Grandad's prayer book

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My grandfather died last year. He was 80. He was a devout man and a great guy. Occasionally I go up to the house and last weekend I was going through the book cases and I found an old leather bound, zip close Marian Missal from 1963. Tucked in its pages I found loads of old prayer cards and remembrance cards. Some of them are so beautiful I wanted to make a thread just to share them with you. Please pray for the repose of the souls of John H. Sale and Richard Golding.

The first is a Prayer for Healing (I love the prescription at the end).

Lord Jesus I thank you for you. You have been so wonderful to me. I thank you for all the love and concern you have shown me in the past. The blessings you have showered on me are almost too numerous to count. Most of all I thank you for the experience of your loving presence.
Heal me Lord in all the ways I need healing. Heal me physically in the symptoms and in the causes. Heal me emotionally in the symptoms and in the causes. Heal me mentally in the symptoms and the causes. Heal me spiritually in the symptoms and in the causes.
Sweet Lord Jesus heal my alienation within me. Put me together dear Jesus, the way that I should be put together. Give me please a deep inner peace so that my body and soul are together facing you, so that my intellect, my will, my memory, my imagination, my emotions, my entire person, with your principle of unity, the Holy Spirit+, are facing towards you my loving and lovable Jesus. Fill me with your love up to my capacity, lovable Jesus, so that I can love myself properly because you are within me. I believe that you the triune God - FATHER SON AND HOLY SPIRIT+ took up residence in me in a special way at baptism and again in a more intense way at confirmation. Thank you, O Infinite One for coming to me, a finite one, in so many interesting experiental ways recently. I love you and want to love you Lord to the fullness of my capacity
Help me Lord Jesus to experience your love so much, that I feel that I am in an ocean of love and that I'll be able to forgive absolutely with no trouble and also be able to love with the greatest of ease, anyone who is currently hostile to me and even anyone my memory does not recall. I forgive them all, and love them with your love to the fullness of my capacity. O my Jesus because of this great gift of your love to me and within me I can cast out all fears. I have only to be conscious of an old fear and then recall how great and loving and lovable you are and that I can love with your love, and lo, that fear is gone. How Great Thou Art:
I praise, I thank, I glorify, I love you, Lord Jesus to the fulness of my capacity. Increase my capacity just a bit each day Lord Jesus and thank you for everything. Amen.

1 At a minimum pray once a day
2 At a maximum pray four times a day: after meals and at bedtime.
3 If possible, without strain, the effectiveness would be increased probably to have another person join you.

Fr. F. McNutt 1979

 

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To the Holy Spirit for Missionary Vocations

We beseech thee O Holy Spirit of Wisdom, infuse Thy grace into the hearts of the youth of our country.
Make them see things in the light of eternity; urge them on to make the great sacrifice and to take upon themselves the work for God's Kingdom upon the earth. We kneel here in Jesus' presence perpetuated on the altar, assured by his own words that what we ask in His name will be granted and we entreat Thee in His name that the work of the church may not be hampered for lack of fit labourers.

O Jesus we pray Thee to make at least one more heart realise the meaning of this commandment, "Going therefore, make disciples of all nations". Amen.

Nihil Obstat: John Husincky SVD
Imprimatur: Albert Cardinal Meyer, Archbishop of Chicago, May 28th 1960

 

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Consecration to the Crusade of Mary Immaculate

Hail Immaculate Virgin Mary, my Mother. I renew today and always the Consecration of my whole being to thee and offer to thy Immaculate Heart all the prayers that I shall say and all the meritorious deeds I shall accomplish during this day, in union with thy holy intentions, that you may distribute them freely for the good of souls. Amen.

 

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St. Patrick's Prayer for the Missions

O Glorious St. Patrick, obtain for all missionaries the grace to imitate your example that they too may work, pray and even suffer to bring many souls to the one true Faith.

Grant also that an ever-increasing number of our youth may be inflamed with your ardent zeal and the desire to preach the Gospel of Christ in pagan lands. Amen.

(so odd that nowadays African priests are coming back to re-evangelize Europe!)

 

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Hymn to St. David Lewis

Holy Martyr, David Lewis
Monmouth county's glorious Saint,
"Father of the Poor" they named you,
When you lived and toiled in Gwent.
Priestly work was undertaken,
Danger fraught from dawn to dusk
Gladly still you served you people
Till you died for them at Usk

From your capture at Llantarnam
Through your time in Monmouth jail
Threats and tortures could not shake you
For your faith could never fail
Bravely then you faced the gallows
Crudely fashioned for your death
Further torment someone spared you
Till you drew your latest breath.

Great and glorious David Lewis
Staunch and steadfast in the strife
Bless your people here in Monmouth
Those for whom you gave your life.
Help us to be strong, courageous,
Loyal to our loving God
To Him then will glory flourish
In the places you have trod.

 

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Prayer for the Intercession of Edel Quinn

Jesus, Model and Source of all holiness, who didst infuse into the soul of Thy Servant, Edel Quinn the spirit of mortification and love of Thy Cross, forgetfulness of self and total abandonment into Thy adorable hands; and didst infuse her heart with a burning zeal for the salvation of souls; grant, if it be Thy will, that the example of he virtues may become known throughout Thy Church for the instruction of all who acknowledge Thee as their true Master and only Saviour and for the encouragement of all those who, in the Legion of Mary, serve the apostolate under the glorious standard of Mary Immaculate.

Favours attributed to the intercession of Edel Quinn should be reported to:

Legion of Mary
De Montfort House
N Brunswick Street
Dublin 7, Eire

Permissu Ordinarii Dioec. Dublinen die 19 Jan 1965

 

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Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of Thy servants departed the remission of all their sins, that by means of pious supplications, they may obtain the pardon which they have ever earnestly desired; who livest and reignest with the Father in unity with the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

 

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Indulgenced Prayers

Sweetest Jesus be not my Judge, but my Saviour (St. Jerome Emilian)
300 days indulgence.

Jesus, my God I love Thee above all things
300 days indulgence.

O God be merciful to me the sinner.
500 days indulgence.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
300 days indulgence.

Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
300 days indulgence.

O Queen who art the beauty of Carmel, pray for us.
300 days indulgence.

Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my trust in Thee.
300 days indulgence.

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.
300 days indulgence.

My God I give thee thanks for what Thou givest and what Thou takest away. Thy Will be done.
300 days indulgence.

O Jesus grant that I may be Thine, wholly Thine and forever Thine
300 days indulgence

In loving memory of Patrick Joseph Jordan RIP, died 1954, Dublin, aged 4 1/2 years

 

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A Franciscan Prayer

Lord, that I may seek to console rather than to be consoled, to understand rather than be understood, to love rather than to be loved. For it is in giving that we receive, in self-forgetfulness that we find our true selves, in forgiving that we are forgiven, in dying that we are raised up to life everlasting.

In loving memory of Austin Craven RIP, died 1961, aged 41 years.

 

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Prayer of St Francis

Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

In loving memory of Joseph Carty RIP, died Stockport, 1980, 57 years

 

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Success Through Prayer

O my God, I want to love you - not that I might gain eternal heaven
Nor escape eternal hell
but, Lord to love You just because You are my God.

Grant me to give to You
and not to count the cost;
to fight for You and not to mind the wounds;
To labour and to ask for no reward
except the knowledge that I serve my Lord.

 

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Prayer to St Bernadette

O Saint Bernadette,
Simple child of virtue, who did 18 times at Lourdes contemplate the beauty and receive the confidences of our Immaculate Mother, and who hastened thenceforth to the cloister at Nevers to be a hostage for sinners, obtain for us the same spirit of purity, simplicity and mortification which will lead us also to behold God and Mary in heaven.

