Louis Bosco, The Mercy of Christ, ca. 2006
PRAYER OF REPENTANCE TO THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
MY GOD, I praise Thee for Thy infinite goodness and Thy infinite mercy. I come before Thee a sinner, trusting in Thy power to cleanse, to heal, and to restore all things. My God—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—I love Thee; and I beg that my love for Thee be made perfect according to Thy divine desire. My God, I love all people; I ask that my love for others be perfected in Thee. My Lord, I love myself; I ask that my self-love be perfected in Thy image.
Dear Heavenly Father, Progenitor of All Creation, My Awesome Sovereign Majesty, Daddy! I am a terrible sinner, worthless because of my sins. And yet Thou dost love me in spite of my sins; and for that love sent Thy Divine Son into the world to suffer, to die for my sinfulness. I could never be worthy of this, the Supreme and Most Holy Sacrifice. And yet each day Thou dost present to me the indescribable delight and consolation of receiving Thy Son’s very Flesh and Blood—which suffered and perished on my behalf—in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar: the Holy Eucharist. May Thou be blessed, Father! Let me never forget this, Thy act of supreme love for me! Grant me a spirit of complete abandonment to Thy will above all things; and a spirit of true repentance from all that offends Thee.
Dear Sweet Jesus, King of kings, Lord of lords, Son of God the Father and Son of Mary Our Mother, Perfect One, have mercy on me a sinner. It is Thee who says, “Wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be” (Luke 12:34). And yet what am I but a sinner divided in heart! Still, out of love for me, the least worthy of Thy servants, Thou surrendered Thy divine prerogatives to endure humiliation, scorn, and great pain. Out of love for me, a wretch, Thou freely gave up Thy life—a life lived in perfect submission to the desire of the Heavenly Father—and Thou died the death of a slave on the Cross of Calvary. The merest drop of Thy Precious Blood would have been enough to redeem the whole world, and yet Thou permitted every drop to be shed! I could never be worthy of such superior love! Grant me a spirit of sacrificial love and self-denial for my brothers and sisters, most especially those who hate me, or who persecute me, or aggravate me, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Teach me, O Divine Master, to live as Thou lived and to love as Thou loved.
Dear Holy Ghost, Sacred Advocate, Immaculate Love Divine, I am an unclean and broken vessel, unworthy and incapable of holding even a glimmer of Thy light. And yet Thou dost desire that I be filled to overflowing with Thy goodness, purity, perfection! How can this be so? I must be daily transformed to receive Thee; I must hourly renew the promises of my Baptism, letting those vows be etched evermore into the flesh of my heart. For on Judgment Day it is my heart alone that Thou My God will read. Bless me, O Lord, with Thy Spirit, that I may forgive all injuries sustained in this life. Bless my memory that I may be free of the oppression of hurtful past incidents. Ready my poor heart that I may be prepared always to meet all things with an attitude of love and peace! May I also be ever on guard against the poisons of pride and all sin.
Shelter me, O God, Thy least profitable and most miserable of servants, from the dangers of an unforgiving heart. Inspire me to seek out in my memory the one who is least worthy of my forgiveness and to shower that one with a love that imitates Thy love, with a mercy that mirrors Thy mercy. I commit to Thy mercy my every thought, word, and deed, all that I have done and failed to do, all sins and every merit, in the Sweet Name of Jesus Christ, Thy Only Begotten Son, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Mother in Christ. Amen.