The prayer of prostration
Day 2- July 31
Blessed Dominic also often prayed lying completely face down. He would then foster in his heart true feelings of [regret for his faults]. He would remember the teachings of the divine Scriptures, sometimes pronouncing, in a voice loud enough to be heard, these words from the holy Gospel: "O God, have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke, XVIII, 13). Piously and with reverent fear, he repeated this verse from David: "It is I who have sinned and done wrong" (Ps L, 5). (...) He also exhorted the younger brethren in these terms: "If you cannot weep for your sins because you have none, think of the great number of sinners who can be prepared for mercy and charity. For them the prophets and apostles addressed their cries to heaven; for them also, Jesus, who penetrated them with his gaze, wept sorrowfully. "
With Dominic lying on the ground as a sign of penitence, we implore you, Lord: forgive humanity its egoisms of all kinds and its dreadful pride which damage its first beauty. Give to all the grace of charity that makes all things new. Give us our life; our soul is stuck to the ground, have mercy on us. We have offended you, the God who loves us and whom we love. We blush with the shame of our sin. And our hearts weep softly... because we have betrayed you, and you forgive us in your great mercy, in your infinite love. We want to let go all facade, and throw ourselves on the ground at your feet, because we are guilty, and we trust in you.
Jubilee Prayer
O God Our Creator, Redeemer, Paraclete,
In prayer, we lift our praise, our blessing, our preaching.
Eight hundred years ago, you called Saint Dominic
to enter into eternal life, and to join you at table in heaven.
As we celebrate this Jubilee, feed us and fill us with grace
so that we may realize our mission of preaching for the salvation of souls.
Help us nourish your people, with your Truth, your Mercy and your Love,
until the promised day when we are all united with the blessed.
We ask this, as One Dominican Family,
through the pleas of Mary, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
