominum suum, licet diffiteri non possis te servum meum. Ego quidem qui per prophetam dixi contra filios inobedientiae: "Si ego Pater, ubi est amor meus? (Malac.

That prayer does not sound well in your mouth, because you do not have me as Lord, because you do not fear me as a servant ought to fear his lord, although you cannot deny that you are my servant. I indeed, who through the prophet said against the sons of disobedience: "If I am Father, where is my love? (Malac.

I)" per eumdem clamavi contra servos qui sunt sine timore: "Si ego Dominus, ubi est timor meus? (ibid.)" Quod autem non timeas me, vel non habeas me pro Domino, de facili tibi probo. Si enim esses in aliquo loco secreto solus cum sola muliere aliqua, quam valde diligeres, paratus et valde accensus in eam ut libidinem corporalem impleres, nonne si aliquis quem tu formidares irrumperet, statim dimitteres opus incoeptum, et fugeres prae timore illius, vel saltem ne videreris ab illo prae verecundia et timore seu pudore, si posses, ad latibulum aliquod convolares?

I)" through the same I cried out against servants who are without fear: "If I am Lord, where is my fear? (ibid.)" But that you do not fear me, or do not have me for Lord, I easily prove to you. For if you were in some secret place, alone with some woman whom you greatly loved, prepared and greatly inflamed toward her to fulfill carnal libido, would you not, if someone whom you dreaded should burst in, immediately abandon the work begun and flee because of fear of him, or at least, lest you be seen by him out of bashfulness and fear or shame, if you could, fly to some lurking-place?

Pro me vero non dimittis vicinis oculis talia operari, cui etiam displicere, et ne facias, inhibere cognoscis? De me enim ait propheta: "Nunquid Deus e vicino?" (Jer. XXIII.) En Deus a longinquo ego sum.

But for me, indeed, you do not desist from doing such things before nearby eyes, me whom you also know to be displeased, and to inhibit you lest you do them. For concerning me the prophet says: "Is God from nearby?" (Jer. 23.) Behold, I am a God from afar.

Nunquid si absconderit se homo, ego non videbo eum? Unde magis illum quam me timere convinceris; imo illum metuere tanquam dominum, qui similis est tibi homo mortalis et corruptibilis; et me, qui sum omnipotens et aeternus, et velis nolis, Dominus tuus, contemnere comprobaris. Non ergo digne convenit tibi ut sic invoces me dicendo, Domine, miserere.

Is it indeed that if a man hides himself, I shall not see him? Whence you are proved to fear him more than me; nay, to dread him as a lord, who is like you, a mortal and corruptible man; and me, who am omnipotent and eternal, and, willy-nilly, your Lord, you are proved to despise. Therefore it does not worthily befit you to invoke me thus, saying, Lord, have mercy.

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Convincis me * Domine, evidenter et concludis argumentando irrefragabiliter. Ad hoc cum loquor ad Dominum meum homo ego putredo, et filius hominis vermis, occurrit, Domine, menti meae oratio illa peccatoris et publicani, quam tu misericors acceptasti, cum orans in templo et nolens levare oculos in coelum, percuteret pectus suum, dicens: "Deus, propitius esto mihi peccatori (Luc. XVIII)." Ipsius exemplo et similibus verbis ad te clamabo, si forte sic invocantem exaudias, et propitieris peccato meo, multum est enim.

You convict me * Lord, evidently, and you conclude by arguing irrefragably. To this, when I speak to my Lord, I—a man—am putridity, and, a son of man, a worm; there comes to my mind, Lord, that prayer of the sinner and the publican, which you, merciful, accepted, when, praying in the temple and not willing to lift his eyes to heaven, he was striking his breast, saying: "God, be propitious to me, a sinner (Luke 18)." By his example and with similar words I will cry out to you, if perchance you might hear one thus invoking, and be propitious to my sin, for it is much.

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Si Dominus Deus tuus ego sum, qui solus certe sum, omnino irrisorie ad me clamare videris, utens ad invocandum me verbis orationis praedictae; cum aliud sit praeter me quod colis ut Deum, ad quod principaliter dirigis affectum tuum. Illud enim est Deus tuus quod magis a te diligitur. Si enim avarus es, pecuniam tanquam idololatra colis et amas ut Deum.

If I am the Lord your God, who alone surely
I am, you seem altogether in mockery to cry out to me, using
the words of the aforesaid prayer to invoke me; since
there is something besides me which you worship as God, to which
you principally direct your affection. For that is
your God which is more loved by you. For if you are avaricious,
you worship money like an idolater and love it
as God.

Avaritia siquidem, teste Apostolo meo, "idolorum est servitus (Ephes. V)." Si gastrimargus sive gulosus, venter est Deus tuus, quia de his curam habes quae maxime ingluviem ventris incendunt. Dicitur a praedicto Apostolo: "Hi sunt quorum Deus venter eorum est (Philip.

For avarice indeed, my Apostle bearing witness, "is the servitude of idols (Ephesians 5)." If a gastrimargus or glutton, the belly is your God, because you take care for those things which most inflame the ingluvies of the belly. It is said by the aforesaid Apostle: "These are they whose God is their belly (Philippians.

III)." Unde si alium Deum praeter me habes, istud scilicet vitium quod plus amas quam me, qui verus sum Deus, ad propitiandum tibi digne non invocabis me. Imo videtur quod velles irridere me, et velut ironice Deum invocare, si cultum et amorem mihi debitum alii exhibendo, ad me clamares: "Deus, propitius esto mihi peccatori (Luc. XVIII);" cum haec stulta opinio contraria sit Scripturae dicenti: "Deus non irridetur (Gal. VI)." Sed tu facis sicut adultera, quae habens ex una parte legitimum virum suum, ex alia recipit amatorem suum.

