Chaplet in Honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Lady of Sorrows

 The following prayer is a fitting prayer to recite during the month of March.  The prayer draws upon the Annunciation of Mary, which Holy Mother Church celebrates as a solemnity on March 25.  It also brings to mind the sorrows Our Lady endured during her Son's crucifixion and death, perfect to meditate upon during the Lenten season and especially on the Friday after Passion Sunday (this next Sunday), on which we honor Our Lady with the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.  This chaplet would also be appropriate said as a novena.

Chaplet in Honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Lady of Sorrows

Incline unto my aid, O God! O Lord, make haste to help me!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, etc.

1. Immaculate Virgin, who, conceived without sin, didst direct every movement of thy most pure heart to that God Who was ever the object of thy love, and who was ever most submissive to His will, obtain for me the grace to hate sin with my whole heart, and to learn of thee to live in perfect resignation to the will of God.

***repeat each time: Our Father [One], Hail Mary [Seven]. Heart transpierced with pain and woe, set my heart with love aglow!

2. I marvel, Mary, at thy deep humility, through which thy blessed heart was troubled at the gracious message brought thee by Gabriel, the archangel, that thou wast chosen Mother of the Son of the Most High, and through which thou didst proclaim thyself his humble handmaid. Wherefore, in great confusion at the sight of my pride, I ask thee for the grace of a contrite and humble heart, that, knowing my own misery, I may obtain that crown of glory promised to the truly humble of heart. ***

3. Blessed Virgin, who, in thy sweetest heart, didst keep as a precious treasure the words of Jesus thy Son, and pondering on the lofty mysteries they contained, didst learn to live for God alone, how doth my cold heart confound me! O dearest Mother! Get me grace so to meditate within my heart upon God's holy law that I may strive to follow thee in the fervent practice of every Christian virtue. ***

4. Glorious Queen of Martyrs, whose sacred heart was pierced in thy Son's bitter Passion by the sword, whereof the holy man Simeon had prophesied, gain for my heart true courage and a holy patience to bear the troubles and misfortunes of this miserable life, that so by crucifying my flesh with its desires while following the mortification of the Cross, I may indeed show myself to be a true child of thine. ***

5. O Mary, Mystical Rose, whose loving heart, burning with the living fire of charity, did accept us for thy sons at the foot of the Cross, becoming thus our tender Mother, make me feel the sweetness of thy maternal heart and thy power with Jesus, that when menaced by the perils of this mortal life, and most of all in the dread hour of death, my heart united with thine may love my Jesus then and through all ages. Amen. ***

Let us now turn to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, that He may inflame us with His holy love!
O Divine Heart of Jesus! To Thee I consecrate myself, full of deep gratitude for the many blessings I have received and daily do receive from Thy boundless charity. With my whole heart I thank thee for having, in addition to them all, vouchsafed to give me Thy own most holy Mother, giving me to her as a child, in the person of the beloved disciple. Let my heart ever burn with love for Thee, finding in Thy sweetest Heart its peace, its refuge, and its happiness. Amen.
--My Prayer Book

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Sea of Sorrow

Oh! on what a sea of sorrow

Was the Virgin-Mother cast,

When her eyes with tears o'erflowing

Gazed upon her Son aghast,

From the bloodstained gibbet taken,

Dying in her arms at last.

In her bitter desolation,

His sweet mouth, His bosom too,

Then His riven side beloved,

Then each hand, both wounded through,

Then His feet, with blood encrimsoned,

Her maternal tears bedew.

She, a hundred times and over,

Strains Him closely to her breast

Heart to Heart, arms arms enfolding,

Are His wounds on her impressed:

Thus, in sorrow's very kisses,

Melts her anguished soul to rest.

Oh, dear Mother! we beseech thee,

By the tears thine eyes have shed,

By the cruel death of Jesus

And His wounds' right royal red,

Make our hearts o'erflow with sorrow

From thy heart's deep fountainhead.

To the Father, Son, and Spirit,

Now we bend on equal knee:

Glory, sempiternal glory,

To the Most High Trinity;

Yea! perpetual praise and honor

Now and through all ages be.

