Shrift

Fr Rowe came round to visit this evening, and was kind enough to hear some confessions while here: he fetched a stole from the car, and sat himself in our chapel.  It was good to be absolved!  Afterward, I said my penance (five Ave's, for the dying - "now and at the hour of our death" made a sobering meditation), before the altar, and then caught up on the Angelus and some Office.  

As a preparation, I prayed some of the Prayer of St Simeon (Symeon) Metaphrastes, which I completed after my confession - while appointed in the East as a preparation for Holy Communion, I consider it more directly suited as preparatory to Penance, and would commend its uncompromising language, stern, yet sure in the hope of Divine mercy. BTW, Symeon is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Church, but I can't find evidence of any Western cultus: he's not mentioned in the Martyrology.