3)." Whence, if
you have another God besides me, namely that vice
which you love more than me, I who am the true God, to
propitiate me toward you, you will not worthily invoke me. Nay, it seems
that you would wish to mock me, and as if ironically to
invoke God, if, by exhibiting to another the cult and love due to me,
you were to cry to me: "God, be propitious to
me, a sinner (Luke 18);" since this foolish opinion
is contrary to the Scripture saying: "God is not mocked (Galatians 6)." But you act like an adulteress, who, having
on one side her lawful husband, on the other
receives her lover.

Nam me, qui sum sponsus tuus, tanquam meretrix impudica contemnis, et excludis thalamo animae tuae, ubi tecum deberem delicioso et sancto amore quiescere, quia deliciae sunt mihi esse cum filiis hominum. Non sine injuria mea diabolum velut amatorem externum inducis ad lasciviendum cum eo in concupiscentiis et desideriis tuis. Quibus vere dicit Scriptura: "Augustum, inquit, est stratum, ita ut alter decidat (Isa.

For me, who am your bridegroom, you disdain like a shameless meretrix, and you exclude me from the bridal-chamber of your soul, where I ought to rest with you in delicious and holy love, for my delights are to be with the sons of men. Not without injury to me you bring in the devil as though an external lover, to lasciviate with him in your concupiscences and desires. Of which things truly Scripture says: “Narrow,” it says, “is the bed, so that another falls off” (Isa.

XXVIII)." Ideo relinquo stratum, et recessi a te, quia in fornicationibus suis alii inhaerendo impudenter anima reliquit me, virum utique pubertatis suae, cui debuerat inseparabiliter adhaerere. Caeterum quando credis te posse me invocare ut respondeam tibi, cum non sim in te? quare pertransis clausis oculis? et vim illius verbi quod ponit Propheta, scilicet: "Invocabis, et Dominus exaudiet te (Isa.

28)." Therefore I leave the bed, and I have withdrawn from you, because in her fornications, by adhering to another, the soul has impudently left me, the husband, to be sure, of her puberty, to whom she ought to have adhered inseparably. Moreover, when do you believe that you can invoke me that I may respond to you, since I am not in you? why do you pass by with closed eyes? and do you pass over the force of that word which the Prophet sets forth, namely: "You will invoke, and the Lord will hear you (Isa.

LVIII)," non attendis? Invocare enim dicitur quasi intus orare, ad eum scilicet qui intus est vociferando clamare. Certe si saepe pulsando clamares ad ostium alicujus domus in qua nullus esset, tota die clamare posses, et quia nemo intus esset qui te audiret, nemo tibi clamanti, quamvis fortiter et frequenter, responderet.

58)," do you not heed? For to invoke is said to be as if to pray within,
namely to cry aloud to him who is within. Surely, if by often knocking you were to cry at the door of some
house in which there was no one, you could cry all day,
and because there was no one inside to hear you, no one would answer you
as you cried, however strongly and frequently.

Sic est de me, qui cum dimiserim habitaculum animae tuae a quo me exire coegisti propter immunditiam ejus, longe factus a te jam audire non possum clamorem vocis tuae, nedum quod te debeam, donec operaris ea quae mihi displicent, favorabiliter exaudire.

Thus it is with me, who, since I have dismissed the habitation of your soul, from which you compelled me to go out on account of its uncleanness, having been made far from you I now cannot hear the clamor of your voice, much less—what I owe you— favorably to hearken, so long as you are doing the things that displease me.

PECCATOR AD DEUM

SINNER TO GOD

Quid ergo, piissime Domine, faciam ut redeas ad me, a quo te propter iniquitates meas, proh dolor! elongasti? ut sic intus existens respondeas invocanti, et salvus fiam, qui fueram a te derelictus, cum scriptum sit: "Longe a peccatoribus salus (Psal.

What then, most pious Lord, shall I do that you may return to me, from whom you, on account of my iniquities—alas!—have withdrawn yourself? that thus, being within, you may answer the one invoking you, and I may be saved, I who had been abandoned by you, since it is written: "Salvation is far from sinners (Psal.

CXVIII) ."

118) ."

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Audi Scripturae sanctae consilium, et si feceris illud, reduces me statim ut invocantem exaudiam te ad hospitium tuum. Habe contritionem cordis, et dole fortiter, quia offendisti me peccatis tuis; juxta quod tibi et tibi similibus ait propheta: "Scindite corda vestra et non vestimenta vestra (Joel II)." Item: "Juxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde, et humiles spiritu salvabit (Psal. XXXIII)." In ipsa quoque contritione propone constanter peccata tua sacerdoti veraciter confiteri, dicente propheta David: "Dixi, confitebor adversum me injustitiam meam Domino, et tu remisisti impietatem peccati mei (Psal.

Hear the counsel of Holy Scripture, and if you do it, bring me back at once to your lodging, so that, as you call upon me, I may hear you. Have contrition of heart, and grieve stoutly, because you have offended me by your sins; according to what the prophet says to you and to those like you: "Rend your hearts and not your garments (Joel 2)." Likewise: "The Lord is near to those who are of a troubled heart, and the humble in spirit he will save (Ps. 33)." In that same contrition also, resolve steadfastly to confess your sins truthfully to the priest, as the prophet David says: "I said, I will confess against myself my iniquity to the Lord, and you remitted the impiety of my sin (Ps.

XXXI)." In quo potes manifeste intelligere quam magna et quam incomparabilis sit clementia mea, quae ad tale propositum relaxat et dolet crimina universa. Concessa vero tibi copia confiteri, dicente propheta et clamante: "Dic tu iniquitates tuas, ut justificeris (Isa. XLIII);" id ipsum Apostolo: "Confitemini alterutrum peccata vestra (Jac.