 

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Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

O our Lady of Gaudalupe, mystical rose, make intercession for Holy Church, protect the Sovereign Pontiff , help all those who invoke thee in their necessities, and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance.

500 days indulgence

 

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Just for Today

Lord for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray;
Keep me God from stain of sin, just for today.
Let me both diligently work and duly pray
Let me be kind in word and deed, just for today.
Let me no wrong or idle word unthinking say
Set thou a seal upon my lips, just for today.
Let me in season Lord be grave, in season gay
Let me be faithful to Thy grace, just for today.
And if today my tide of life should ebb away
Give me Thy sacraments divine, Sweet Lord, today.
In Purgatory's cleansing fires brief be my stay
O bid me if I die today, come home today.
So for tomorrow and its needs, I do not pray
But keep me guide and love me, Lord, just for today.

 

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"Learning Christ"

Teach me, my Lord to be sweet and gentle in all the events of life -
in disappointments
in the thoughtlessness of others
in the insincerity of those I trusted
in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.
Let me put myself aside
to think of the happiness of others
to hide my little pains and heartaches
so that I may be the only one to suffer from them
Teach me to profit by the suffering that may cross my path
Let me use it that it may mellow me, not harden nor embitter me
that it may make me patient, not irritable;
that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, haughty and overbearing.
May no-one be less good for having come within my influence. No one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble for having been a fellow traveller in our journey towards eternal life.
As I go my rounds from one distraction to another, let me whisper from time to time a word of love to Thee. May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good and strong in its purpose of sanctity.

 

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Only a Smile, a Word, a Touch

It was only a sunny smile
And little it cost in the giving
But it scattered the night
Like a morning light
And made the day worth living

It was only a kindly word
And a word that was lightly spoken
Yet not in vain for it stilled the pain
Of a heart that was nearly broken

It was only a helping hand
And it seemed of little availing
But its clasps were warm and it
Saved from harm a brother whose
Strength was failing.

A smile a word a touch
And each is easily given
Yet one may win a soul from sin
Or smooth the way to heaven

A smile may lighten a failing heart
A word often pains keenest smart
A touch may lead us from sin apart
How easily either is given.

 

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A prayer of St Teresa of Avila

Let nothing disturb thee
Nothing afright thee
All things are passing
God never changeth.
Patient endurance attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth in nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.

 

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From the Sarum Primer (1558)

God be in my head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at mine end and at my departing.

 

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Prayer to Mary Immaculate Queen

O Mary Immaculate Queen look down upon this distressed and suffering world. Thou knowest our misery and our weakness. O thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial.
Jesus has confided to thee the treasure of His Grace, and through thee He wills to grant pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, thy children come to thee as their hope.
We recognise thy queenship and ardently desire thy triumph.
We need a Mother and a Mother's Heart. Thou art for us the luminous dawn which dissipates the darkness and points out the way to life. In thy clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need.
Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, You who have crowned in heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Saviour, grant that all her children on earth may acknowledge her as their sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes and nations may recognise her rights as Mother and as Queen. Amen.

+Michael Epus Galviensis 4 June 1966

 

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Act of Consecration to Mary Immaculate Queen

O Mary Immaculate Queen, glorious Queen of the Universe, most powerful Virgin, merciful Mother of a merciful God and refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to your Royal and Immaculate Heart.
It is through you that Jesus Christ our King has come into the world to save it. It is also through you that He is to reign over the world.
In order to obtain this great benefit for ourselves, and all mankind, we come to your feet to consecrate to you our persons, our lives, all that we are, all that we have, all that we love. Keep us, enlighten us, dispose of us, reign over us.
May all hearts and all homes willingly proclaim you as their Immaculate Queen.

Suggestions
Each evening the family should unite with all other families so consecrated in saying this prayer to Mary Immaculate Queen, for peace in the home, peace among our people, peace in the world. Names of families consecrated to Mary Immaculate Queen should be sent to:
Mary Immaculate Queen Centre
10 Abbeygate St
Galway, Eire