Prayer (§376)

O ADMIRABLE example of Christian perfection, St Benedict Joseph! From the first use of reason till death thou didst preserve inviolate the immaculate stole of innocence, and abandoning all things, as a wanderer on the face of the earth, didst meet with nothing but suffering, privations and insults. I, a miserable sinner, prostrate at thy feet, return thanks to the infinite goodness of GOD for having impressed on thee so living an image of his crucified SON, while at the same time I am covered with confusion at the sight of my life, so different from thine. I beseech thee, dear Saint, have pity on me; present thy merits at the throne of GOD, and obtain for me the grace that, following thy example and regulating my actions by the precepts and teaching of thy divine Master, I may come to love his suffering and humiliations, and may hold in contempt the pleasures and honours of the world, so that neither the fear of the one nor the desire of the other may ever induce me to transgress his holy laws. And so may I merit one day to be acknowledged and numbered among the blessed of his FATHER. PATER, Ave, Gloria. V/.. Pray for us, St Benedict Joseph. R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of CHRIST. Let us pray. O GOD, who hast caused blessed Benedict Joseph, thy Confessor, by practising humility and loving poverty, to cling to Thee alone; grant through the power of his merits that we may despise all earthly things and ever seek after the things of Heaven. Through CHRIST our LORD. Amen.

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ST LUCY, VIRGIN AND MARTYR