(31)." In which you can manifestly understand how great and how incomparable my clemency is, which for such a purpose remits and laments all crimes. Moreover, the opportunity having been granted to you to confess, as the prophet says and cries aloud: "Say you your iniquities, that you may be justified (Isa. 43);" the same thing by the Apostle: "Confess your sins to one another (Jac.

V) ." Sed et Filius meus tanquam magni consilii angelus venit salvum facere populum suum a peccatis eorum, confessionem, quam apostolus suus expresse praecepit, significative et figurative mandans curatis a lepra corporali per ipsum: "Ite et ostendite vos sacerdotibus (Luc. XVII);" per haec innuens quod poenitens qui conteritur cum proposito confitendi, a sordibus peccatorum, in anima tanquam spirituali lepra mundatus est; quia cum poenae remanent debiti, ad confessionis sacramentum accedant humiliter, sacerdotum arbitrio se devote committant, et opere satisfaciant juxta illud quod sacerdotes mandaverint.

5) ." But also my Son, as the angel of great counsel, came to save his people from their sins, enjoining confession—which his apostle expressly commanded—significatively and figuratively by those cured of bodily leprosy by him: "Go and show yourselves to the priests (Luke 17);" by these things intimating that the penitent who is broken with the resolve of confessing has been cleansed from the filths of sins in his soul, as from spiritual leprosy; since, when the penalties of the debt remain, let them humbly approach the sacrament of confession, devoutly commit themselves to the judgment of the priests, and by deed make satisfaction according to that which the priests shall have commanded.

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Magna est et ineffabilis, Domine, virtus contritionis per quam tu justificas impium, et de perverso bonum mirabiliter facis. Sed ego peccator eam mereri non possum, et nisi per infusionem gratiae tuae non potero illam aliquatenus obtinere. Quid enim illa contritio sit nescio, sed quod solius tuae gratiae donum sit non ignoro, a quo tanquam a Patre luminum descendit omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum (Jac.

Great and ineffable, O Lord, is the virtue of contrition,
through which you justify the impious, and from the perverse
you wondrously make good. But I, a sinner, cannot merit it,
and unless by the infusion of your grace
I shall not be able to obtain it in any measure. For what
that contrition is I do not know, but that it is a gift of your grace alone
I am not ignorant, from whom, as from the Father of lights,
every best gift and every perfect gift descends (Jac.

I). Cur autem, Domine, requiris a me ut per contritionem bonum me faciam, qualem me ipsum facere non possum? cum etiam tanquam reus et sordidatus eam mereri nequeam, nisi per inaestimabilem gratiam misericordiae tuae.

1). Why, however, Lord, do you require
from me that through contrition I make myself good,
such as I cannot make myself? since even
as one guilty and befouled I cannot merit it,
unless through the inestimable grace of your mercy.

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Noli errare vel te ipsum decipere; non enim requiro a te ut te facias bonum, qualem te scio facere non posse, cum hoc sit in me; sed ut applicando liberum arbitrium tuum ad me, divina super beneficia meditando, reddas te mihi habilem. Quod si feceris, cum hoc sit in te, indubitanter gratiae meae recipies influxionem, quam semper de bonitate mea paratus sum dare cuilibet eam efficaciter volenti recipere; quamvis habilitas illa non de merito, sed de congruo infusionem gratiae meae praecedat in peccatore. Unde Augustinus: "Praecedit quoddam in peccatoribus, qui licet non justificentur, digni tamen justificationibus et habiles inveniuntur." Sic est in eo qui clausos habet oculos, a quo nihil exigitur ut videant, nisi tantum illud quod in eo est posse facere, scilicet oculos aperire, cum exterius parata sit claritas solis, quae protinus ad videndum apertos oculos illustrabit.

Do not err or deceive yourself; for I do not require of you that you make yourself good, such as I know you are not able to make, since this lies in me; but that by applying your free will to me, by meditating upon the divine benefits, you render yourself fit for me. If you do this, since this lies in you, you will indubitably receive the influx of my grace, which out of my goodness I am always prepared to give to anyone who effectively wills to receive it; although that fitness precedes the infusion of my grace in the sinner, not by merit, but by congruity. Whence Augustine: “Something precedes in sinners, who although they are not justified, nevertheless are found worthy of justifications and fit.” Thus it is with one who has his eyes closed, of whom nothing is required that they may see, except only that which is in him to be able to do, namely to open the eyes, since outwardly the brightness of the sun is prepared, which straightway, for seeing, will illumine the opened eyes.

Tali exemplo considera manifeste quod ad infundendum se homini divina gratia sit parata, solius habilitatis in eo requiritur congruentia per liberi arbitrii applicationem inventa.

By such an example, consider plainly that divine grace is prepared to infuse itself into man, only the congruence of fitness in him is required, found through the application of free will.

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

SINNER TO GOD.

Evidenter agnosco, Domine, quod mirabiliter informat et erudit me inscrutabilis altitudo scientiae tuae. Meditabor ergo sollicite beneficia tua, piissime Deus, quibus multipliciter obligasti me, dirigens intellectum meum et applicans tenuiter prout possum sicut terra sine aqua tibi, si forte per hujusmodi cogitationes congruum me, pater misericordiarum, invenias cui rorem gratiae tuae quam non merui dignanter infundas, cujus etiam adminiculo valeam excitatus ad bonum de commissis impietatibus meis sufficienter in corde atteri, cum proposito easdem humiliter confitendi. Quamvis haec ipsa meditatio beneficiorum tuorum sine te menti meae innasci non possit ex me, dicente Apostolo: "non sumus sufficientes aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est (II Cor.

