THANK YOU, LORD

O eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the beginning and end of all things, in whom we live and move and have our being, prostrate before thee in body and soul, I adore thee with the most profound humility.

I bless thee and give thee thanks for all the benefits thou hast conferred upon me, especially that thou hast created me out of nothing, made me after thine own image and likeness, redeemed me with the Precious Blood of thy Son, and sanctified me with thy Holy Spirit.

I thank thee that thou hast called me into thy Church, helped me by thy grace, admitted me to thy Sacraments, watched over me by thy special Providence, blessed me, notwithstanding my sins and unworthiness, with thy continuing and gracious protection, and for all the innumerable blessings which I owe to thy undeserved bounty.

I thank thee especially for having preserved me during the past night and for bringing me in safety to the beginning of another day.

What return can I make to thee, my God, for all that thou hast done for me? I will bless thy Holy Name and serve thee all the days of my life. Bless the Lord, my soul, and let all that is within me praise His Holy Name. Amen.

 

FERVENT PRAYER TO YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL

Fervent prayer to your guardian angel (especially to be prayed on the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels [2 October]).

O holy guardian angel! My heart rejoices that you were more devoted to the holy archangel Michael than to Lucifer, and thus achieved the longed-for crown of eternal happiness. May your glory increase day by day.

O holy guardian angel! I firmly believe that you have been chosen by God for my protection since my birth and that you have already shown me countless benefits. Therefore, receive my deepest thanks. I wish to show my gratitude to you with words and deeds for all eternity.

O most beloved holy guardian angel! I recognise with great pain the lack of attention I paid to your benefits and my negligence in adequately thanking you until now. Forgive me. Receive my earnest promise that I will, if possible, diligently make amends for everything.

O purest, holy sweet angel! I have no doubts that you offer all my prayers and works to the Lord God; I therefore ask for your help to be able to perform them perfectly, so that they not only appear pleasing and pleasant to God, but are also worthy of being joyfully offered up by you.

O holy guardian angel! I firmly believe that you will support me, your unworthy foster child, with loyalty, love and care until the end of my life. Therefore, I place all my trust in you and ask for your guidance, and especially for your protection in the hour of my death, so that I may be considered worthy to live eternally united with you. Amen.

O you glorious holy guardian angel! You, my protector since the first hour of my existence, accept the warmest thanks for all the benefits that you have bestowed upon me for the salvation of my body and soul! Praise be to you for your support, which you have never refused me! Blessed be the hour in which you first took care of me. Blessed are your thoughts and admonitions, through which you sought to promote my salvation. Blessed be your faithful love and warm affection, through which I received so many benefits. In gratitude for your faithful years of service, I offer you the most loving Heart of Jesus, our divine Saviour, and humbly ask you to forgive my disobedience and rebelliousness. I now promise renewed obedience. Finally, I ask you for your continued protection against the attacks of the evil enemy, and to be led to eternal joys through a blessed death. Amen.

I beseech you, faithful protector and preserver, not to withdraw your shielding hand from me and to continue to show me the true path of salvation. Protect me from all temptations and support me in the last hour of my life, so that I can happily hand over my spirit into your hands and then, united with you, praise and glorify God Almighty for all eternity! Amen.

Source: Devotion to the Seven Refuges – Andacht zu den Sieben Zufluchten, Michael Sintzel, Verlag G. J. Manz, Regensburg, 1846

 

LITANY OF LORETO (INCL. THE NEW INVOCATIONS)

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
Christ hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.

God, the Father of heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary,
~ pray for us. (repeat after each invocation)
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,

Mother of Christ,
Mother of the Church,

Mother of Mercy,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother of Hope,

Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,

Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Saviour,

Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,

Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honour,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,

Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Solace of Migrants,
Comfort of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,

Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,

Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of families,
Queen of peace.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
Let us pray. Grant, we beseech you, O Lord God, that we your servants may enjoy lasting health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, be delivered from present sorrow and enter into the joy of eternal happiness. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

 

THANK YOU, LORD JESUS

O Lord Jesus,
thank You for the gift of faith
and for the continual grace You give us
to nourish and strengthen it.

