O merciful heart of God, in true penitence and contrition I would now open my heart to Thee. Let me keep nothing hidden from Thee, while I pray. Humbling as the truth about myself may be, let me yet take courage to speak it in Thy presence. What I did not think shame to commit, that let me not think shame to confess. And in Thy wisdom use this pain of confession as a means to make me hate the sins confessed.
I confess to the sin of laziness.
I confess to the sin of vanity.
I confess to indulgence of the flesh.
I confess to the habit of falsehood.
I confess to dishonesty.
I confess to uncharitable word.
I confess to having harboured evil thought.
I confess to wrong direction my life has been taking.
I confess to this lapse from faithful religious practice.
Let Christ be formed in my heart through faith. All this I ask for His holy names’ sake. Amen.
“A Diary of Private Prayer” by John Baillie