Evidently I acknowledge, Lord, that the unsearchable height of your knowledge marvelously forms and instructs me. I will therefore meditate solicitously upon your benefactions, most pious God, by which you have manifoldly bound me, directing my intellect and applying it thinly, as I am able, to you like land without water, if perchance through thoughts of this sort you may find me, Father of mercies, a suitable one upon whom you would deign to pour the dew of your grace, which I have not merited, by whose help also I may be able, stirred up to the good, to be sufficiently in heart worn down for the impieties I have committed, with the resolve of humbly confessing the same. Although this very meditation on your benefits cannot be born within my mind from myself without you, as the Apostle says: "we are not sufficient to do anything from ourselves as if from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God (2 Cor.

III)." Verumtamen miser ego quid faciam, quia compunctus ex gratia tua propono saepius confiteri; sed multa occurrunt mihi, quae me impediunt et revocant ab exsecutione propositi? Primum impedimentum est verecundia magna quae tota die contra me est, et confusio vultus mei quae operuit me. Dispono multoties ad sacerdotem accedere, sed quia valde pudenda sunt quae commisi, declino a tali proposito prae pudore. Multoties sacerdotem adire disposui, sed et iniquitatem meam devote revelaturus adivi, et cum pedibus ejus assisterem, stimulante me conscientia mea, irruit super me confusio repentina, et turbatus in seipso spiritus meus fluctuare coepit et dicere: Heu quid agam?

3)." Nevertheless, wretched I, what shall I do, since, pricked to the heart by your grace, I propose more often to confess; but many things occur to me which hinder me and call me back from the execution of the purpose? The first impediment is a great verecundity which is against me all the day, and the confusion of my face which has covered me. I arrange many times to approach the priest, but because the things which I have committed are very shameful, I decline from such a purpose out of shame. Many times I have resolved to go to the priest, and I even approached, about to reveal my iniquity devoutly, and when I stood at his feet, my conscience goading me, a sudden confusion rushed upon me, and my spirit, troubled in itself, began to fluctuate and to say: Alas, what shall I do?

referamne scelus? poterone referre? Sicque praevalente in me verecundia mea, confessione postposita, sine medicamento salutis a poenitentiali foro recessi, corruptaeque sunt et deteriores effectae cicatrices meae a facie insipientiae meae.

Shall I recount the crime? Will I be able to recount it? And thus, with my shame prevailing in me, confession set aside, I withdrew from the penitential forum without the medicine of salvation, and my cicatrices were corrupted and made worse by reason of my insipience.

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Stultus nimis et indiscretus argueris fore, dum sicut luna mutaris, et confiteri peccata tua prae verecundia et pudore dimittis. Laudabile est si confunderis et invadit te pudor, quando ad memoriam tuam scelera tua reducis, Jeremia propheta dicente: "Confusus sum et erubui, quia sustinui opprobrium adolescentiae meae (Jer. XXXI)." Sed cavere debes omnino, ne talis sit verecundia quae te revocet a confessione peccati; quia ejusmodi confusio reatum accumulat, non diminuit, cum poenitentem non sinit confitendo detegere quod commisit.

You are adjudged to be very foolish and indiscreet, while
you are changed like the moon, and you omit to confess your sins because of bashfulness
and shame. It is praiseworthy if you are confounded
and shame invades you, when you bring back your crimes to your memory,
Jeremiah the prophet saying: "I am confounded and I have blushed, because I have borne the opprobrium
of my adolescence (Jer. 31)." But you ought altogether to beware,
lest there be such bashfulness as calls you back from the confession of sin; because a confusion of this kind accumulates guilt, not diminishes it, since it does not allow the penitent, by confessing, to uncover what he has committed.

Est confusio adducens gloriam, et est confusio adducens reatum; nam culpabilis est si confessionem excludit, laudanda si sic pudet, ut etiam confitendi comes existat, jactantiae siquidem potius quam devotionis signum exponere sine rubore peccatum. Cur autem insipiens pudet te dicere semel, quod non puduit commisisse frequenter? Loquere tamen ante, si tentaris, et dicito: Non erubescam Deo in ministro suo, qui mei similis homo mortalis est, confiteri quod non potest ab oculis majestatis suae abscondi.

There is
a confusion bringing glory, and there is a confusion bringing
guilt; for it is culpable if it excludes confession, laudable if it so shames that it also be a companion
of confessing; for it is rather a sign of jactation than of devotion
to expose a sin without blush. But why, foolish one, are you ashamed to say once what
you were not ashamed to have committed frequently? Speak, however,
beforehand, if you are tempted, and say: I will not blush to God in
his minister, who is a mortal man like me,
to confess what cannot be hidden from the eyes of his majesty.

Non erubescam homini reatum meum exponere in vita praesenti, quem si non detexero ei, scio fore omnibus manifestum in die judicii. Si autem hic illum revelavero, Deus illum conteget et abscondet de inaestimabili bonitate, et faciet me de numero beatorum, "quorum remissae sunt iniquitates et quorum tecta sunt peccata (Psal. XXXI)."

I will not blush to expose my guilt to a man in the present life; if I do not lay it bare to him, I know it will be manifest to all on the day of judgment. But if here I shall have revealed it, God will cover it and hide it out of his inestimable goodness, and will make me of the number of the blessed, "whose iniquities are remitted and whose sins are covered (Psalm 31)."

