The Irish Catholic Hermit

M y Lord and Master, God of heaven and earth, show forth Your grace and open for me the door of repentance. I entreat You with my troubled soul. Look upon me according to Your great mercy. A ttend to my prayer and forgive me, who has been guilty of committing many sins. F orgive all the vile things I did, for I have been overcome by means my own wicked desires. I look for peace and find it not. M y conscience is polluted and there is no peace in me because of the abundance of my sins. H ear Lord, a heart which beseeches You in turmoil. D o not take heed to my works, but rather to the misery of my soul, and come quickly to heal me of my grievous wounds. R estore me to a sound mind by means of Your grace and love for mankind. T ake away from me the weight of my sins and do not repay what my works merit, so that I not come to ruin in the end. A nd so that I will not lack thought and care for my renewal. I fall prostrate before Your loving-care. H ave compassion on me who am thrown into

Prayer of profound love for all of humanity. O ur Lord Jesus Christ: D o not abandon your servants who live far away from the Church.   M ay your love convict them and bring them back to you. L ord have mercy on your servants who are suffering from cancer. O n your servants who suffer either from small or serious ailments. O n your servants who suffer from physical infirmities. O n your servants who suffer from spiritual infirmities. L ord have mercy on our leaders and inspire them to govern with Christian love. L ord have mercy on children who come from troubled homes. O n troubled families and those who have been divorced. L ord have mercy on all the orphans of the world, on all those who are suffering pain and injustices since losing their spouses. L ord have mercy on all those in jail, on all anarchists, on all drug abusers, on all murderers, on all abusers of people, and on all thieves.  E nlighten these people and help them to straighten out their lives. L ord have mercy on all t

I n love did He bring the world into existence W hat profundity of richness, what mind and exalted wisdom is God’s. What compassionate kindness and abundant goodness belongs to the Creator!  W ith what purpose and with what love did He create this world and bring it into existence!  W hat a mystery does the coming into being of this creation look towards! To what a state is our common nature invited!  W hat love served to initiate the creation of the world!  T his same love which initiated the act of creation prepared beforehand by another dispensation the things appropriate to adorn the world’s majesty which sprung forth as a result of the might of His love. I n love did He bring the world into existence; in love does He guide it during this its temporal existence; in love is He going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state, and in love will the world be swallowed up in the great mystery of Him who has performed all things; in love will the whole course of the governance of cre

L ove Your Fellow Man L ove the poor, that through them you may also find mercy.  D o not keep company with the disputations, lest you be forced to take leave of your calm.  B ear the noisome smells of the sick without disgust, and especially of the poor, since you too are wrapped about with a body.  D o not rebuke those who are afflicted in heart, lest you be scourged with the selfsame rod as theirs: then you will seek consolation and will find none.  D o not disdain those who are deformed from birth, because all of us will go to the grave equally privileged.  L ove sinners, but hate their works; and do not despise them for their faults, lest you be tempted by the same.  R emember that you share the earthly nature of Adam and that you are clothed with his infirmity.  D o not reprove those who are in need of your prayer, and do not withhold tender words of comfort from them, lest they perish and their souls be required of you; but do as the physicians, who cure the diseases which are m

T he Paradoxical Justice of God. T he watchfulness of discernment is superior to every discipline of men accomplished in any way to any degree.  D o not hate the sinner. For we are all laden with guilt. If for the sake of God you are moved to oppose him, weep over him.  W hy do you hate him? Hate his sins and pray for him, that you may imitate Christ Who was not wroth with sinners, but interceded for them.  D o you not see how He wept over Jerusalem? We are mocked by the devil in many instances, so why should we hate the man who is mocked by him who mocks us also?  W hy, O man, do you hate the sinner? Could it be because he is not so righteous as you? But where is your righteousness when you have no love? Why do you not shed tears over him? But you persecute him.  I n ignorance some are moved with anger, presuming themselves to be discerners of the works of sinners. B e a herald of God’s goodness, for God rules over you, unworthy though you are; for although your debt to Him is so grea

                                              O n   Humility T he iniquitous mouth is stopped during prayer, for the condemnation of the conscience deprives a man of his boldness.  A  good heart joyously sheds tears in prayer.  V oluntary and steadfast endurance of injustice pur ifies the heart.  P atient endurance of injustice springs from disdain for the world; and a man endures calumny cheerfully because his heart has begun to behold the truth.  J oy arising from voluntary endurance of calumny and injustice exalts the heart.  T hey for whom the world is dead submit to contumelies with joy.  B ut they for whom the world still lives cannot submit to injustice: either, moved by vainglory, they are provoked to anger and are troubled, being stirred up in the manner of brutes, or else they are overcome by grief.  O  how difficult it is to attain this virtue, and how much glory it procures from God! He who would attain to this virtue must depart from his kinsmen and live the life of a stra

  O Lord! Grant us to see our transgressions so that our intellect would be completely drawn to attention to our own sins and stop seeing the sins of our neighbours and, in this way, we would see all our neighbours as good. G rant our hearts to abandon the ruinous attention to the failings of our neighbours, to unite all of our attention to the acquisition of purity and holiness commanded and prepared by You. G rant us to once again whiten our desecrated spiritual garments: they were already cleansed in the waters of baptism, and now they need, after being desecrated, cleansing with tears. G rant us to see, in the light of Your Grace, the multifarious ailments in us that are destroying the heart's spiritual movements and introducing into it carnal movements that are in enmity to the Kingdom of God. G rant us the great gift of repentance that precedes and gives birth to the great gift of seeing one's sins. P rotect us with these great gifts from the chasms of self-del