Act of Contrition▾. As I kneel before Thee on the Cross, most loving Saviour of my soul, my conscience tells me it was I who nailed Thee to that Cross with these hands of mine, as often as I have fallen into mortal sin, wearying Thee with my monstrous ingratitude. My God, my chief and most perfect Good, worthy of all my love, seeing Thou hast ever loaded me with blessings, I cannot now undo my misdeeds, as I would most willingly, but I can and will loathe them, grieving greatly for having offended Thee who art infinite Goodness. And now, kneeling at thy feet, I will try at least to compassionate Thee, to give Thee thanks, to ask of Thee pardon and contrition; wherefore with heart and lips I say: To the First Wound of the Left Foot. Holy wound of the Left Foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee! I compassionate Thee, O my Jesus, for that most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for the love whereby Thou wast wearied in overtaking me on the way to ruin, and didst bleed amid the thorns and brambles of my sins. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of thy most sacred humanity, in atonement for my sins, all which I detest with sincere and bitter contrition. Pater, Ave, Gloria. Holy Mother, pierce me through; In my heart each wound renew Of my Saviour crucified. To the Second Wound, of the Right Foot. Holy wound of the Right Foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee! I compassionate Thee, O my Jesus, for that most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for the love which pierced Thee with such torture and shedding of blood in order to punish my wanderings and the guilty pleasures I have granted to my passions. I offer the Eternal Father all the pain and love of thy most sacred humanity, and I pray unto Him for grace to weep over my transgressions with burning tears, and to enable me to persevere in the good which I have begun, without ever swerving again from my obedience to the Commandments of my God. Pater, Ave, Gloria. Holy Mother, etc. To the Third Wound, of the Left Hand. Holy wound of the Left Hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee! I compassionate Thee, O my Jesus, for that most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for having, in thy love, spared me the scourges and eternal damnation which my sins have merited. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of thy most sacred humanity, and I pray Him to teach me how to turn to good account my span of life, and bring forth in it worthy fruits of penance, and so disarm the angry justice of my God. Pater, Ave, Gloria. Holy Mother, etc. To the Fourth Wound, of the Right Hand. Holy wound of the Right Hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee! I compassionate Thee, O my Jesus, for that most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for thy graces lavished on me with such love, in spite of all my miserable obstinacy. I offer to the Eternal Father all the pain and love of thy most sacred humanity, and I pray Him to change my heart and its affections, and make me do all my actions in accordance with the will of God. Pater, Ave, Gloria. Holy Mother, etc. To the Fifth Wound, of the sacred Side. Holy wound in the side of my Jesus, I adore Thee! I compassionate Thee, O my Jesus, for the cruel insult Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee, my Jesus, for the love which suffered thy side and heart to be pierced, that so the last drops of blood and water might issue forth, making my redemption to abound. I offer to the Eternal Father this outrage, and the love of thy most sacred humanity, that my soul may enter once for all into that most loving Heart, eager and ready to receive the greatest sinners, and from it may never more depart. Pater, Ave, Gloria. Holy Mother, etc. To the most Holy Virgin, Mother of Sorrows. Mary, Virgin Mother of God, Martyr of love and sorrow, in that thou didst witness the pains and torments of Jesus; truly didst thou concur in the great work of my redemption, first by thy innumerable afflictions, and then by the offering thou didst make to the Eternal Father of his and thy only-begotten for a holocaust and victim of propitiation for my sins. I thank thee for that love, well-nigh infinite, through which thou didst bereave thyself of the fruit of thy womb, very God and very Man, to save me, sinner that I am; let thy intercession, which never returneth to thee void, interpose with the Father and the Son for me; that I may steadily amend my evil ways, and never by further faults crucify afresh my loving Saviour; that so, persevering in his grace until death, I may obtain eternal life through the merits of his painful Passion and Death upon the Cross. Ave Maria▾, thrice. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who at the sixth hour of the day didst, for the redemption of the world, mount the scaffold of the Cross, and shed thy Precious Blood for the remission of sins; we humbly beseech Thee grant us that after our death we may joyfully enter the gates of Paradise. We beseech Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that now, and at the hour of our death, blessed Mary ever Virgin, thy Mother, may intercede for us, through whose most holy soul the sword passed in the hour of thy Passion. Through Thee, Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.