Supplication for the gift of contrition — with a fragment of the Miserere

Contrition is not the fruit of pure human nature: it is a grace of the Holy Spirit (CCC n. 1432). For this reason, before the penitent enters the confessional, it is pious to ask God for the very gift of weeping for one’s sins — without which neither the examination nor the confession bears fruit. This supplication is united to the Miserere (Psalm 50 of the Vulgate, 51 of the Hebrew), the penitential psalm of David after his sin with Bathsheba, which the Church recites every Friday at Lauds and in every public penance.

Psalm 50 (incipit):

Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam;
et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea,
et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco,
et peccatum meum contra me est semper.

English translation (Douay-Rheims, 1582-1610):

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.
And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
Wash me yet more from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my iniquity,
and my sin is always before me.

Supplication: Lord, God of mercy, grant me yourself the sorrow that you require of your sinful children: the sorrow that comes from love, and not from fear; the sorrow that grieves at having offended you, and not merely at having displeased you; the sorrow that uproots sin, and not merely suspends it. Without this gift of yours, all my examination is vain and every confession without fruit. Grant it to me now, in view of the confession I am about to make.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.