EVENING SIGH - 19th Day

TO KNOW YOU IS GOD'S GIFT

Thus speaks the devoted Bernardine de Bustis, "Do not be discouraged, poor sinner, for if you go to this Lady with trust you will find her;  and in her hands you will find the fulness of mercy and bounty."  Poor sinner, do not lose courage, whoever you are.  Go to this Lady with the certainty that you will be helped:  you will find her, and her hands will be filled with mercy and with favors.  Be quite certain that the longing of this gentle Queen to do you good is much greater than the wish you have to be helped by her.  "She wishes more to do you good than you wish to receive her gifts."
     To know you, my Lady—this itself is God's gift to me and I am very grateful to Him for it. If I did not know you or if I forgot you, what a calamity it would be for me!  Then the chance of my salvation would be poor indeed.  But I do know you, my dear Mother.  I bless you, I love you and I have full confidence in you.  In your hands I place my whole life.

Evening Sigh—Blessed is he who knows you, O Mary, and who trusts in you.

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