PECCATOR AD DEUM

THE SINNER TO GOD

Confortasti me, Domine, verbis tuis et corroborasti sermonibus sanctis, et non prae verecundia jam dimittam quando ad ministrum tuum excessus meos per confessionem revelaturus accedam. Sed aliud est, mi Domine, quod ne confitear magnum mihi praestat obstaculum, scilicet timor poenae. Peccavi, Domine, super numerum arenae maris, et multiplicata sunt peccata mea; quare timeo valde ad confessionem accedere, quia si juxta quantitatem culpae injungenda est quantitas poenae, tanta potero satisfactionis sarcina praegravari, quae juxta meorum aestimationem reatuum mihi debebit imponi, quod si longissimo tempore viverem, eam explere miserrimus non valeam.

You have fortified me, Lord, by your words and corroborated me
by holy discourses, and no longer for shame
will I put it off when I am going to approach your minister to reveal
my transgressions through confession. But
there is another thing, my Lord, which provides me a great
obstacle to confessing, namely, fear of punishment.
I have sinned, Lord, beyond the number of the sand of the sea, and
my sins have been multiplied; wherefore I greatly fear
to approach to confession, because if according to the measure
of the fault the quantity of punishment is to be enjoined, I may be weighed down by so great a burden of satisfaction, as, according
to the assessment of my guilt, ought to be imposed upon me,
that even if I were to live a very long time, most wretched I would not be able
to fulfill it.

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Adhuc stultitia tua te non deserit, et indiscreta opinio in cor tuum ascendit. Nunquam credere debes, quod Deus praecipiat homini impossibile, vel eam tibi jubeat imponi poenam quam tu nequeas sustinere. Vicarius meus papa, quem ego constitui loco mei in terris judicem tuum, dolorem confitentis mitigabit attentis circumstantiis peccatorum.

Your foolishness still does not desert you, and an undiscriminating
opinion ascends into your heart. You must never believe
that God prescribes to man the impossible, or
that he orders a penalty to be imposed upon you which you are not able to
sustain. My vicar, the pope, whom I have appointed
in my stead on earth as your judge, will mitigate the pain of the one confessing,
the circumstances of the sins being attended to.

Et quia potestatem a me ligandi pariter et solvendi, ministerio quidem non auctoritate suscepit, moderabitur poenam juxta suae discretionis arbitrium, et talem injunget poenitentiam, ut per eam, me cooperante, justitiae recipias incrementum: qui etiam tantum in te dolorem, amaritudinem, et contritionis invenire poterit vehementiam, quod postmodum de injuncta poena partem maximam vel forte totam de bonitate Dei praesumas relaxandam. Sed et tu, quem timor poenae praesentis retrahit a proposito confitendi, quare non consideras et revolvis mente, quod poena hujus vitae quantumcunque sit longa, brevis est respectu aeternae; quantumcunque amara, dulcis est infernali poenae collata. Quamobrem melius est tibi hic poenitere, quam intolerabiliter postmodum et amarissime cruciari.

And because he has received from me the power of binding and of loosing alike, by ministry indeed, not by authority, he will moderate the penalty according to the judgment of his own discretion, and he will enjoin such a penance that by it, with me cooperating, you may receive an increment of justice: who also will be able to find in you so great a pain, a bitterness, and a vehemence of contrition, that afterward you may presume that the greatest part of the enjoined penalty, or perhaps the whole, will be relaxed by the goodness of God. But you also, whom the fear of present punishment draws back from the purpose of confessing, why do you not consider and revolve in mind that the punishment of this life, however long it may be, is brief with respect to the eternal; however bitter, it is sweet when collated with infernal punishment. Wherefore it is better for you to repent here, than afterward to be tormented intolerably and most bitterly.

Ne tibi contingat quod ait Job: "Qui timet pruinam, irruet super eum grando (Job VI);" et qui poenam metuit temporalem, indubitanter aeternam incurret. Item "Fugiet arma ferrea, et irruet in arcum aereum (Job XX)." Poena siquidem praesens quae cito transit et consumitur, per arma ferrea designatur, quae per rubiginem consummantur; poena vero aeterna quae finiri non potest, per arcum aereum, qui aes est incorruptibile significatur. Maxime tamen fructuosa sit in hoc mundo, infructuosa vero penitus, imo perniciosa poenitentia in futuro.

Lest it befall you what Job says: "He who fears the hoarfrost, hail will rush upon him (Job 6);" and he who dreads the temporal penalty will undoubtedly incur the eternal. Likewise, "He will flee iron arms, and he will rush upon a bronze bow (Job 20)." For the present penalty, which quickly passes and is consumed, is designated by iron arms, which are consumed by rust; but the eternal penalty, which cannot be ended, is signified by the bronze bow, since bronze is an incorruptible metal. Yet penance is most fruitful in this world, but utterly unfruitful—nay, pernicious—in the future.

Illud etiam Apostoli verbum tibi debet praestare solatium, et ad sustinentiam temporalis poenae te fortiter animare quod dicitur: "Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam quae revelabitur in nobis (Rom. VIII)." Item hoc leve et momentaneum tribulationis nostrae, sublime pondus operatur in aeternitate.

That word of the Apostle too ought to afford you solace, and to animate you bravely for the endurance of temporal punishment, which is said: "The sufferings of this time are not condign to the future glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 8)." Likewise, this light and momentary tribulation of ours works a sublime weight in eternity.

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Jucunda sunt, Domine, eloquia tua servo tuo, super mel et favum ori meo dulciora (Psal. CXVIII), licet indignus sum altitudinem inspicere. Non dedigneris adhuc, supplico, sustinere quid modicum insipientiae meae.

Pleasant are, O Lord, your utterances to your servant, beyond honey and honeycomb, sweeter to my mouth (Psal. 118), although I am unworthy to look upon the height. Do not disdain as yet, I supplicate, to sustain some small measure of my insipience.

