Prayer by St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
Behold me at Thy feet,
O my Lord,
begging Thy pity and mercy.
What wilt Thou lose by granting me a deep love for Thee,
a profound humility,
a great purity of heart,
of mind and of body,
a fraternal charity,
a sincere sorrow for having offended Thee,
and the grace to offend Thee no more?
What wilt Thou lose,
O my God,
by enabling me to receive worthily Thy Beloved Son in Holy Communion,
by assisting me to act through love for Thee in all my thoughts, works, penances and prayers;
by bestowing upon me the favor of loving Thy holy mother most tenderly and trustfully;
the grace of final perseverance in my vocation, and of dying a good and holy death?
I am a beggar covered with wounds and rags,
asking for alms.
Behold, O Lord,
all my wretchedness!
See my proud intellect,
my cold and stony heart!
See my mind filled with worldly thoughts,
my will disposed to evil,
and my body rebellious to every good work!
Help me,
O my God, to correct myself.
This grace I implore through Thine own infinite goodness and mercy.
To obtain it I offer Thee the merits of Thy Son,
Jesus Christ,
our Master and Redeemer.
I have no merits of my own.
I am destitute of all good,
but His wounds are my hope:
vulnera tua, merita mea.
Had I shed my blood, for love of Thee,
like Thy Son,
wouldst Thou not grant me this favor?
How much more oughtest Thou to hear me now,
since He shed His blood for me.
Art not Thou He who has promised in Thy gospel that whatsoever I ask for the good of my soul,
Thou wilt grant me:
‘Ask and you shall receive.’
Now, as Thou canst not recall Thy word,
I beseech Thee to hear me:
I supplicate Thee through Thine infinite goodness,
through the heart of Thy Son wounded with love for me through the infinite charity of the Holy Ghost,
through the love Thou bearest toward Thy most holy daughter, Mary,
and for the honor of the whole heavenly court,
into which I ask Thee, one day,
in Thy mercy to admit me.
Amen.
