Prayer Before Confession

O SWEETEST Jesus, who in thy loving desire for our salvation hast instituted the Sacrament of confession for the consolation of all sinners, that by its virtue we might be cleansed from all our iniquities, and recover the grace we have lost; behold I, a most wretched sinner, who have offended thee again by many sins, and defiled my soul with many stains, now come back once more to thee; resolving to receive this most munificent sacrament with most steadfast hope and confidence that thou wilt grant me remission of all my sins, and to accuse myself with most profound humility and contrition of soul before the priest, thy representative, of all and each of my sins, in so far as I can recall them to my mind, nor will I knowingly hide any mortal sin, however vile and shameful it be. And I desire to include in this my confession, all those sins which I cannot now recall to my memory, and all my venial sins; and I confess them all to thee as to my great High Priest high over all, and in presence of all the court of heaven I avow and proclaim myself a perfidious wretch and traitor against thine adorable Majesty. I beseech thee therefore, O most merciful Father, that thou wouldst vouchsafe to look on me a miserable sinner with that eye of compassion wherewith thou didst look upon thy Son when he fell on his face in the Garden of Olives, crushed to the earth by the sins of all mankind, and graciously to hear me while I implore thy pardon. And to supply what is lacking to my most imperfect contrition, I offer thee all that overwhelming grief which thine only-begotten Son endured throughout his whole life on earth in his sweetest Heart by reason of the sins of the world, and especially when in the Garden of Olives the extremity of his anguish wrung from him his sweat of blood; beseeching thee that thou wouldst cleanse my soul from all its defilements in the stream of that most holy Blood, and adorn it with a purity whiter than snow. Amen.