627 chapter 16: the cleanliness of the mystical temple I have offended You by these sins (cause them to appear in the court of your mind) and thus I should like to grieve over each and every one of the sins of my whole life, indeed over the sins of all men, most perfectly, just as I ought. I detest them above all evils. Forgive me, and all, because of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Most Blessed Virgin and all Your Elect. Amen. The fifth: O God! O goodness! O my Love! I love You above all things, and desire that You be loved by all, as Your Majesty should and can be loved. Would that I be able to love You as You love yourself, as You love Your most sacred humanity, as the Most Blessed Virgin and all the elect love You. O God, out of my love for You I firmly resolve to atone for each and all my sins by sacramental confession as soon as possible for Your glory, to correct them by your grace, and make satisfaction for my sins. The sixth: Finally assign yourself some mortification, both in thanksgiving for the benefits received and in satisfaction for your sins. Or at least undertake at once some prayer, or decide to give some alms as soon as possible, or to fast as to the quality and magnitude of the sin demands, and as the Spirit of God teaches you. Thus you will clean the Temple of God, and so you will advance in His grace, love, and perfection. The admonition which Annaeus137 gives in particular on this point should not be despised: “As much as you can,” he says, “accuse yourself. Examine yourself accurately: first play the part of the prosecutor, then of the judge, and lastly of the advocate; at times provoke yourself.”138 But if by chance you grumble at the Philosopher’s admonition, then consider what the most holy 137 Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Sawa correctly recognized him, but Jarra erroneously identifies him with Ioannes Annius of Viterbo (d. 1502). 138 Lucius Annaeus Seneca, A Book of Letters to Lucilius on the Reason for Living, Krakow 1524, Fo. 18v.
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