Meditation on our need shows us that of ourselves we possess nothing which is spiritually good, and therefore, it teaches us to reject all faith in our own powers. It teaches us to flee to our only help, the divine mercy promised to us on account of Christ. When we consider all our many needs, our heart is raised to God. It asks Him to put to death the old man and to renew the new man. These works of God are needed daily by all those who have been reborn. This renovation consists of faith, hope, love, humility, patience, long-suffering, chastity, and the preservation and increase of all the other good qualities. We are to seek these from God with earnest prayers. Every day we are assaulted by the flesh, the world, and Satan. Every day our flesh incites us to love earthly things. Every day the world assaults us with its hatred, and Satan batters us with his plots. Therefore, we must pray daily to the Lord of Hosts, our highest Judge, to give us contempt for the world, denial of self, victory over the world, preservation in all difficult situations, true peace for the soul, victory in temptations, and preservation from the plots of the devil. Finally, since in the hour of death and judgment the help of God is needed by us above all else, we must humbly pray every day for a blessed end to this life and for a blessed resurrection unto eternal life.  (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.55)

(Continued)  You showed Your mercy to me before I could perceive it. You came to me with Your kindnesses before I could long for them. Your generosity encompassed me before I could offer thanks for it. You are the one who not only marvelously formed me in the womb of my mother, but also drew me out from the womb. You have been my hope since I was yet at my mother’s breast. I was cast upon You from birth. From my mother’s womb You have been my God (Psa. 22:10–11).

When I consider how many die in the womb before coming to the light of this life, I admire and praise Your mercy all the more, because You brought me, alive, safe, and sound, out of the confinement of the womb into the theater of this world. How many years passed in which I was nothing! But it pleased You to build this dwelling of my body, and to bring it out of the deep and darkness of my mother’s womb. You have given me a rational soul and did not will that I be a stone or snake. To You, my God, for this Your mercy, be honor and glory forever. Amen. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.30-32)