Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

O HOLY Mary, Mother of GOD, who to reanimate the faith of the world and draw men to thy divine Son, JESUS CHRIST our LORD, didst deign to appear at Lourdes; thou who, in order to render more manifest thy maternal tenderness, and to inspire our hearts with greater confidence, didst choose a simple little child as the confidant of thy mercy; thou who didst say: "I am the Immaculate Conception” to make us understand the priceless value of that innocence which is the pledge of the friendship of GOD; thou who by eighteen successive apparitions didst not cease by thy actions and words to urge men to prayer and penance, which alone can appease Heaven and ward off the blows of divine justice; thou who, by a moving appeal to the world, hast reunited before the miraculous grotto an innumerable multitude of thy children; behold us, Our Lady of Lourdes, prostrate at thy feet, and confident of obtaining blessings and graces from GOD by thy most powerful intercession.

Those who love thee, O Mother of JESUS CHRIST, Mother of men, desire above everything to serve GOD faithfully in this world, so as to have the happiness of loving Him eternally in Heaven. Listen to the prayers which we this day address to thee; defend us against the enemies of our salvation, and against our own infirmities; together with the pardon of our sins, obtain for us perseverance in the determination never to fall away again.

We implore thee also to take under thy protection our friends and benefactors, and of these in a very special manner those who have abandoned the practice of their Christian duties. May they be converted and become thy faithful servants.

We beseech thee also to bless our country. She has many failings, for which we must implore pardon ; but in the midst of her wanderings from the right path, she has never ceased to proclaim through the best of her sons that thou art for ever her Mother and her Sovereign.  Thou hast always shown her thy love, and we hope that thou wilt not abandon her after having heaped thy favours and benefits upon her.  

While we pour forth our hearts in prayer at thy feet, O Virgin Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, we cannot forget our Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff, and in his person the whole Catholic Church, which thy divine Son has entrusted to him to lead along the paths of eternal salvation. He, too, places his whole trust in thee. Protect and bless him ; be his support and consolation in the midst of his trials, and help him to extend the Kingdom of GOD. O Mother of mercy, be for us all "the cause of our joy, " and show unto us” " JESUS CHRIST, as thy gift in this life and in eternity. Amen.

From the Raccolta
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