Prayers and Devotions

Without prayer we can’t progress in the divine service. St Francis of Assisi.

Daily Prayers and Devotions

Pray as if everything depended on God, but act as if everything depended on you.

We can pray in two ways. We can pray with our words and thoughts in a free and spontaneous dialogue with God. It is talking with God and listening to Him. On the other hand we can pray those prayers that we have learned in our way through life. For example, the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Glory be and others. Devotions are religious practices that are not obligatory, such as the Angelus and the Holy Rosary. Prayer is a necessary and powerful complement of our day.  Prayer brings us closer to Heaven and allows us to communicate with God and His saints.  Prayer feeds and supports the soul and is as necessary to the soul as food is necessary to the body.  We must pray every day. We must grow accustomed to prayer. Just as we eat three times a day, we should also pray at least three times a day - when we get up, during the day and when we go to bed. That is why the Angelus is prayed three times a day since ancient times.

The Angelus. The Angelus consists in the recital of three verses followed by a Hail Mary after each verse:

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.

And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, etc.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Be it done unto me according to thy word.

Hail Mary, etc.

And the Word was made flesh.

And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary, etc.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray

Pour forth, we beseech Thee O Lord,

Thy grace into our hearts;

that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ,

Thy Son, was made known

by the message of an angel,

may by his Passion and Cross be brought

to the glory of his Resurrection

through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Act of Contrition.  Should be prayed every day at least once at the end of the day, stating, for the love of Jesus, repentance for our sins, resolving not to sin again and to receive the Sacrament of Penance as soon as possible, if we have committed a grave sin:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.

Man’s greatest victory is the conquest of himself

Thanksgiving. May be prayed in the morning and in the evening, together with the act of contrition.

Thanks my Jesus,

For your Passion, for your Cross,

For your Death and Resurrection;

Thanks for shedding your Blood to redeem us,

Thanks for destroying death with your Death,

Thanks for opening the doors to Eternal Life with your Resurrection,

Thanks Oh Lord,  Thanks, Thanks.

Soul of Christ

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.

Body of Christ, save me.

Blood of Christ, inebriate me.

Water from the side of Christ, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

O good Jesus, hear me.

Within your wounds, hide me.

Never let me be separated from you.

From the malignant enemy, defend me.

At the hour of death, call me; and bid me come to you.

That with your saints I may praise you forever and ever.

Amen

Consecration to the Virgin

My Queen, My Mother, I offer

myself entirely to You.

And to show my devotion to You,

I offer You this day, my eyes,

my ears, my mouth, my heart,

my whole being without reserve.

Wherefore, good Mother, as I am your own,

keep me, guard me as your property and possession.

Amen

Prayer of St Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

The Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Holy Mass.  At the center, and as focal point of the Christian life, is the Holy Mass. The Holy Mass is the sacrament in which we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The benefits of the Holy Mass are incalculable. We must participate in the Holy Mass every Sunday and more frequently, if possible. The Catechism of the Church tells us in its numbers 1322 and 1323:

“The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.”

“At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”

Reading the Bible.  We must read the Bible as frequently as possible. The word of God feeds and enriches the soul and strengthens our spirit and should be part of our daily routine. The Church recognizes this necessity and grants plenary indulgence to those who read the Bible a minimum of thirty minutes, if they comply with the other requirements to gain indulgences.

The Sacrament of Penance. Confession. Penance or Confession, is the sacrament in which the sins committed by the faithful after Baptism are forgiven. It is of great importance and should be frequented as much as possible.

The Holy Rosary. Praying the Holy Rosary stands out, by far, among the prayers of importance in the Church. If you are not familiar with this prayer you can go to the page of the Holy Rosary for an explanation. In Fatima, the Virgin asks us to pray the Holy Rosary every day. The Rosary should be prayed in company for greater benefit, whether at home, at church, or wherever we are. However, we don’t always have the opportunity of praying the Rosary with others. For that reason, everyone who prays the Rosary should become affiliated to the Confraternity of the Rosary. The Confraternity of the Rosary is an international association of the Catholic faithful established to praise and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and insure her patronage by praying the Rosary and for the mutual spiritual benefit of all its members throughout the world. There are a number of websites of the Confraternity in the internet. For more information about the Confraternity of the Rosary, its benefits, and how to join, please go to any of the pages of the Confraternity. We provide here the link to one of the pages of the Confraternity in the United States of America.

The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. This is the most recent of the prayers of the Church. It was dictated by Jesus to Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, who was later beatified. As related in the Diary of Saint Faustina, Jesus revealed to her that whoever prayed the Chaplet at the time of death, would receive great mercy: “Say unceasingly the Chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it, they will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy.”

  It is worth noting that the Chaplet benefits not only the one who prays it, but also those dying when we pray it next to them: “At the hour of their death, I will defend every soul that will say this Chaplet as I do my own glory. When this Chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God's anger is placated and His unfathomable mercy envelops the soul.” “ Write that when they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior.”

To pray the Chaplet we use a regular rosary. We begin with the Lord’s prayer, a Hail Mary and the Creed.

Each decade begins saying:

“Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son,

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”

Then the following is repeated ten times:

“For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

After finishing the five decades, the following is repeated three times:

“Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

The Magnificat.  This prayer recites the words of the Virgin Mary after she is greeted by her cousin Elizabeth, saying: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.“

The Via Crucis. The Way of the Cross. This a very old devotion that consists in accompanying Jesus in His Pasion, His Cross and His Death, reviewing 14 moments, or stations, in the last hours in the life of our Lord.

St. Bridget’s Prayers for one year. These prayers are reflections on the Passion of our Lord and must be prayed daily for at least one year. For more information, please go the page of St. Bridget’s prayers for one year.

St. Bridget’s Prayers for twelve years.  These prayers are reflections of the times when the Lord shed his Blood and must be prayed for at least twelve years. For more information go to the page of St Bridget’s prayers for twelve years.

There are many other prayers and devotions in the Church. We have resumed here some of the most important ones.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul. Mark 8:36

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.  St, Francis of Assisi.

     The peace of the heart is the heart of the peace. S. John Paul II.

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