Categories: faith, prayer-requests
Date: 22 August 2010 14:02:36
Both Dominic Mary at Libera Me and Clare at Battlements of Rubies tagged me for Mullier Fortis' prayer meme. And they tagged me ages ago, and I haven't done it.
So, with the first of [redacted in case my mother reads this] loads of laundry splashing in the washing machine, and thanking Heaven that I don't have to load it all up on Zephirine to take it down to the canal and hit it with a rock, here we go:
The rules are:
“Name your three most favourite prayers, and explain why they're your favourites. Then tag five bloggers - give them a link, and then go and tell them they have been tagged. Finally, tell the person[ahem – people] who tagged you that you've completed the meme... The Liturgy and the Sacraments are off limits here. I'm more interested in people's favourite devotional prayers.”
So, in no particular order:
1) The Sub Tuum Praesidium. This is a new(ish) one to me. A few Religious of my acquaintance say it whenever they set off on a journey, and I've picked up the habit (hello, Mile End Road, I need all the help I can get). It's the oldest extant hymn to the Virgin Mary, and dates to around 250AD.
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
(In Latin: Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen).
2) The next one is dead easy. I try and say it whenever I hear sirens, because if you can hear sirens, there's some poor soul needs praying for.
“Jesus, mercy. Mary, pray.”
Short and sweet, and all we can hope for – the mercy of God, and the prayers of the Body of Christ.
3) The third one was really difficult, choosing between the Salve Regina, the O Lumen and the Gloria Patri. In the end, I plumped for the Gloria Patri. (Yes, I know, linking to the two that didn't quite make it is cheating. Tee hee).
“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”
(Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.)
I don't like tagging people (oh, the pressure) but if you fancy it, please have a go and put a link in the comments – and you don't have to be Catholic, either, it's always good to learn about other ways of praying.