Friday, June 12, 2009

A Spiritual Bouquet

It's funny how I often think of the authors of blogs I read as my friends, even though I've never met them and may never meet them. I think once you know that someone prays for you and wishes you well, it's hard not to think of them as a friend.

That's why when Marilyn, from Enjoy the Journey, asked me to participate in a spiritual bouquet for Nadja, from Patch O' Dirt Farm, I had to say yes. That's what friends, internet or otherwise, do.

Nadja is due to have her sixth child in mid-summer, a little girl named Gemma, after St. Gemma Galgani. From the recent posts on her blog, I know she is busy getting everything ready for her new little girl.

Nadja, since we are real-life strangers, but friends in Christ, I offer these prayers for you. (And I know you won't mind if I also offer them for my sister-in-law, who is due at the same time as you.)

Consolation of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

"Hear and let it penetrate
your heart, my dear.
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you,
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Do not fear any
illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.
Am I not here, your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle,
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?"
Prayer to Our Lady of a Happy Delivery:

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Virgin
most powerful, the Church invokes you under the title of Advocate,
Helper,
Benefactress, and Mediatrix. As such, you dispense the graces of our
Divine Lord
to the whole world. We fly to your protection in all our dangers
and needs, and
with a lively faith in your maternal love, we ask our Lord
for the grace of a
happy delivery.

Confident of your intercession,
we place our hearts in
your most holy hands and ask of you health of spirit,
soul, and body. O Blessed
Mother, look kindly upon this woman and help her
when her time comes to give
birth to her child. Your motherly heart knows
her every wish, her every need.
Intercede with your Son Jesus now, my loving
Mother, according to God's Will,
that she may bring forth children who will
someday sing God's praises and your
own as well.

This I pray through
your Son Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who
lives and reigns world without end.
Amen.


Prayer for a Happy Delivery:

Dear Mother Mary, in the fullness of time you gave birth to a Son, destined
to redeem the entire human race. This woman, too, will soon give birth,
and I ask your prayer that God will grant her a safe and happy delivery.

Dear Heavenly Father, please watch over her unborn child in the final
stages of its gestation, and grant that it will be positioned correctly for a
safe and healthy birth. May her child receive all the nourishment it needs
as it is preparing to enter the world.

I also pray for those who will help her deliver her baby -- the health
professionals who will attend her, her husband, family, and friends who will
support her. Thank You for their concern and support as together they
prepare to bring this new life into the world. Bless them all, Lord, in
your Divine Mercy, and grant that all will be well.

Dear St. Gerard, patron of mothers, God blessed you with wonderful gifts of
help and healing. I also ask your intercession before Our Lord that this
woman might have a safe and successful delivery.

Our Lady of Happy Delivery, pray for us who have recourse to
thee. Amen.

St. Anne, St. Margaret, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, St. Gerard, and all patron saints of expectant mothers and childbirth, pray for us.




4 comments:

  1. How precious your prayers are! God bless!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joining my prayers to yours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much! I know that it is the prayers of friends near and far that have given me such a good, healthy and anxiety-free pregnancy, and I know they will sustain me during my planned homebirth.

    Hugs and blessings to all of you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. GeeGee8:10 PM

    Amen...

    ReplyDelete

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