Child Of Mary Lord, I ask but one favour of you today, That of dwelling in your Church, Not as a scholar, Nor as a philosopher; Not as an athlete, Nor yet as a hero; But simply as a child of Mary, Your Mother. Amen. Pierre Charles, S.J. 1
Published by Messenger Publications, 37, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-676 7491 Fax: 01-661 1606 Webiste: www.messenger.ie 1-5-00 5-8-10 ISBN 1 872245 53 6
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A.M.D.G.
THE CHILD OF MARY PRAYER BOOK 44th Edition Revised
Messenger Publications Dublin 2010 All rights reserved
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Table of Contents 5. Foreword 8. Preface 18. The Order of Mass 69. Morning Prayer 75. Midday Prayer 77. Night Prayer 88. Prayers for the Sacrament of Reconciliation 106. Prayers for Holy Communion 130. Prayers to God the Father 137. Prayers to Jesus Christ 217. Prayers to the Holy Spirit. 231. Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary 288. Prayers to the Saints 311. Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions 331. Paidreacha i nGaeilge A detailed index of all prayers is to be found at the back of the book.
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Foreword Since its original compilation by Francis Daly, S.J., over one hundred years ago, the Child of Mary Prayer Book has gone through forty-four editions or reprintings, twelve of which were undertaken by William Stephenson, S.J. The 40th edition was the work of Paul Leonard, S.J and this, the forty-fourth edition, owes its existence to their zeal. Few changes in content have been made in this edition except for some updating of language and resetting of the type. In the past, this anthology of prayers was primarily arranged to provide exercises of piety directed towards Our Lord, present in the Blessed Sacrament, to his Sacred Heart and to his blessed Mother. The 40th edition sought in the first place to relate all 5
our private prayers and devotions to the one great Eucharistic Prayer and sacrifice of the Mass. This remains an emphasis in the new edition. ‘Christian worship is of itself worship offered to the Father, through Christ in the Spirit’, as Pope Paul VI reminds us in Marialis Cultus;* but, he continues, ‘From this point of view worship is rightly extended, first and foremost and in a special manner, to the Mother of the Lord and then to the saints, in whom the Church proclaims the Paschal Mystery, for they have suffered with Christ and have been glorified with him.’ The present editor has retained the familiar format of the book, while taking into account the many changes that have taken place both in the Church and in contemporary culture. 6
These seem to demand that prayers conform to a greater simplicity of structure, a more natural verbal expression, a more biblical character and, wherever possible, a closer inspiration from Gospel sources. These factors have been kept in mind when re-editing the contents of this prayer book. It is our sincere hope that the Child of Mary Prayer Book will continue to prove as helpful to people of today in making prayer a part of their daily lives as it did in the past. The Editor, Dublin, August, 2010 * June 6, 1975, the tercentenary of the Great Apparition of the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary, June 1675.
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Preface
Prayer and Sacrifice
This is a collection of prayers old and new. Its purpose is to help you to pray. Don’t be ashamed to use it. Even saints, at times, found it difficult to pray without the help of a book like this. On the other hand, don’t become too dependent on it. Expressing your own thoughts, desires, hopes and fears in your own words is still the ideal way to pray. Use this little book for as long and as often as it helps you to raise your mind and heart to God and disposes you to listen to him in return. True prayer springs from a genuine love of God or, at least, from a sincere desire to love him. There is no one way of praying, just as there is no one way of expressing love. Prayer is very personal. 8
Each of us, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, who ‘helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought’ (Romans 8:26), is drawn to God by a personal, unique way of prayer. Nevertheless, it would be a very foolish person who would presume to dispense with the help which can be had from the prayerful thoughts and expressions to be found in any prayer book. Beginners, as well as people more experienced, can benefit by using a book such as this to say to God some of the things which their hearts desire but as yet their minds unaided cannot express. Moreover, prayer can reflect our ever changing moods and needs: our desire to praise God for his goodness, beauty or truth; our longing to thank him for his loving care of us and of 9
others; our yearning for forgiveness for our sins and our determination to rise to better things; the consciousness of our various needs. All urge us to go apart into a quiet place, to praise, to thank, to ask pardon, to beg help from the one whose delight it is to be in communion with us. Prayer, too, is one of the principal duties of every follower of Christ, who himself was a person of prayer. The Church, which he founded, has always remained faithful to his revealed Word, to the Eucharistic sacrifice, to loving service of brothers and sisters, and to prayer. And, it is precisely by the daily use of such means that the life of Christ is nourished and developed within us, who have been reborn of water and the Holy Spirit. If we are to grow in the likeness of Christ and maintain that likeness untarnished, we 10
need have an intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, an awareness of his will for us, and the courage to take up our cross daily and follow him. It is in prayer, in daily communing with our Lord, that we come to know both him and his Father and at the same time experience the working of his Holy Spirit abiding in us. It is from prayer that we rise, strengthened and encouraged, to walk in the footsteps of the Master. In prayer, too, we arrive at a deeper realization of our relationship to God in Christ. In baptism we share in Christ’s Spirit when we become brothers and sisters of Jesus and sons and daughters of his Father. It is our participation in that same Spirit that enables us, in our prayers, to truly call his Father, ‘our Father’. Looking at Christ and listening to 11
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