Prayers for True Desperation

*DISCLAIMER:  This is written in the sense that Catholic doctrine is held as a universal truth.  I have little or no religious background.  Additionally, I neither agree with nor observe Catholic Dogma, rites and ritual and I neither propose nor purport that prayer is valid, effective, or rational nor that miraculous things happen by divine intervention nor that the Divine even exists.  Again, I am so totally talking out of my ass.  Enjoy!*  

 

The way I understand it, the Bible assures (ass-u-r…) us that we each have a Guardian Angel that watches over us.

 

Catholic dogma tells us that when we are in need we can call on certain Saints by their indications for assistance based on their patronages.  I have known more than one person to have a Saint Christopher, the Patron Saint of Travelers, medal in their car.  I have called out to Saint Anthony the Finder of lost things, “Tony, Tony, Please come ‘round, something’s lost that must be found” on more than one occasion; and Saint Jude and I go way back.  He has always offered staunch support and patronage to my own varied and numerous hopeless causes.  

 

But, when we feel our need is desperate and dire enough our prayers can be turned to the beings holier than any Saint.

 

We are not asking God yet; we can beseech Mary by reciting the Hail Mary or one of the other countless Devotions to her, such as the Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

 

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Heavenly beauty and splendor of the Father, you are the most valued Heavenly treasure.

New Eve, immaculate in soul, spirit and body, created of the godly seed by the Spirit of God; you are the spiritual Mother of mankind.  Pure Virgin, full of grace then and now, your whole being was raised Heavenly in full glory, to be elevated above all the hosts within the Kingdom of Heaven .  O Heavenly Mother, Queen of Heaven and earth, I recognize the glory of your highest title, The Immaculate Heart of Mary!  Loving Mother, dispenser of endless blessings, you who continuously intercedes on our behalf, please present my need before your loving Son Jesus.  (In your own words, make your special request here. Do not just mention a word. Speak to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as you would speak to another person, begging your Heavenly Mother to plea to Jesus on your behalf, that you be granted this special request.)  O Immaculate Heart of Mary, I know that you are now presenting my need before Jesus, for you have never turned away those in dire need.  Mother dearest, I await your favorable answer, submitting myself to the Divine will of the Lord, for all glories are His forever and ever.

 Or my personal favorite, the prayer to the Blessed Virgin…

 

O Most Beautiful Flower of Mt. Carmel, Fruitful Vine, Splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein you are my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in my necessity.  (Make request)

There are none that can withstand your power.  O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3 times)

Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3 times).

 

Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days. You must publish it, and it will be granted to you

 

…before asking Jesus, and then finally God.  

 

Now, it is one thing to ask for something in Jesus’ name, but did you know that there are specific prayers to the embodiments of pain and suffering Jesus suffered for human sins that are supposed to pack quite the alleged wallop?

 

There are numerous specific Devotions to his Divine Mercy and to the Holiness of Jesus.  We can offer our prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Jesus’ Holy Name, to his Holy Face, the Holy Cross, or his Precious Blood to name just a few.

 Perhaps the most powerful prayer is derived from acknowledging and recognizing the Passion, the spiritual, mental and physical suffering Jesus endured before his trial and execution by Crucifixion and it is not surprising that many chaplets, devotionals, and prayers of the Passion are closely related and intertwined.  These prayers are powerful in that they encourage us to acknowledge and empathize with the pain and suffering of another at a time when we are asking for things for ourselves.

 

We can pay homage to the Crown of Thorns:

DEAR LORD, I am grieved when I consider Thy sad condition when Thou wore the Crown of Thorns upon Thy Holy Head. I desire to withdraw the thorns by offering to the Eternal Father the merits of Thy Wounds for the salvation of sinners. I wish to unite my actions to the merits of Thy Most Holy Crown, so that they may gain many merits, as Thou hast promised. Amen.

 

The Wound on the Shoulder:

O most loving Jesus, meek lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy flesh and laid bare Thy bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy most blessed body.  I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee, and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain, and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, and to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to lead me on toward Heaven along the Way of the Cross. Amen.

Splinters of the Cross: I couldn’t find a chaplet for this, but I did find a poem:

Little headaches, little heartaches, little griefs of every day, little trials and vexations, how they throng around our way!  One great Cross, immense and heavy, so it seems to our weak will, might be borne with resignation, but these many small ones kill, yet all life is formed of small things, little leaves, make up the trees, many tiny drops of water blending, make the mighty seas. Let us not then by impatience mar the beauty of the whole, but for love of Jesus bear all in the silence of our soul.  Asking Him for grace sufficient to sustain us through each loss, and to treasure each small offering as a splinter from His Cross.

 

And the Nails of the Cross (no chaplet found) and the 5 Holy Wounds (the devotional is much too long to post):

 The wounds from the Crucifixion Nails, one nail in each hand and each foot and the wound to Jesus’ side from Saint Longinus’s lance are only the beginning of the joys and sorrows we can send our prayers heavenward with.

 

I have told you most of what I know about Catholic prayer rituals.  If you would like to know more about Catholic traditions, ceremonies, rites and rituals, I think you will find FISHEATERS to be one of the very best, most informative websites devoted to Catholicism. 

 

I was going to tell you about my most favorite devotional chaplet ever, but I will save that for another day, as I think you have enough to contemplate if you made it all the way through this post.