--Ascribed to the Servite, calusto Palumbella

God bless!

+JMJ+

Little Chaplet of the Five Wounds of Jesus Christ

 

"He was pierced for our transgressions....and by his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

During the Middle Ages a form of prayer that increased in popularity was the practice of meditating upon the wounds of Christ.  While some mystics, such as St. Gertrude the Great, numbered the wounds Jesus suffered during His Passion to be 5,466, popular piety focused on the five wounds of Christ suffered during His Crucifixion, those of His hands, feet, and side.  Many Medieval saints, such as St. Francis of Assisi and St. Bernard of Clairvaux encouraged the faithful to incorporate devotions that honored the Five Wounds of Christ into their spiritual lives.  Gradually numerous prayers and devotions arose for this purpose.  One example of this type of devotion is the Little Chaplet of the Five Wounds of Jesus Christ, composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori.  The meditations comprising this chaplet may help us remember and reflect upon the perfect love, the sacrificial love, Christ has for each one of us.  Throughout Lent may we ponder these wounds with love, making small sacrifices in reparation for the sins committed against Our Lord.

Meditation 1: O my Lord Jesus Christ, I adore the Wound in Your left Foot. I thank You for having suffered this Wound for me with so much sorrow and with so much love. I feel compassion for Your pain and for the pain of Your afflicted Mother. By the merit of this Sacred Wound, I pray that You would grant me the pardon of my sins of which I repent with my whole heart, because they have offended Your infinite goodness. O Sorrowful Mother, pray to Jesus for me.
Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and the following prayer: By all the wounds which Thou didst bear with so much love and so much pain, oh, let a sinner's prayer Thy mercy, Lord, obtain!


Meditation 2: O my Lord Jesus Christ, I adore the Wound in Your right Foot. I thank You for having suffered this Wound for me with so much sorrow and with so much love. I feel compassion for Your pain and for the pain of Your afflicted Mother. By the merit of this Sacred Wound, I pray that You would give me the strength not to fall into mortal sin and to persevere in Your grace until my death. O Sorrowful Mother, pray to Jesus for me.
Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and the following prayer: By all the wounds which Thou didst bear with so much love and so much pain, oh, let a sinner's prayer Thy mercy, Lord, obtain!


Meditation 3: O my Lord Jesus Christ, I adore the Wound in Your left Hand. I thank You for having suffered this Wound for me with so much sorrow and with so much love. I feel compassion for Your pain and for the pain of Your afflicted Mother. By the merit of this Sacred Wound, I pray that You would deliver me from hell which I have so often deserved, a place where I could never love You again. O Sorrowful Mother, pray to Jesus for me.
Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and the following prayer: By all the wounds which Thou didst bear with so much love and so much pain, oh, let a sinner's prayer Thy mercy, Lord, obtain!


Meditation 4: O my Lord Jesus Christ, I adore the Wound in Your right Hand. I thank You for having suffered this Wound for me with so much sorrow and with so much love. I feel compassion for Your pain and for the pain of Your afflicted Mother. By the merit of this Sacred Wound, I pray that You would give me the glory of paradise where I shall love You perfectly and with all my strength. O Sorrowful Mother, pray to Jesus for me.
Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and the following prayer: By all the wounds which Thou didst bear with so much love and so much pain, oh, let a sinner's prayer Thy mercy, Lord, obtain!


Meditation 5: O my Lord Jesus Christ, I adore the Wound in Your Side. I thank You for having suffered this Wound for me with so much sorrow and with so much love. I feel compassion for Your pain and for the pain of Your afflicted Mother, who alone felt all Your pain. By the merit of this Sacred Wound, I pray that You would grant me the gift of holy love for You, so that I may love You in this life and in the other life--face to face, for all eternity in paradise. O Sorrowful Mother, pray to Jesus for me.
Recite an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and the following prayer: By all the wounds which Thou didst bear with so much love and so much pain, oh, let a sinner's prayer Thy mercy, Lord, obtain!

Composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori