PRAYER TO OUR LADY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS

MOST holy and immaculate Virgin Mary, our most tender Mother and powerful Help of Christians, we dedicate ourselves entirely to thy sweet love and holy service. We consecrate in thee our minds with all their thoughts, our
hearts with all their affections, our bodies with all their senses and powers, and we promise to desire always to work for the greater giory of God and for the salvation of souls. Meanwhile thou, O incomparable Virgin, who hast always been the Help of the Christian people, continue to show thyself such, especially in these days. Humble the enemies of our holy religion, frustrate their evil purposes. Enlighten and strengthen bishops and priests, and keep them ever united in obedience to the Pope, their infallible master. Preserve incautious youth from irreligion and vice. Promote holy vocations, increase the number of God's ministers, that by means of them the kingdom of Jesus Christ may be preserved among us, and extended to the farthest boundaries of the earth.

We pray thee also, most sweet Mother, to look at all times with compassion upon the young and thoughtless, exposed to so many dangers, upon poor sinners and the dying; be for all a sweet hope, O Mary, Mother of Mercy and Gate of Heaven.

Also we pray thee for ourselves, O great Mother of God. Teach us to copy thy virtues and especially angelic modesty, profound humility, ardent charity; so that by word and example we may, as far as is possible in our state of life, present in the midst of the world a living image of blessed Jesus thy Son, and may cause thee to be known and loved, and so may succeed in saving many souls.

Obtain for us, O Mary our helper, that we may be all gathered under thy maternal mantle, that in temptation we may invoke thee promptly and confidently; in short, that the thought of thee, so good, so loving, and so dear, and the remembrance of the love which thou bearest to thy clients, may be such a support to us, as to render us victorious over the enemies of our souls in life and in death, so that we may become thy crown in beautiful Paradise. Amen.