Prayers to Jesus and to Mary

Prayer to Jesus

66. My loving Jesus, permit me to address You to express the gratitude I feel for the grace You have given me in giving me to Your holy Mother through the devotion of slavery, to be my advocate before Your Majesty and my universal supplement in my very great wretchedness. Alas! Lord, I am so wretched that without this good Mother I would infallibly be lost. Yes, Mary is necessary to me before You, everywhere: necessary to calm Your just anger, since I have offended You so much every day; necessary to arrest the eternal punishments of Your justice, which I deserve; necessary to look upon You, to speak to You, to pray to You, to approach You, and to please You; necessary to save my soul and the souls of others; necessary, in a word, to do always Your holy will and to promote in all things Your greater glory. Ah! Would that I could proclaim throughout the whole world the mercy You have shown me! Would that all the world might know that without Mary I would already be lost! Would that I could render worthy thanks for so great a blessing! Mary is in me, haec facta es mihi. Oh, what a treasure! Oh, what a consolation! And would I not, after all this, be entirely hers? Oh, what ingratitude! My dear Savior, send me death rather than let this misfortune befall me: for I would rather die than live without being entirely Mary's. A thousand and a thousand times I have taken her as my all, with St. John the Evangelist, at the foot of the Cross, and I have given myself to her as many times; but if I have not yet done so well enough according to Your desires, my dear Jesus, I do it now as You wish me to do it; and if You see in my soul or my body anything that does not yet belong to this august Princess, I beg You to tear it from me and cast it far away, since whatever is not Mary's is unworthy of You.

67. O Holy Spirit! Grant me all these graces, and plant, water, and cultivate in my soul the loving Mary, who is the true Tree of Life, so that she may grow, blossom, and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance. O Holy Spirit! Give me a great devotion and a great inclination toward Your divine Spouse, a great reliance on her maternal heart, and a continual recourse to her mercy, so that in her You may form in me Jesus Christ, to the life, great and powerful, until the fullness of His perfect age. Amen.

Prayer to Mary for Her Faithful Slaves

68. Hail Mary, beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father; hail Mary, admirable Mother of the Son; hail Mary, most faithful Spouse of the Holy Spirit; hail Mary, my dear Mother, my loving Mistress, and my powerful Sovereign; hail, my joy, my glory, my heart, and my soul! You are all mine by mercy, and I am all yours by justice. And I am not yet enough so: I give myself to you again entirely, as an eternal slave, reserving nothing for myself or for anyone else. If you see in me anything that does not yet belong to you, I beg you to take it now, and to make yourself the absolute Mistress of all that I have; to destroy, uproot, and annihilate in me all that displeases God, and to plant, raise up, and work in me all that pleases you. And may the light of your faith dispel the darkness of my mind; may your profound humility take the place of my pride; may your sublime contemplation check the distractions of my wandering imagination; may your continual vision of God fill my memory with His presence; may the fire of the charity of your heart expand and set ablaze the lukewarmness and coldness of mine; may your virtues take the place of my sins; may your merits be my adornment and my supplement before God. Finally, my most dear and beloved Mother, grant, if it be possible, that I may have no other spirit but yours to know Jesus Christ and His divine will; that I may have no other soul but yours to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may have no other heart but yours to love God with a pure love and an ardent love like yours.

69. I ask you neither for visions, nor revelations, nor sensible pleasures, nor even spiritual ones. It is for you to see clearly, without darkness; it is for you to taste fully, without bitterness; it is for you to triumph gloriously at the right hand of your Son in heaven, without any humiliation; it is for you to command absolutely over angels, men, and demons, without resistance; and, finally, to dispose at your will of all the goods of God, without any reserve. Behold, O divine Mary, the very good portion that the Lord has given you and that shall never be taken from you; and this gives me great joy. For my part here below, I desire no other portion than that which you had: namely, to believe purely, without seeing or tasting anything; to suffer joyfully, without consolation from creatures; to die continually to myself, without respite; and to work unceasingly until death for you, without any self-interest, like the lowliest of your slaves. The only grace I ask you, out of pure mercy, is that every day and every moment of my life I may say three times Amen: So be it, to all that you did on earth when you lived here; So be it, to all that you do now in heaven; So be it, to all that you do in my soul, so that you alone may fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. Amen.