Ecce, Domine, jam non impediet in me confessionem pudor culpae vel timor poenae. Sed est aliud quod retardat me modicum, imo revocat a confessione cor meum, temporalium scilicet rerum affectus vel desiderium. Considero apud me ipsum et colloquor menti meae: si delicta mea confessus fuero sacerdoti, forsitan injunget mihi ut Hierosolymam proficiscar, vel laborem alicujus peregrinationis assumam vel saltem ut ecclesias visitem, et in eis diutius vacaturus orationes frequentem; et possem interim temporalibus lucris insistere, et acquisitionibus multis et mihi et meis hujus mundi substantiam ampliare; sed si qua penes me sint, oportebit minui potius quam augeri, donec assumpta peregrinatio valeat peragi, vel quandiu spiritualibus exercitiis me contigerit occupari.

Behold, Lord, now no longer will the shame of fault or the fear of penalty hinder in
me confession. But there is another thing that somewhat delays me, nay rather calls back
my heart from confession, namely the affection or desire of temporal things. I consider with
myself and I converse with my mind: if I shall have confessed my offenses to the priest, perhaps he will enjoin upon me that
I set out to Jerusalem, or that I assume the labor of some pilgrimage, or at least that I visit churches,
and in them, intending to tarry longer, that I frequent prayers; and
meanwhile I could apply myself to temporal gains, and by many acquisitions
both for me and mine enlarge the substance of this world;
but if there be any things in my possession, it will be necessary
that they be diminished rather than increased, until the assumed
pilgrimage may be able to be accomplished, or as long as it shall befall me to be occupied
with spiritual exercises.

Quapropter utilius est mihi a confessione desistere, quam acquisitionis mundanae studium impedire.

Wherefore it is more useful for me to desist from confession than to hinder the pursuit of worldly acquisition.

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

Vana est cogitatio illa, imo tentatio Satanae, quae te apprehendit. Ut autem cogitationem illam procul a te expellas, recordare quod Scriptura evangelica proclamat: "Vae praegnantibus et nutrientibus in illa die (Matth. XXIV)." Praegnantes quidem sunt animae perversae, quae per illicita desideria temporalium, vel alicujus iniquitatis consensum, tanquam a diabolo malitiae semine injecto mente concipiunt.

That thought is vain, nay rather a temptation of Satan, which
has seized you. But so that you may drive that thought far
from you, remember what the evangelical Scripture proclaims: "Woe to the pregnant and to those nursing
in that day (Matt. 24)." The pregnant, indeed, are perverse
souls, who through illicit desires of temporals,
or the consent of some iniquity, as though with the seed of malice injected by the devil, conceive in the mind.

Nutrientes vero animae dicuntur illae quae terrenas delicias non desinunt per avaritiam cumulare, vel de perpetratis iniquitatibus, delectabiliter perseverantes in eis, differunt poenitere. Veniet procul dubio mors super illos, et descendent in infernum viventes, quoniam nequitia in hospitiis et in medio mentis eorum. Certe si sane saperes, quando te ad sui concupiscentiam res istae mundanae sollicitant, meditari deberes quia quaecunque concupiscibilia videntur in mundo, sunt transitoria; quae vero a Deo promittuntur, aeterna; ista terrena, illa coelestia; ista modica, illa magna; illa mentita, illa certa; ista infima, illa superna; ista minima, illa maxima; ista cum labore acquiruntur, cum timore et sollicitudine conservantur, cum dolore et angustia amittuntur.

As for the nursing ones, those souls are called such who do not cease through avarice to heap up earthly delights, or, delightfully persevering in the iniquities they have perpetrated, defer to repent. Without doubt death will come upon them, and they will descend alive into hell, because wickedness is in their lodgings and in the midst of their mind. Surely, if you were wise to health, when these worldly things solicit you to their own concupiscence, you ought to meditate that whatever things seem desirable in the world are transitory; but the things promised by God are eternal; these earthly, those heavenly; these slight, those great; these false, those certain; these lowest, those supernal; these least, those greatest; these are acquired with labor, are kept with fear and solicitude, are lost with pain and anguish.

Licet autem in his acquirendis sit labor, quia "regnum coeleste vim patitur et violenti rapiunt illud (Matth. XI)," de ipsorum tamen custodia nullo modo possessores eorum pungi possunt sollicitudinum stimulo, nec dolore torqueri de ipsorum amissione vel damnatione, quia "ibi aerugo vel tinea non demolitur, nec fures effodiunt et furantur (Matth. VI)."

Although in acquiring these there is toil, because "the celestial kingdom suffers violence and the violent seize it (Matt. 11)," yet as to their custody in no way can their possessors be pricked by the goad of anxieties, nor be tormented with pain over their loss or damage, because "there rust or moth does not demolish, nor do thieves dig through and steal (Matt. 6)."

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Ne irascaris, Domine, si et hac vice modo, loquendi audaciam in conspectu altitudinis tuae vilissimum figmentum ego assumo; et sicut in aliis, in eo quod propositurus sum inveniam apud abyssum sapientiae tuae tanquam positus in perturbatione consilium. Est adhuc quiddam quod valde me concutit, et difficilius caeteris mihi confessionis impedimentum apponit, unde desperationem incurro ex gravi difficultate resistendi peccato. Infelix ego multoties cecidisse me memini, qui et postmodum poenitendo, te adjuvante, surrexi, sed stare non praevalens, relapsus sum, et redii multoties in idipsum, revertens iterum atque iterum tanquam canis ad vomitum et sus ad luti volutabrum (II Petr II) . Unde cum lubricus et instabilis tanquam cereus sim in vitium flecti, de mea stabilitate despero, et propterea penitus de confessione desisto, existimans nihil prodesse si erigor et resurgo qui sum casurus in proximo, et stare diffido brevi temporis intervallo, existimans nihilominus veniam impetrare non posse de facili, qui frequenter erectus, et frequenter ad peccatum relapsus, ingratus et indevotus invenior erigenti.

