My Prayer

Dear Mother, Mary,

Thank you for your prayers!

Thank you for always thinking of me 

and bringing my prayers 

before your son, Jesus.

Please teach me to be a

good wife and mother

and to always trust in God.

Hide me always in the folds

of your mantle.

Amen.

Our Lady of This House and Mary, Mother of Jesus

Getting a little behind again so here is a prayer for today and yesterday. :)

Here is one I found in my moms kitchen...

 Our Lady Of This House

O sweet and gentle Lady, Immaculate Mother of God, 

we choose thee this day as the Mistress and Lady of this house.

Guard it, dear Mother from pestilence, fire, lightning and tempest, 

from schisms and heresies, and from the malice of enemies.

Protect its inmates, sweet Mother, watch over their going out

and their coming in and preserve them from sudden death. 

Keep from us all sin and harm and pray to God for us that we may 

live in His service and depart this life in His grace. 

Amen.

And here is a nice little one that reminds me of Blessed Mother Teresa. . .

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary, Mother of Jesus,
give me your heart
so beautiful, so pure,
so immaculate,
that I may be able to receive
Jesus in the Bread of Life,
love Him as you loved Him,
and serve Him as you served Him
in the distressing disguise
of the poorest of the poor.
Amen.

Consecration To Our Blessed Mother and Prayer to Her Pure Heart

Here are two prayers to Mary since I wasn't able to get to posting a prayer for yesterday. . .

A patch from my old shop.

Consecration to Our Blessed Mother

My Queen, My Mother, 

I give myself entirely to thee,

and to show my devotion to thee,

I consecrate to you this day

my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart,

my whole body without reserve.

Wherefore good Mother, as I am thine own,

keep me and guard me

as your property 

and possession.

A painting from my new shop.

PRAYER TO THE MOST PURE HEART OF MARY

O Heart most pure of the blessed Virgin Mary,

obtain for me from Jesus a pure and humble heart.

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Blessed Virgin, who didst keep in thy heart the 

precious treasure of the words of Jesus thy Son and,

pondering over the sublime mysteries therein contained,

couldst only live for God, how I am confounded by the 

coldness of my heart! Ah, dear Mother, obtain for me the

grace of meditating always on the holy law of God and of

seeking to follow thine example in the fervent practice

of all the Christian virtues.

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Say Our Father once and Hail Mary seven times.

Sub Tuum Praesidium Prayer

Sub Tuum Praesidium Prayer

We Turn to you for protection,

holy Mother of God.

Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs.

Save us from every danger,

Glorious and blessed Virgin.

This is the oldest known prayer to the Virgin Mary. It was found in a Greek papyrus and dated to about 300. It is called the Sub Tuum Praesidium, which is translated, "We Turn To You For Protection" or "We fly to thy patronage" or something close to that. I found the translation of the prayer above, in a Marian book my mother gave me, but found a few slightly different translations online. Here it is in Latin:

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus,
sancta Dei Genitrix:
nostras deprecationes
ne despicias in necessitatibus:
sed a periculis cunctis
libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.

Using my Sherlock Holms skills, I noticed that beginning of the Latin translation is where the name for the English prayer comes from. :)

Ave Maria

Hail Mary, full of grace, 

the Lord is with thee;

blessed art 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.

Amen.

For my second prayer, I have chosen the Hail Mary. It is one of my favorite prayers, right up there with the Our Father and Glory Be. :) I find myself saying this prayer more and more these days and it always seems to help me in one way or another. It is a beautiful prayer and comes, for the most part, right from the bible. The part at the end that says, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." is the part that is not in the bible. It is one of the main prayers of the Rosary and is very powerful. I have heard several different times that if you want to deepen your relationship with God and start praying daily, you should start simply by saying one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory be. Doing this has helped me with my daily prayers a lot. I would always try to start by doing something like a daily rosary or other devotion and since it was not something I already had a habit of doing, it was far too easy for me to just forget about it or not do it. But once I started trying to say just these three little prayers everyday, it seemed to become easier to build up to doing other prayers and devotions. Something my husband says is, "It's a process." which is kind of like saying, you have to walk the road to get where you want to be. Once I get it in my head to do something I want to get it done as soon as possible, but there are always things that need to be done to prepare before I can get the results I want. I am still learning that God works in the best time. He knows best what I need and when I am ready to receive it.
I am still working on being consistent with my daily prayers and being open to where God is leading me. I am sorry to say I get in the way too often. So, Mary our Mother, Pray for me!

Here is the Hail Mary in a couple different languages. (I like how beautiful it sounds in other languages too. :)

Latin 

Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum,
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.
Sancta Maria mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen

French

Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce.
Le Seigneur est avec vous.
Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes,
et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni.
Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,
Priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,maintenant et à l'heure de notre mort.
Amen

Spanish

Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia,
el Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres,
y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros, pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amen

Italian

Ave Maria, piena di grazia,
il Signore è con te.
Tu sei benedetta fra le donne
e benedetto è il frutto del tuo seno, Gesú.
Santa Maria, Madre di Dio,
prega per noi peccatori,
adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte.
Amen

Flowers For Mary

O Mary, we crown thee with Blessings today,

Queen of the angels and Queen of May!

