Pope's Prayer for Mary's month (May) for an end to the pandemic

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200425_lettera-mesedimaggio.html

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE FAITHFUL FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The month of May is approaching, a time when the People of God express with particular intensity their love and devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is traditional in this month to pray the Rosary at home within the family. The restrictions of the pandemic have made us come to appreciate all the more this “family” aspect, also from a spiritual point of view.

For this reason, I want to encourage everyone to rediscover the beauty of praying the Rosary at home in the month of May. This can be done either as a group or individually; you can decide according to your own situations, making the most of both opportunities. The key to doing this is always simplicity, and it is easy also on the internet to find good models of prayers to follow.

I am also providing two prayers to Our Lady that you can recite at the end of the Rosary, and that I myself will pray in the month of May, in spiritual union with all of you. I include them with this letter so that they are available to everyone.

Dear brothers and sisters, contemplating the face of Christ with the heart of Mary our Mother will make us even more united as a spiritual family and will help us overcome this time of trial. I keep all of you in my prayers, especially those suffering most greatly, and I ask you, please, to pray for me. I thank you, and with great affection I send you my blessing.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 25 April 2020
Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist

Pope Francis

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First Prayer
 

O Mary,
You shine continuously on our journey
as a sign of salvation and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who, at the foot of the cross,
were united with Jesus’ suffering,
and persevered in your faith.

“Protectress of the Roman people”,
you know our needs,
and we know that you will provide,
so that, as at Cana in Galilee,
joy and celebration may return
after this time of trial.

Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the will of the Father
and to do what Jesus tells us.
For he took upon himself our suffering,
and burdened himself with our sorrows
to bring us, through the cross,
to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen.

We fly to your protection,
O Holy Mother of God;
Do not despise our petitions
in our necessities,
but deliver us always
from every danger,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

---

Second Prayer
 

“We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God”.

In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, Mother of God and our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection.

Virgin Mary, turn your merciful eyes towards us amid this coronavirus pandemic. Comfort those who are distraught and mourn their loved ones who have died, and at times are buried in a way that grieves them deeply. Be close to those who are concerned for their loved ones who are sick and who, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, cannot be close to them. Fill with hope those who are troubled by the uncertainty of the future and the consequences for the economy and employment.

Mother of God and our Mother, pray for us to God, the Father of mercies, that this great suffering may end and that hope and peace may dawn anew. Plead with your divine Son, as you did at Cana, so that the families of the sick and the victims be comforted, and their hearts be opened to confidence and trust.

Protect those doctors, nurses, health workers and volunteers who are on the frontline of this emergency, and are risking their lives to save others. Support their heroic effort and grant them strength, generosity and continued health.

Be close to those who assist the sick night and day, and to priests who, in their pastoral concern and fidelity to the Gospel, are trying to help and support everyone.

Blessed Virgin, illumine the minds of men and women engaged in scientific research, that they may find effective solutions to overcome this virus.

Support national leaders, that with wisdom, solicitude and generosity they may come to the aid of those lacking the basic necessities of life and may devise social and economic solutions inspired by farsightedness and solidarity.

Mary Most Holy, stir our consciences, so that the enormous funds invested in developing and stockpiling arms will instead be spent on promoting effective research on how to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

Beloved Mother, help us realize that we are all members of one great family and to recognize the bond that unites us, so that, in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity, we can help to alleviate countless situations of poverty and need. Make us strong in faith, persevering in service, constant in prayer.

Mary, Consolation of the afflicted, embrace all your children in distress and pray that God will stretch out his all-powerful hand and free us from this terrible pandemic, so that life can serenely resume its normal course.

To you, who shine on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope, do we entrust ourselves, O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.

---

© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary - Remembering the 1571 Battle of Lepanto

Today (October 7) is the great feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. We thank her in remembrance of saving Europe from the Ottoman Empire's Muslim forces commanded by Ali Pasha.

On the Muslim side, Ali Pasha commanded a force of 206 galleys and 45 galliots. This was the most powerful naval force in the world at the time. The battle was also the last battle at sea between oared fleets. Ali Pasha's fleet had between 12,000 and 15,000 Christian slaves among the 50,000 sailors and oarsmen. Ali Pasha also had 34,000 soldiers under his command. It is important to note that the Turks had not lost a major naval battle since the 15th Century.

The Christian forces were commanded by Don John of Austria.There were 28,000 soldiers and 40,000 sailors and oarsmen. Knowing that the Christian forces were at a disadvantage Saint Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for Victory.

During the battle the Turks lost 210 ships, their commander Ali Pasha was killed along with 25,000 others killed or wounded and 3,500 captured. Also, upwards of 10,000 Christian slaves were freed from the boats of the Turks. The Christians lost 50 galleys and around 13,000 men.

