A prayer to Mary for perseverance, Mary: Day 122

A prayer to Mary for perseverance

St. Alphonsus realizes that he’s always in danger of falling away from God’s grace. So he asks Our Lady to help him stand firm in temptations.

Queen of Heaven, I was once a miserable slave of the enemy of my soul. But now I dedicate myself to you, to be your servant forever. I offer myself to honor you and serve you during my whole life. Accept me; don’t refuse me as I deserve.

My Mother, in you I’ve placed all my hopes; from you, I expect every grace. I bless and thank God, who in his mercy has given me this confidence in you, which I consider a pledge of my salvation. But I’m miserable, because I’ve fallen before but didn’t turn to you. I now hope that, through the merits of Jesus Christ and your prayers, I’ve obtained pardon.

Even so, I may again lose divine grace; the danger isn’t past. My enemies don’t sleep. How many new temptations I still have to conquer!

My most sweet Lady, protect me, and don’t let me become their slave again. Help me at all times. I know that you’ll help me, and that with your help I’ll conquer, if I entrust myself to you.

But this is what I fear: I fear that in the time of danger I may neglect to call upon you, and thus be lost. I ask you, then, for this grace: Obtain for me that, when hell assaults me, I may always turn to you, saying, “Mary, help me!” My Mother, don’t permit me to lose my God.
—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Am I too confident of my perseverance in grace until the end? On the other hand, do I constantly fear that I will be lost? Have I asked Mary to help me avoid both presumption and despair?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas: My Queen and Mother, by your most powerful intercession, grant that I may persevere in love for your Son and for you until death, and after death be escorted by you to the kingdom of the blessed.

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