EVENING SIGH - 17th Day

MOTHER MOST LOVABLE

My most sweet Queen, how pleasant to me is that beautiful name used by those who are devoted to you.  "Mater Amabilis,"  Mother Most Lovable.  Yes, how true it is, O my Lady, that you are exceedingly lovable, for your beauty has won the love of God Himself:  "The King has greatly desired your loveliness."
     St. Bonaventure tells us that to your lovers even your name is so lovely, that when they pronounce it, or hear it pronounced, they are set on fire;  and an intense longing wells up within them to love you still more:  "O sweet, O kind, O most lovable Mary—your name cannot be pronounced without setting us aflame;  nor can it strike upon our hearing without stirring the affections of those who love you."
     O how fitting it is then, most lovely Mother, that I should love you.  But I shall not be satisfied with merely loving you;  I want to be, after God, the first of your lovers on earth;  and later on, the first of your lovers in Heaven.  If this desire is too bold your loveliness alone is responsible, together with the particular love that you have given me;  if you were less lovable then my longing to love you would be less.  
     Come, O my Lady, and accept this intense desire of mine.  In proof that you have accepted it, you must yourself obtain for me from God the love I seek.  I seek to love you more because the love I have for you gives great joy to God Himself.  

Evening Sigh:  I love you exceedingly, O most lovely Mother.

PATRONAGE PRAYER

To be Said Each Day to Obtain Mary's Powerful Patronage

O Virgin Immaculate and Most Holy, my Mother Mary—the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the World, the Advocate, the Hope, the Refuge of Sinners,—to you I come to seek your help today—I, who am the most in need of all. 
I bow in reverence before you, O Great Queen, and I thank you for the great graces you have given me until now, but especially because you have saved me from the punishments of hell which I have deserved so many times.
I love you, Most Lovely Lady, and because I love you so much I promise to be your faithful servant always, and to do all I can to make you loved by others,  In you I place all my hopes, all my salvation.
O Mother of Mercy, accept me for your servant and shield me under your mantle;  because you are great and powerful with God deliver me from all temptations, or better still get me the grace to conquer them even until death.
From you I ask for the true love of Jesus Christ;  through you I hope to die a good death.  O My Mother, I pray you by the love you have for God to give me your help at all times, but most of all at the last moment of my life;  do not leave me until you see me safe in Heaven blessing you and singing your mercies for ever.  Amen.  This is my hope.  So let it be.

VESPERS