Be not wroth, O Lord, if even this once I, a most vile figment, assume the audacity of speaking in the sight of thy loftiness; and as in other things, in that which I am about to propose may I find with the abyss of thy wisdom, as though placed in perturbation, counsel. There is still a certain thing that greatly shakes me, and sets before me a more difficult impediment of confession than the rest, whence I incur desperation from the grave difficulty of resisting sin. Unhappy wretch that I am, I remember that many times I have fallen, and that afterwards, by repenting, with thee aiding, I rose; but, not prevailing to stand, I relapsed, and returned many times into the selfsame thing, returning again and again like a dog to its vomit and a sow to the wallowing of mud (2 Peter 2) . Whence, since I am slippery and unstable, like wax to be bent into vice, I despair of my stability, and therefore I utterly desist from confession, thinking it profits nothing if I am lifted up and rise again, who am about to fall shortly, and I distrust to stand for a brief interval of time, thinking nevertheless that I cannot easily obtain pardon, I who, often raised up, and often relapsing into sin, am found ungrateful and undevout toward the One raising me.

DEUS AD PECCATOREM.

GOD TO THE SINNER.

In eo quod modo proponis non tam insensatus quam insanus esse probaris. Nam recte facis si de te ipso diffidas, et fragilitatem tuam attendens, de tuis viribus non praesumens, existimes quod postquam surrexeris, de tua virtute sperare non possis. Sed de me sperare debes, quod licet infirmus et debilis sis ex te, possum tamen si de mea misericordia voluero, quamvis debilem stabilire, et quantumvis infirmum ne corruas confirmare.

In that which you just now propose you are shown to be not so much insensate as insane. For you do rightly if you distrust yourself, and, attending to your fragility, not presuming on your own powers, you reckon that after you have risen you cannot hope on your own virtue. But you ought to hope in me, that although you are weak and feeble of yourself, I can nevertheless, if by my mercy I will, stabilize however feeble a one, and, however infirm, strengthen you lest you collapse.

Cur autem de me desperes, qui nolo mortem peccatoris sed magis ut convertatur et vivat (Ezech. XVIII), qui utique misericors sum et praestabilis super malitia? Attende quia si desperes de me, peccatum incurris irremissibile, quod est peccatum in Spiritum sanctum; nec est peccatum huic comparabile, quia ipsum est solum quod nec in hoc saeculo neque in futuro creditur remittendum.

Why, however, do you despair of me,
I who do not will the death of the sinner but rather that he be converted
and live (Ezek. 18), I who indeed am merciful
and preeminent over malice? Take note that if
you despair of me, you incur an irremissible sin,
which is the sin against the Holy Spirit; nor is any sin
comparable to this, because this alone is believed
to be remitted neither in this age nor in the future.

Attende, quia, si de me desperes, tanto gravius me offendis quanto clementius potentiam meam exstinguere, et meam mihi benignitatem, quam non ex accidentali dono, sed naturalem habeo, auferre conatus sis, et omnipotentiam meam a me interim separare. Ego enim sum cui dicitur: "Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere." Ego ad quem congregatio fidelium clamat: "Deus, qui omnipotentiam tuam parcendo maxime et miserando manifestas." Cur, infelix, de me debeas desperare qui gaudium mihi reputo et angelis meis super uno peccatore poenitentiam agente; qui et nonaginta novem ovibus in deserto relictis, misi pastorem earum ut unam perditam quaereret, inventam portaret in humeris suis; qui filium prodigum revertentem laetanter excepi, stolam primam et annulum ei dedi, et faciens grande convivium pro eo, vitulum saginatum occidi (Luc. XV). Ego sum qui tanquam mater filiis etiam delinquentibus viscera pietatis aperio; qui offendentes me multoties usque ad finem vitae sustineo, et punire differens ut poeniteant patienter exspecto.

Attend, for if you despair of me, so much the more gravely do you offend me, inasmuch as you have endeavored more clemently to extinguish my power, and to take from me my own benignity, which I have not from an accidental gift but as natural, and for the time to separate my omnipotence from me. For I am he of whom it is said: "God, to whom it is proper always to have mercy and to spare." I am he to whom the congregation of the faithful cries: "God, who manifest your omnipotence most of all by sparing and by having mercy." Why, unhappy one, should you despair of me, I who reckon it joy for me and for my angels over one sinner doing penance; who also, the ninety-nine sheep left in the desert, sent their shepherd that he might seek the one lost, and, having found it, might carry it on his shoulders; who gladly received the returning prodigal son, gave him the first robe and a ring, and, making a great banquet for him, had the fatted calf slain (Luke 15). I am he who, as a mother, opens the bowels of piety to children even when delinquent; who endure those offending me many times even to the end of life, and, deferring to punish, patiently await that they may repent.

De me siquidem propheta clamat dicens: "Audite, domus Jacob et residuum Israel, quoniam portamini a meo utero, et gestamini a mea vulva; ego feci, et ego feram, et usque ad canos ego portabo (Isai. XLVI)." Cur de me debeas desperare qui postquam creavi hominem, ut facerem eum gloriae meae participem, ex nimia charitate qua eum dilexi, unigenitum meum in mundum misi, qui eum venundatum sub peccato non corruptibilibus auro et argento redemit, sed pretioso sanguine suo quem pro eo abunde effudit? Scito et videto qui renuis confiteri, pro eo quod ipsa eadem, quae saepe confessus es, nimis iterans, vias tuas viliter corrupisti; quia cum malum sit et amarum reliquisse te Dominum Deum tuum, longe deterius revelatur perseverare in malo, et ipsius amore postposito, elongare te jugiter et avertere vultum tuum ab eo. Quare non consideras tu quod saepius cadis, et saepius surgis, quod minus malum cadere sit alternatim et surgere, quam in peccato continuo permanere?

