A prayer to Immaculate Mary, Mary: Day 183

A prayer to Immaculate Mary

St. Alphonsus rejoices in the sinless beauty of Our Lady, and the power it has to draw us to imitate her holiness.

My immaculate Lady! I rejoice with you on seeing you enriched with such great purity. I thank, and resolve always to thank, our common Creator for having preserved you from every stain of sin. I wish that the whole world knew you and acknowledged you as that beautiful Dawn that was always illumined with God’s light; as that chosen Ark of salvation, free from the common ship- wreck of sin.

Most sweet, most amiable, immaculate Mary, you who are so beautiful in the eyes of your Lord: Don’t despise to cast your compassionate eyes on the wounds of my soul, loathsome as they are. Behold me; pity me; heal me.

O beautiful loadstone of hearts, draw my miserable heart to yourself. You, who from the first moment of your life appeared pure and beautiful before God, pity me—I who not only was born in sin, but have again since Baptism stained my soul with crimes. What grace will God ever refuse you? For he chose you for his daughter, his mother, and spouse, and so preserved you from every stain.

Grant that I may always remember you; and may you never forget me. The happy day, when I will go to behold your beauty in paradise, seems like a thou- sand years away—so much do I long to praise and love you more than I can now do, my mother, my queen, my beloved, most beautiful, most sweet, most pure, immaculate Mary. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
How does Mary’s sinless condition make her beautiful to us? How does this beauty draw us to imitate her holiness?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of Blessed John Henry Newman: Your very face and form, dear mother, speak to us of the Eternal; not like earthly beauty, dangerous to look upon, but like the Morning Star, which is your emblem, bright and musical, breathing purity, telling of heaven, and infusing peace.

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