Enable us to cultivate the genuine desire for You
that lies beyond the zealous search
for justice, truth, love, and peace
found in our contemporaries.

Encourage these searchings, O Lord,
and grant that all true seekers
may look beyond the present moment
and catch sight of Your countenance in the world.

Come to the aid of those
who are weary and disillusioned
in their searching
and inspire them with renewed Christian hope.
Amen.

 

THE POWER OF AN ACT OF THE LOVE OF GOD

Have you never reflected on the power of an act of the love of God when inspired by grace and made with faith? Let us recall to mind the simple words of which it is composed.

“My God, I love You with my whole heart, with my whole soul, with all my strength, and above all things, because You are good, infinitely good!”

Try to pronounce each word so slowly that it may sink into your heart.

Do you not feel yourself powerfully affected by them, and that by earnestly repeating them you give your whole life to God?

Do you not feel that in making this act you give more than if you gave your riches, your time, your strength, or rather that this act of love transports you out of yourself and gives to God your whole being and all that you possess?

Can you, guilty, desolate, despairing soul, overwhelmed by terror, dread, and the fear of damnation, go before a Crucifix, or before the Holy Tabernacle, and say to Jesus, dwelling more on the words the harder you find it to say them:

“My God! I love You with my whole heart, with my whole soul, with all my strength, and above all things, because You are good, infinitely good!” and not feel that Jesus is moved, and could we hear His voice His words would be: “And I, too, love you with an everlasting love!”

Reason not on this. Try it. Could you believe of Jesus Christ that He does not know how to love, or that His Heart is less generous than yours?

O Jesus, how can I find words to express the love with which Your Sacred Heart responds to a word of tenderness from a poor child of earth! That Heart so tender, so sensible, so loving!

There is a little sentence of Father Faber’s, which, to minds less spiritual, sounds strange: “God tries to win our affections to force us to love Him, that in return He may not only love us, for that He does already, but that He may make us feel that He loves us.” – To make an act of love requires but a few seconds. We can make these acts at any hour – we can multiply them, and how wonderful is their effect! We delight the Heart of Jesus, and beg Him to shed more abundant graces on the world. The Blessed Virgin rejoices, and her love for us increases. Our Angel Guardian listens with emotion, and comes closer to us as if to make us feel we have done well. The Angels who fill the air regard us with ineffable joy. The power of the demons is lessened, and for a moment their temptations cease. The choirs of the Blessed in Heaven redouble their canticles of joy. – Who would not during the day multiply acts of love? You who are reading this, pause a minute and say: “My God, I love You! My God, I love You!” Grant us, O Lord, the two-fold spirit of devotion to Your service, and of holy fear, tempered and mastered by confidence and love.

– From: St Anthony’s Treasury, Laverty and Sons, Leeds, 1922

 

THE VICTORY WAS AN ANSWER TO ALL THE PRAYERS

From this holy devotion of the Rosary countless benefits have been showered the length and breadth of Christendom. Among these most certainly can be reckoned that famous victory which the Christian princes, aroused by the plea of Pope St Pius V, won over the vastly superior power of the Turks at Lepanto.

THE VICTORY OF LEPANTO 

As this victory was won on the very day on which the confraternities of the most holy Rosary throughout the world were offering up their rosaries, as they had been asked to do, there can be no doubt that this victory was an answer to their prayers.

PERPETUAL THANKSGIVING 

So convinced of this was Gregory XIII that he proclaimed that for so singular a blessing there should be offered everywhere on earth perpetual thanks to the blessed Virgin, under the title of the Rosary. He decreed also that in every church where an altar of the Rosary had been erected, its office should be celebrated in perpetuity under the rite of a double major. Other pontiffs also have granted almost innumerable indulgences to the recitation of the Rosary and to Rosary Confraternities.