Concerning me indeed
the prophet cries, saying: "Hear, house
of Jacob and the remnant of Israel, for you are carried from
my womb, and are borne from my belly; I made, and
I will bear, and even to gray hairs I will carry (Isai. 46)." Why should you despair of me, I who, after I
created man, in order to make him a participant of my glory,
out of the excessive charity with which I loved him, sent my only-begotten
into the world, who, him sold
under sin, redeemed not with corruptible gold and silver
but with his precious blood, which for him
he poured out abundantly? Know and see, you who refuse to confess,
on the ground that by repeating too much the very same things which you have often
confessed, you have basely corrupted your ways; for although it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord
your God, it is revealed to be far worse to persevere
in evil, and, his love set aside, to lengthen yourself out continually and to turn
your face away from him.
Why do you not consider that you more often fall, and more often
rise, that it is a lesser evil to fall by turns
and to rise, than to remain continuously in sin?

Potest enim ex Dei benignitate quando sic surgis, in bono statu temporali te mors intercipere ut salveris. Si vero permanens in peccato perversus fueris in fine vitae tuae repertus, procul dubio deportaberis ad aeterna supplicia condemnandus; quia, dicente Scriptura, judicat Dominus fines terrae et finalia opera (Psal. XCV); et arbor si ad aquilonem vel ad austrum ceciderit, prius ut reor eligeret ab ipso luto extrahi, et inde postea cadere, quam in illo jugiter permanere.

For indeed, by God’s benignity, when you thus rise, death can intercept you in a good temporal state so that you may be saved. But if, remaining in sin, you should be found perverted at the end of your life, without doubt you will be carried off to eternal punishments to be condemned; because, as Scripture says, the Lord judges the ends of the earth and the final works (Ps. 95); and if a tree should fall toward the north or toward the south, it would choose, as I think, rather first to be drawn out from the very mud, and then afterwards to fall from there, than to remain in it continually.

Sic etiam qui laborat aliqua febre, nonne gravius reputaretur eam pati continue, quam ab ea interpolatim vexari? Ita et tu duobus malis propositis, scilicet cadere in peccatum et surgere consequenter ab eo, vel irregressibiliter et irreverenter perseverare in malo, potius debes fugere secundum quam primum. Noli ergo tanquam diffidens et desperans de Deo, te a confessione retrahere, sed quoties miseriam pateris ea quae confessus es iterum committendo, tu nihilominus eadem iterum confitere.

Thus also, one who labors under some fever—would it not be reckoned more grievous to suffer it continuously than to be vexed by it intermittently? So you too, with two evils set before you, namely to fall into sin and consequently to rise from it, or to persevere in evil without possibility of return and irreverently, ought rather to flee the second than the first. Do not, therefore, as one diffident and despairing of God, withdraw yourself from confession; but as often as you suffer misery by committing again the things which you have confessed, nonetheless confess the same things again.

Nam sicut aqua vestimentum, quod saepius inquinatur, quandocunque illud abluit, mundat a sordibus et efficit quasi novum; sic et confessio quoties ad eam recurritur, restituit animae cum, quem amittit decorem ex reiteratione peccati, munditiae candidatum. Te autem confitente peccatum, et expulso ab anima tua veneno nequitiae per confessionis antidotum, statim ad eam regrediar tanquam ad domum meam unde prius exivi. Et ex tunc si me invocaveris, exaudiam te, et tanquam intus habitans sine mora respondebo clamanti.

For just as water, whenever it washes a vestment
which is more often defiled, cleans it from sordidness and makes it as if new; so too confession, as often as one returns to it, restores
to the soul—whitened for purity—the comeliness which it loses by the reiteration
of sin. But with you confessing the sin, and with the poison of wickedness expelled from your soul by the antidote of confession, I will straightway return to it as to my house whence I formerly went out.
And from that time, if you invoke me, I will hear you, and, as dwelling within, without delay I will answer the one crying out.

PECCATOR AD DEUM.

THE SINNER TO GOD.

Domine Deus salutis meae, verba sunt vitae aeternae, quae loqueris, et salutaria monita quae hortaris. Adjutus ergo a te requiram devote ministrum tuum, et effundam coram illo sicut aquam cor meum, aperiam in conspectu ejus labia mea locuturus in amaritudine animae meae. Sicut qui digitum ingerit gutturi suo, scrutabor scrutinio conscientiam meam et non desistam, donec evomam illam amaram super absinthium et fel, quae latet intrinsecus, meorum saniem peccatorum; ut sic evomita foris et ejecta putredine, cujus fetor abominabilis te relinquere fecerat mentis meae hospitium, cum inaestimabili fragrantia unguentorum tuorum clementer in illud regredi et inhabitare digneris, juxta sanctum et ineffabile tuum promissum; qui es benedictus in saecula saeculorum.

Lord God of my salvation, the words are of life eternal, which you speak, and the salutary admonitions which you urge. Aided therefore by you I will devoutly seek your minister and I will pour out before him like water my heart, I will open in his sight my lips, about to speak in the bitterness of my soul. Like one who inserts a finger into his own throat, I will search with scrutiny my conscience and I will not desist, until I vomit up that bitterness beyond wormwood and gall, which lies hidden within, the sanies of my sins; so that thus, the putrefaction vomited out and cast forth outside, whose abominable stench had made you leave the lodging of my mind, with the inestimable fragrance of your unguents you may deign mercifully to return into it and to inhabit, according to your holy and ineffable promise; who are blessed unto the ages of ages.

Amen.