MARY, QUEEN OF ANGELS, PRAY

ROSARY PRAYER INTENTIONS: For the Family and Marriage. Including for peace, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom and your personal intentions

DAILY ROSARY – Joyful

(See below for traditional 54 Day Novena prayers. This runs it’s own 3 day cycle. Today is Sorrowful Mysteries)

SEMPER FI

Latin for “always faithful,” Semper Fidelis (shortened to Semper Fi) became the Marine Corps motto in 1883. It guides Marines to remain faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps, and to country, no matter what. Becoming a Marine is a transformation that cannot be undone, and Semper Fi reminds them of that.

This kind of unwavering dedication is exactly what Jesus meant when He gave us the criterion for enlisting in His elite fighting force: “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Lk 9:23-25).

While sounding like a Marine Corps drill instructor, St John Vianney expounds on this radical call to discipleship:

“There is no doubt about it: a person who loves pleasure, who seeks comfort, who flies from anything that might spell suffering, who is over-anxious, who complains, who blames, and who becomes impatient at the least little thing which does not go his way — a person like that is a Christian only in name; he is only a dishonor to his religion, for Jesus Christ has said so: ‘Anyone who wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross every day of his life, and follow Me.’”

If we claim that we have fellowship with Him, and yet we walk in darkness, then we are lying and not telling the truth (1 Jn 1:6). Origen, in his commentary on this passage, writes: “No one can grasp the meaning of the Gospel unless he has rested on the breast of Jesus and unless he has received from Him Mary, who becomes his mother also.” Here we are identifying the entryway (or opening) into the Divine Life of God and the way of sanctification — It must be deeply personal!

 

THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES OF THE HOLY ROSARY

Prayer before the recitation: Sign of the cross. Hail Mary.

In Thanksgiving: Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses, blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness, each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery, each 10 bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God’s graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother!

Say: The Apostles’ Creed, Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory Be.

The Agony in the Garden – Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be.

Concluding Prayer: I bind these blood red roses with a petition for the virtue of resignation to the will of God and humbly lay this bouquet at thy feet.

The Scourging at the Pillar – Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be.

Concluding Prayer: I bind these blood red roses with a petition for the virtue of mortification and humbly lay this bouquet at thy feet.

The Crowning with Thorns – Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be.

Concluding Prayer: I bind these blood red roses with a petition for the virtue of humility and humbly lay this bouquet at thy feet.

The Carrying of the Cross – Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be.

Concluding Prayer: I bind these blood red roses with a petition for the virtue of patience in adversity and humbly lay this bouquet at thy feet.

The Crucifixion – Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be.

Concluding Prayer: I bind these blood red roses with a petition for the virtue of love of our enemies and humbly lay this bouquet at thy feet.

Say: The Hail Holy Queen.

In Thanksgiving: Sweet Mother Mary, I offer thee this Spiritual Communion to bind my bouquets in a wreath to place upon thy brow in thanksgiving for (specify request) which thou in thy love hast obtained for me. Hail, Mary, etc.