O Merciful Creator, Hear!

O merciful Creator, hear!

To us in pity bow thine ear:

Accept the tearful prayer we raise

In this our fast of forty days.

Our hearts are open, Lord, to Thee:

Thou know well our infirmity;

Pour out on all who seek Thy face

Abundance of Thy pardoning grace.

Our sins are many, this we know;

Spare us, good Lord, Thy mercy show;

And for the honor of Thy name

Our fainting souls to life reclaim.

Give self-control to us that springs

From discipline of outward things,

That fasting inward, secretly,

The soul may purely dwell with Thee.

We pray Thee, Holy Trinity,

One God, unchanging Unity,

That we from this our abstinence

May reap the fruits of penitence. Amen.

Tune: Jesus Dulcis Memoria L.M.

Music: Gregorian, Mode I

Text: Audi benigne Conditor, attributed to Saint Gregory the Great, 540-604

Translation: T. A. Lacey, 1853-1931, and others, alt.