Prayers
Spiritual Communion
O Jesus, my soul hungers and thirsts after Thee. I long to receive every day Thy most Holy Body. I implore, at least, Thy spiritual presence. I beg of Thee to descend into my soul and give me some share in the infinite merits of Thy death, the memory of which we celebrate in this Mass. Grant, O loving Saviour, that I may be made one in union with Thee and Thy Mystical Body.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, / Queen of heaven and earth and tender Mother of men, / in accordance with thy ardent wish made known at Fatima. / I consecrate to thee myself, / my brethren, my country and the whole human race./
Reign over us / and teach us how to make the Heart of Jesus reign and triumph in us and around us / as It has reigned and triumphed in thee. /
Reign over us, dearest Mother, / that we may be thine in prosperity and in adversity. / in joy and in sorrow, /in health and in sickness, / in life and in death. / O most compassionate Heart of Mary, / Queen of Virgins, watch over our minds and hearts and preserve them from the deluge of impurity / which thou didst lament so sorrowfully at Fatima. / We want to be pure like thee. / We want to atone for the many sins committed against Jesus and thee. / We want to call down upon our country and the whole world / the peace of God and injustice and charity. /
Therefore, we now promise to imitate thy virtues by the practice of a Christian life / without regard to human respect, O Mary, help us to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month / and to offer thee five decades of the Rosary each day / together with our sacrifices in a spirit of reparation and penance. Amen.
A FRANCISCAN VOCATION PRAYER
O beloved Saint Francis, gentle and poor, your obedience to God and your simple, deep love for all God’s creatures led you to the heights of heavenly perfection and turned many hearts to follow God’s will.
O Holy Father Saint Francis, I ask you now to pray for me, that the Most High and Glorious God will enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may know and carry out God’s holy and true command.Amen.
Saint Francis of Assisi, Pray for me.
A Prayer to Our Lady Help of Christians
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and our Mother, Mary, thou seest the attacks that are everywhere made by the devil and the world upon the Catholic faith, in which, by God’s grace, we intend to live and die, in order that we may attain to eternal glory. Do thou, the Help of Christians, renew thine ancient victories and save thy children. They entrust to thee their firm purpose never to enroll themselves in societies hostile to our holy religion; do thou, who art all holy, present to thy divine Son our good resolutions and obtain for us the grace we need to be unshaken in their observance even to the end of life. Console the visible Head of the Church, sustain the Catholic episcopate, protect the clergy and people who proclaim thee Queen; by the power of thine intercession hasten the day when all nations shall be gathered at the feet of the chief Shepherd. Amen. Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Prayer to Saint Joseph
O Glorious St. Joseph, Spouse of the Immaculate virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, and charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the Divine Will. Be my guide, father, and model through life, that I may merit to die as thou didst in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Help us St. Joseph, in our earthly strife, ever to lead a pure, blameless life. Amen.
From The Liturgical Year of Dom Gueranger
How beautiful art thou, 0 Michael, in thy heavenly armor, giving glory to God whose enemy thou hadst overcome! Thine humble and fervent gaze is fixed on the Throne of Jehovah, whose rights thou didst defend, and who gave thee the victory. Thy sublime cry, Who is like unto God? roused the faithful legions and became thy name and thy crown. It will remind us for all eternity of thy fidelity to our Creator and thy triumph over the dragon. Meanwhile, we enjoy thy loving protection.
Guardian Angel of Holy Church! Now is the time for thee to exert all the might of thine arm. Satan is furious in his efforts against the noble Spouse of thy Master; brandish thy bright sword and give battle to this implacable enemy. The Kingdom of Christ is shaken to its very foundations. Is it that the reign of the Man of Sin is about to be proclaimed on the earth? Are we near that last day when, this guilty world is to be destroyed by fire, and thou art to exercise, in the Name of the Sovereign Judge, the terrible office of separating the goats from the Sheep? If this earth is still to exist; if the mission of the Church is not yet completed; is it not time for thee, O Michael! to show the dragon of hell that he may not, with impunity, insult on this earth the God who created it, who redeemed it, and whose Name is King of kings and Lord of lords? The forces of error and crime are unceasingly dragging the world to the brink of the precipice; save it, O glorious Archangel, by confounding the dark plots which are laid for its destruction!
Thou, 0 Michael, art the protector of our souls in their passage from time to eternity. During this present life thine eye is upon our wants, and thine ear open to our prayers. Though awed by the brightness of thy glory, we lo,ve thee, dear prince of Heaven! and we live happy and contented beneath the shadow of thy wings. In a few days, or at most years, our holy Mother the Church will be performing her last sacred rites over our lifeless remains; she will pray for us to our heavenly Father, that we may be delivered from the lion’s mouth, and that the standard-bearer. Saint Michael, may bring us into the holy light. (Offertory of the Mass for the Dead) Watch over us now, O holy Archangel, lest we should then not deserve thy protection. The dragon is ever threatening us; he makes no secret of his wish to devour us. Teach us, O Michael, to repeat thy beautiful words: Who is like unto God? God’s honor, the rights He has over us, our obligation to be faithful to Him, and serve Him, and confess Him as Our Lord in all times and places – yes! these thoughts must be our shield in danger, and the armor wherewith we must fight, like thee, and win the battle. But we need the sturdy courage which resulted from the love thou hadst within thee. O! pray for us, that we, too, may love our common Lord and Master; then shall we be invincible. Satan cannot make head
against a creature that is filled with the love of the great God.
God created thee, 0 Michael! and thou lovest Him as thy Creator; but He has not only created us, He has redeemed us, yea, and that at the price of His own Blood! What, then, should be the intensity of our love for Him! Strengthen this love in our hearts; and since we are fighting under thy leadership, guide us, inspirit us; let thy look give us courage; ward off from us the blows of the enemy’s sword. We venture to hope that thou wilt be present at our last moments, O standard-bearer of our salvation! In return for our tender devotion towards thee, deign to keep guard round our deathbed, cover it with thy shield. If the dragon see the flash of thy sword, he will not dare to come near us. May our soul, on leaving the body, throw herself with affection into thine arms! Cast her not from thee, O holy Archangel, when she seeks to cling to thee; carry her to the Judgement Seat, cover her beneath thy wings, calm her fears; and may the Lord, thy Master, bid thee bear her speedily to the Kingdom of eternal bliss! Amen.