Ave Maria Meditations
To You, O God, Fountain of Mercy, I come, a sinner. May You wash away my impurity.
O Sun of Justice, give sight to the blind. O Eternal Healer, cure the wounded. O King of Kings, restore the despoiled. O Mediator of God and man, reconcile the sinful. O Good Shepherd, lead back the straying. O God, have pity on the wretched, show leniency to the guilty, bestow life on the dead, reform the impious, and give the balm of grace to the hard of heart.
O most merciful God, call back the one who flees, draw back the one who resists, lift up the one who falls, support the one who stands, and accompany the one who walks.
Do not forget those who forget You. Do not desert those who desert You. Do not despise those who sin against You. For in sinning, I have offended You, my God.
I have harmed my neighbor; I have not even spared myself injury. I have sinned, 0 my God, against You, almighty Father, because of my weakness; against You, all-knowing Son, because of my ignorance; against You, merciful Holy Spirit, because of my malice. Thus have I offended You, most high Trinity.
Woe to me, a pitiful soul! How many, how great, and how diverse are the sins I have committed. I abandoned You, Lord. I question Your goodness by yielding to evil cravings and weakening myself with harmful fears. By such things, I preferred to lose You rather than abandon what I desired, to offend You rather than face what ought not to be feared.
O my God, how much harm have I done by word and deed, and by sinning secretly, openly, and defiantly. Therefore, out of my weakness I beg You not to pay heed to my iniquity, but rather to Your immense goodness. And I beg you mercifully to pardon what I have done, granting me sorrow for my past actions and precaution in the future.
Amen.
+St. Thomas Aquinas
