Thoughts of Mary – 10 May – “Mary’s Month”
Bend Tenderly Over Our Wounds
Moments with Venerable Pope Pius XII (1876-1958)
(Pontiff 1939-1958)
Enraptured by the splendour of your heavenly beauty and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into your arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother Mary, confident of finding in your most loving heart, appeasement of our ardent desires and a safe harbour from the tempests which beset us on every side.
Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of the sublime gifts with which God has filled you, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of your conception until the day on which, after your assumption into heaven, He crowned you, Queen of the Universe.
O crystal Fountain of Faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of All Holiness, captivate our hearts with your heavenly perfume! O Conqueress of Evil and Death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of hell!
O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten hardness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy church, make all men feel the attractions of Christian goodness. In your name, resounding harmoniously in heaven, may they recognise that they are brothers and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth, the sun of a universal and sincere peace.
Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications and above all, obtain for us that, one day, happy with you, we may repeat before your throne, that hymn which today is sung on earth around your altars – You are all-beautiful, O Mary! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honour of our people! Amen.
The above prayer, dedicated to Mary Immaculate, was composed … for the Marian year of 1954, which was proclaimed to mark the Centenary of the definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Pope Pious XII was the first Pope I ever saw a picture of and why I remember it so well when but a young lad is that I knew that was the saddest man I ever would see. He still is as I know now all he went through in his life.
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Him and the kindest, sweetest Holy Father, St Paul VI, both so sad. So battered by the ugliness of the world and in the latter’s case of the so-called ‘faithful’ of the Church. They are two of my all-time favourite Popes – let us pray to our Mother to hasten the Canonisation of Pius.
Mary, holy Mother, intercede for his cause. Amen
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AMEN! In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, AMEN.. So it is,so may it be.
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