The Imitation of Christ
Here are a few prayers from The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis. A version can be found online here.
A Prayer Against Evil Thoughts
O Lord my God, be not far from me. O my God, hasten to help me, for varied thoughts and great fears have risen up within me, afflicting my soul. How shall I escape them unharmed? How shall I dispel them? “I will go before you,” says the Lord, “and will humble the great ones of earth. I will open the doors of the prison, and will reveal to you hidden secrets.”
Do as You say, Lord, and let all evil thoughts fly from Your face. This is my hope and my only comfort — to fly to You in all tribulation, to confide in You, and to call on You from the depths of my heart and to await patiently for Your consolation.
A Prayer For The Clearing of Man’s Mind
Enlighten me, good Jesus, with the brightness of internal light, and take away all darkness from the habitation of my heart. Restrain my wandering thoughts and suppress the temptations which attack me so violently. Fight strongly for me, and vanquish these evil beasts — the alluring desires of the flesh — so that peace may come through Your power and the fullness of Your praise resound in the holy courts, which is a pure conscience. Command the winds and the tempests; say to the sea: “Be still,” and to the north wind, “Do not blow,” and there will be a great calm.
Send forth Your light and Your truth to shine on the earth, for I am as earth, empty and formless until You illumine me. Pour out Your grace from above. Shower my heart with heavenly dew. Open the springs of devotion to water the earth, that it may produce the best of good fruits. Lift up my heart pressed down by the weight of sins, and direct all my desires to heavenly things, that having tasted the sweetness of supernal happiness, I may find no pleasure in thinking of earthly things.
Snatch me up and deliver me from all the passing comfort of creatures, for no created thing can fully quiet and satisfy my desires. Join me to Yourself in an inseparable bond of love; because You alone can satisfy him who loves You, and without You all things are worthless.
That We Ought To Offer Ourselves and All That Is Ours to God, and Pray For All People
(A prayer before Mass)
Lord, all things in heaven and on earth are Yours. I desire to offer myself to you in free and perpetual oblation, so that I may forever be with You. Lord, in simplicity of heart, I offer myself this day to You, to be Your servant in service and sacrifice of perpetual praise. Accept me with the oblation of Your precious Body, which this day I offer You in the presence of Your holy angels, here invisibly present, so that it may be to my salvation and to the salvation of all people. Lord, I offer You all the sins and offenses I have committed before You and Your holy angels, from the day I first offended to this day, that You may deign, through Your great charity, to put away all my sins, and to clean my conscience from all my offenses, and to restore to me again the grace I have lost through sin, and to forgive me all past sins, and receive me mercifully to the blessed kiss of peace and forgiveness.
What then can I do but humbly confess and bewail my sins and continually ask Your mercy? Forgive me now, merciful Lord, I beseech You, for all my sins displease me much. I will never commit them again. I am sorry for them, and I am ready to do penance and satisfaction to my full power. Forgive me, Lord, forgive me my sins for the sake of Your holy Name. Save my soul, which You have redeemed with Your most precious Blood. I commit myself wholly unto Your mercy; I resign myself into Your hands. Do with me according to Your goodness, not according to my malice and wretchedness.
I offer You all my good deeds, though they are very few and imperfect, to the end that You may amend and sanctify them and make them pleasing and acceptable to Yourself, and to the end that You may bring me, though I am a slow and unprofitable servant, to a blessed and glorious end.
I offer You all the desires of devout persons, the needs of my ancestors, friends, brothers, sisters, and all those who love me, and of all those who, for Your love, have done good to me or to any other, and of those who have desired or asked me to pray or do sacrifice for them or for their friends, living or dead, so that they may the more feel the help of Your grace and the gift of Your heavenly consolation, Your protection from all perils and Your deliverance from all pain, and so that, delivered from all evils, they may give You high praise and glory in spiritual gladness.
I offer You my prayers and my peace offerings for all those who have in any way hindered me or burdened me, or who have done me any hurt or grief, and for all those whom I have at any time burdened or troubled or grieved or slandered in word or deed, knowingly or unknowingly, to the end that You may forgive us, all together, our sins and offenses against You and of any one of us against another, and that You, Lord, may take from our hearts all suspicion and indignation, wrath, dissension, and whatever else may hinder charity or diminish the fraternal love each of us ought to have for the other.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on all those who ask Your mercy, and give grace to those who need it, and make us stand in such condition that we may be worthy to have Your grace and finally come to everlasting life.
Four Things Which Bring Great Peace
My child, I will teach you now the way of peace and true liberty. Seek, child, to do the will of others rather than your own. Always choose to have less rather than more. Look always for the last place and seek to be beneath all others. Always wish and pray that the will of God be fully carried out in you. Behold, such will enter into the realm of peace and rest.
O Lord, this brief discourse of Yours contains much perfection. It is short in words but full of meaning and abounding in fruit. Certainly if I could only keep it faithfully, I should not be so easily disturbed. For as often as I find myself troubled and dejected, I find that I have departed from this teaching. But You Who can do all things, and Who always love what is for my soul’s welfare, give me increase of grace that I may keep Your words and accomplish my salvation.