– From: An Approved English Translation of the Breviarium Romanum, Burns & Oates, London, 1964

 

THANK YOU, LORD, FOR RESCUING US FROM THE GODLESS CHAOS

By Saint Anselm:

“Lord, it was so with me, and this is what you have done for me. I was in darkness, knowing nothing of myself, in a slippery place, for I was weak and prone to fall into sin, I was descending into the chaos of hell, for in my first parents I had fallen from righteousness into wickedness, which is the way to hell, and from blessedness to temporal misery for ever. The weight of original sin dragged me downwards, and the unbearable burden of the judgment of God pressed upon me; my demon enemies thrust vehemently against me to make me do other damnable sins.

When I was destitute of all help, you illuminated me, and showed me what I was, for when I was still unable to see this, you taught others the truth on my behalf and you showed it to me before I asked it. The load that dragged at me, the burden that weighed me down, the enemies that opposed me – you cast them all back when you removed the sin in which I was conceived and born and its condemnation. You forbade evil spirits to attack my soul. You made me a Christian, called by your own name, by which I confessed you, and you acknowledged me to be among your redeemed.

You have set me upright and raised me to the knowledge and love of yourself. You have made me sure of the salvation of my soul, for you have given your life for it, and you have promised me your glory if I follow you. And when I was not following you, but was still committing many sins which you had forbidden, you waited for me to follow you till you could give me what you promised.”

 

THANK THE LORD ALWAYS FOR GIVING US THE SACRAMENT OF HIS FLESH AND BLOOD

“In order to kindle a great love of God in yourself by entering deeply into the heavenly sacrament of the blood and flesh of Christ, turn your thought to the contemplation of the love which God has shown you personally in this sacrament.

For this great and almighty God was not content with creating you in his likeness and image, and when you sinned and offended him and so fell from your high rank, he was not satisfied with sending his Only-begotten Son to live thirty-three years on earth to deliver you, and, by terrible torment and painful death on the cross, to redeem and snatch you out of the hands of the devil, to whom you became enslaved through sin, and again to restore you to your former rank; no, he also deigned to establish the sacrament of his flesh and blood as food for you, so that the whole power of his incarnated dispensation might imbue your nature most essentially.

Make this last token of God’s strong love for you the object of your constant contemplation and deep pondering, so that, seeing its manifold fullness and richness, you should thereby feed and inflame your heart with undivided love and longing for God.”

– Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, 16th century

 

MY GOD, I THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING ME THROUGH THE NIGHT

SHORT MORNING PRAYER

My God, I thank You for protecting me through the night.
I praise You and give You thanks for all the blessings You have bestowed on me.
In union with Jesus, I consecrate to You all my thoughts, words, actions, joys, and sufferings of this day.
Mary, my Mother, bless me this day and protect me from dangers. My Guardian Angel and all my patrons, pray for me. Amen.

 

MAY JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED!

“Praise Jesus Christ – all day round, 24/7, every day!”

When morning gilds the skies,
my heart awakening cries,
may Jesus Christ be praised:
alike at work and prayer
to Jesus I repair:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

To God, the word on high,
the hosts of angels cry:
may Jesus be praised!
Let mortals, too, upraise
their voice in hymns of praise:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Let earth’s wide circle round
in joyful notes resound:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Let air, and sea, and sky,
from depth to height, reply:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Does sadness fill my mind?
A solace here I find,
may Jesus Christ be praised:
or fades my earthly bliss?
My comfort still is this,
may Jesus Christ be praised.

The night becomes a day,
when from the heart we say,
may Jesus Christ be praised:
the powers of darkness fear,
when this sweet chant they hear,
may Jesus Christ be praised.

Be this, while life is mine,
my canticle divine,
may Jesus Christ be praised:
be this the eternal song
through ages all along,
may Jesus Christ be praised.

(From: Celebration Hymnal for Everyone)