This victory prevented the Ottoman Empires expansion West. Saint Pope Pius V was in a meeting hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, but got up in the middle of a meeting, went over to a window and exclaimed with "supernatural radiance" that the Christian fleet was victorious, shedding tears of thanksgiving to God. This day was declared the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

 Thanks be to Our Mother for her intercession and keeping Europe safe from the Ottoman forces and expanding Muslim influence.

(sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto; http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/navalbattles14011600/p/lepanto.htm; http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/olislam.htm)

If you would like to show your Love for Our Lady and ask for her intercession (and are in London) why not join us for the 27th Annual National Rosary Crusade of Reparation. It starts at 1:45pm outside Westminster Cathedral and will process behind a statue of Our Lady of Fatima to Brompton Oratory. More details here: http://www.rosarycrusadeofreparation.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Mary, Mother of the Word Incarnate

Today the Church celebrates the birthday of our Blessed Mother, Mary Most Holy. I would like to share a passage from Verbum Domini on this occasion:

...I would like to mention Mary's familiarity with the word of God. This is clearly evident in the Magnificat. There we see in some sense how she identifies with the word, enters into it; in this marvellous canticle of faith, the Virgin sings the praises of the Lord in his own words:  "The Magnificat - a portrait, so to speak, of her soul - is entirely woven from threads of Holy Scripture, threads drawn from the word of God. Here we see how completely at home Mary is with the word of God, with ease she moves in and out of it. She speaks and thinks with the word of God; the word of God becomes her word, and her word issues from the word of God. Here we see how her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the will of God. Since Mary is completely imbued with the word of God, she is able to become the Mother of the Word Incarnate"." (Verbum Domini, B16)

That is why we so love our Mother. Thanks be to God that Saints Joachim and Anne gave us such a beautiful gift in their daughter.

Our Lady is an Icon, don't touch

Icon of the Assumption of Mary in Suprasl

I just got back from a short holiday in Poland. While there I was blessed enough to visit the Russian Orthodox Icon Museum in Suprasl. The monastery has been in the town since 1500 and has a collection of more than 1200 icons.

There was a particular icon that caught my eye during the tour. You can see the photo on the left. It is an icon depicting the assumption of Our Lady. The most striking feature of the icon is at the bottom, there you see a man whose hand's have been cut off by St Michael the Archangel (see detailed picture below).

Why did St Michael cut the hands off? The story goes that the man was a Jewish Priest who did not acknowledge the

the sanctity of Mary and wanted to push the funeral bier over. As can be seen, Saint Michael intervened.

Close up detail from icon of Assumption of Mary

But the story has a happy ending. The hand less priest's hands were miraculously re-attached and healed once he acknowledged the sanctity of our Lady. You can read more about the details of this icon here.

Another icon that raised my heart was an icon depicting the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic bread and wine. You can see Christ (although it may be one of the Church Fathers) holding a chalice in which his blood resides, along with His body. Thanks be to God for these revelations in art.






Icon of the Real Presence



From the walls of the Icon Museum in Suprasl





 



Why do Catholics pray through Mary? Because they are Jewish of course...

This is something I learned today as I was reading the first pages of Taylor Marshall's book "The Crucified Rabbi" as he explains how a Rabbi began his journey from Episcopalean pastor to Catholic Priest. On his first assignment he was asked to do a hospital visitation. He got his prayer book ready, along with his stole and went to the hospital, only to find the patient he was to pray for was Jewish (her husband was Episcopalian and she attended the services with him). As Fr Taylor was leaving the hospital room he bumped into her Rabbi who had also come to pray with her. The Rabbi asked the husband for the name of his wife's mother (as the patient had fallen asleep and could not be asked). The husband was perplexed and asked Rabbi why he needed that info and the Rabbi replied: "We Jews believe that if someone is suffering and you invoke the name of his or her mother in prayer, God will be more merciful in granting your prayer for that person."
This series of events began Fr Taylor's discovering the Biblical roots of Catholicism and his conversion.
I researched a bit further on this topic and found that it is rooted in Psalm 116 which reads "I worship you, LORD, just as my mother did, and you have rescued me from the chains of death."  (Psa 116:16 CEV). We must also note that the Jewish faith is passed down from the mother and when praying for someone they would emphasize their eternal link to God which comes from the mother.
As Catholics we pray for Mary's intercession as our mother, the mother of all of us in Faith. We can say, even, that Mary is the new Abraham, but whereas Abraham was spared the sacrifice of his son Isaac, Mary was entrusted to see her son sacrificed for our salvation. She is, so to say, Abraham going even one step further. She, like Abraham, watched her only son carry the wood for his own sacrifice up the hill. However, she was not spared the sacrifice of her son. Truly, just as Abraham is our father in Faith, so Mary is our Mother, believing that God's plan brings salvation in any circumstances.
We also know that Mary is our mother from the word's spoken to John from the Cross: "Behold your mother" (Jn 19:27).
Let us thank Jesus for given His blessed Mother to us and pray continually for her intercession, remembering that it was at the prompting of Mary that Jesus performed His first public miracle at the wedding feast at Cana (John Chapter 2).
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.