Welcome to our Daily Gracelines Lenten Journey with Mary.
I pray this will be a holy retreat for you - a time set apart to enter more deeply into the gift of Salvation that comes to us through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
This "getting away" for a deeper contemplation of the mysteries of our Faith has a long tradition beginning with Jesus Himself. You will recall that before He began His public ministry, Christ spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying. This time of preparation set the stage, so to speak, for all that the Father would do in Him and through Him, and the redemption that He would win for each one of us.
The following steps will help you to maximize your experience: Compose yourself for your time of prayer. Review the theme and pray to receive the grace. Pray the Graceline "Advent Journey with Mary" reflection. Answer the questions in "For Reflection" and journal your insights. Respond to God's action within you through prayer. We will offer you several episodes of a Women of Grace® television series which will help you enter more deeply into your Lenten preparation.
As we sojourn together with, may we faithfully appropriate the gift of redemption, exalt and praise God for his paternal benevolence for us, and enter more deeply into the hearts of Jesus and Mary finding there our hope and our joy. Let us begin together with the below prayer to Our Sorrowful Mother, Mary.
Wishing you a blessed and holy Lent!
I faithfully remain,
Your sister in Christ,
Prayer to the Sorrowful Mother St. Alphonsus de Liguori
O my afflicted Mother! Queen of martyrs and of sorrows, thou didst so bitterly weep over thy Son, who died for my salvation; but what will thy tears avail me if I am lost? By the merit, then, of thy sorrows, obtain me true contrition for my sins, and a real amendment of life, together with constant and tender compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and thy dolours. And if Jesus and thou, being so innocent, have suffered so much for love of me, obtain that at least I, who am deserving of hell, may suffer something for your love. "O Lady," will I say with St. Bonaventure, "if I have offended thee, in justice wound my heart; if I have served thee, I now ask wounds for my reward. It is shameful to me to see my Lord Jesus wounded, and thee wounded with Him, and myself without a wound." In fine, O my Mother, by the grief thou didst experience in seeing thy Son bow down His head and expire on the cross in the midst of so many torments, I beseech thee to obtain me a good death. Ah, cease not, O advocate of sinners, to assist my afflicted soul in the midst of the combats in which it will have to engage on its great passage from time to eternity. And as it is probable that I may then have lost my speech, and strength to invoke thy name and that of Jesus, who are all my hope, I do so now; I invoke thy Son and thee to succour me in that last moment; and I say, Jesus and Mary, to you I commend my soul. Amen.
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