Happy May day everyone!! The month of Mary is upon us and I am happy to be starting some daily devotions to her. Here is the first prayer to our Blessed Mother for the month:

                                                Hail, holy Lady,

                                                Most Holy Queen,

                                                          Mary, Mother of God,

                                                          Ever Virgin;

                                                   Chosen by the most holy Father in heaven,

                                                         Consecrated by him, 

                                                        With his most holy beloved Son

                                                             And the Holy Spirit, the comforter.

                                            On you descended and in you still remains

                                                         All the fullness of grace

                                                         And every good.

                                                   Hail, his Palace.

                                                   Hail, his Tabernacle.

                                                   Hail, his Robe.

                                                   Hail, his Handmaid.

                                                   Hail, his Mother.

                                                   And hail, all holy virtues,

                                                           Who, by the Grace

                                                           And inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

                                                           Are poured into the hearts of the faithful

                                                    So that, faithless no longer,

                                                    They may be made faithful servants of God

                                                         through you.

                                                                                                 Saint Francis of Assisi

Congratulations to, Dara, the winner of my giveaway for the patch and prayer card of Jesus and His Sacred heart!!

Our Lady's Month

May, The Month Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

I have know for some time that the month of May is one of the months dedicated to our Blessed Mother Mary, but it is not until this year that I have really know why, and how it is usually celebrated and observed. I found some great information about it online and here is what I learned. . .

Let's start with a short history.

The Tradition of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary started as the end of the 13th century to Christianize secular feasts. 

In the 16th century there were books found that fostered this Devotion.

In the 1700's the practice had become popular with the Jesuit order and with their students. A short time later it was practiced in the Gesu church in Rome, from there it spread throughout the whole church. 

It is said that the tradition of honoring Mary with devotions for the whole month of May originated in Italy, and from there, spread around the world in the 19th century. 

Many Popes have had great devotions to Mary and celebrated the month of May with special devotions to her. 

Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical on the Month of May, said that “During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God’s mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance.” 

In May 2002 John Paul II said: “Today we begin the month dedicated to Our Lady a favourite of popular devotion. In accord with a long-standing tradition of devotion, parishes and families continue to make the month of May a ‘Marian’ month, celebrating it with many devout liturgical, catechetical and pastoral initiatives!”

 Ways to celebrate and honor our Blessed Mother this month include:

• Reciting the Rosary daily (especially as a family).

• Singing Marian anthems.

• Praying special Marian prayers and novenas (The Angelus is another good prayer to say daily.)

• Celebrating mass, especially on her feast days.

• Making an alter for Mary using a statue or image of her surrounded with fresh May flowers.

• Crowning a statue of Mary with a simple crown of flowers.

Crowning a statue of Our Lady with a wreath or crown of blossoms is probably one of the practices that is done and most recognized today. It is done to signify that Mary is the Queen of Heaven and Mother of God. In some places, a crown of flowers is placed on a statue or image of Mary on May 1st, but since it often lands on a weekday, it is done on Mother's day in most Catholic churches in the United States. You can celebrate the crowning of Mary at most Catholic churches during a special ceremony like a benediction, special rosary or the closing of mass. Children who go to Catholic school often have a special service presided by a priest that is celebrated with the whole school. It consists of readings, prayers, songs and usually ends with a special procession to crown a statue of Our Mother. You can also celebrate crowning Mary as a family at home. A simple way to do it would be to say the rosary together and then crown one of your statues or images of Mary with a homemade wreath of flowers. (real or plastic flowers can be used).

 A secular celebration for the month of May that I have learned about is making a baskets, wreaths or arrangements of May flowers to leave as a surprise for your neighbors at their door. This is a tradition that has developed here in the USA from long ago and far away, and is still done here in some places today. To me, this sounds like a great way to start the month of Our Blessed Mother. I very much want it to be a tradition in my family and plan to start it this next month. It just seems like such a fun and nice thing to do with family for others. Along with giving flowers to the neighbors, we will of course set aside some pretty posies for Mary. :)


As part of my devotion to Mary, I will be posting a different prayer, anthem, hymn, etc. for every day of the month of May here on my blog as a way to honor her.

I highly recommend  reading True Devotion to Mary, by  St. Louis de Montfort. It is an amazing book, sure to inspire a deeper devotion and love for Our Blessed Mother and her Son, Jesus. 
 

 Feast days of Our Lady in May: 
13 May - Our Lady of Fatima
13 May - Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament
24 May - Mary, Help of Christians
31 May - Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces
31 May - Visitation
31 May - Our Lady of the Sacred Heart


Some other books you might enjoy about Mary: 

• Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God by Scott Hahn  
• The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Anne Catherine Emmerich

• Medjugorje: The Message by Wayne Weible

  
  

I hope everyone has a very happy and blessed May! 

P.S. Please check out my post for my give away! It ends at the end of April so you still have some time to enter.