Gifts to Seek God and Live in Him – Prayer of Saint Benedict of Nursia

ImageKristin's Crosses

“During his life, St. Benedict was known to work many miracles using the power of the Holy Cross. Among these included his heroic flight from temptations and miraculous escapes from traps set to kill him.

Saint Benedict became known for his power over the Devil, with the Holy Cross as his efficacious instrument to make the Devil flee. The St. Benedict medal is based on this tradition.

The medal as we commonly know it today (the Jubilee medal) was first made in 1880 to commemorate the fourteenth centenary anniversary of St. Benedict’s birth by the Archabbey of Monte Cassino, the most important monastery established by the Saint in the 6th century.”
Source: The Catholic Company

Gifts to Seek God and Live in Him
Prayer of Saint Benedict of Nursia

Father, in Your goodness
grant me the intellect to comprehend You,
the perception to discern You,
and the reason to appreciate You.
In Your kindness
endow me with the diligence to look for You,
the wisdom to discover You,
and the spirit to apprehend You.
In Your graciousness
bestow on me a heart to contemplate You,
ears to hear You,
eyes to see You,
and a tongue to speak of You.
In Your mercy confer on me
a conversation pleasing to You,
the patience to wait for You,
and the perseverance to long for You.
Grant me a perfect end,
Your holy presence.
Amen.

Saints Joachim and Anne

ImageKristin's Crosses
[public domain]

Joachim and Anna, by Willem van Herp, 17th Century

Prayer to Saints Joachim and Anne,
Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

O glorious Saints Joachim and Anne,
Grandparents of the Most High!
Great indeed is our Lord’s affection for you.
We honor your faithfulness in marriage,
and your openness to God’s hidden plan.
It was from your marital embrace that the Spirit
fashioned your fair daughter Mary to be sinless;
the dawning of a new creation
awakening from her Immaculate Conception.
It was in your family that she learned to love God
and grow in every virtue.
By a life of obedience to the Law of God
lived in your home,
Mary was prepared to receive the Eternal Word
into her heart and into her womb.
From your tender love Mary learned
a motherhood that knew no bounds,
and by the example of your married life,
Mary knew what it was to be a faithful wife to Joseph,
her most chaste spouse.
O Saints Anne and Joachim,
great indeed are you who gave life
to the Mother of our Savior!
It pleased God to create from your union
a woman freed from the stain of sin,
by the saving death of the son
she had not yet conceived.

Dearest Saints Joachim and Anne,
pray that our families may grow in holiness
and that our homes may become grace filled
sanctuaries of love.
By your powerful intercession,
protect and guide all grandparents
that they may be great examples of faith.
Amen.

Feast of Saint James

ImageKristin's Crosses
[public domain]

Fresco in Holy Trinity Parish Church in Schwarzenberg, by Angelica Kauffmann, 1757

Prayer to Saint James the Greater, the Apostle

O Glorious Apostle, Saint James,
who by reason of thy fervent
and generous heart
was chosen by Jesus to be the witness
of His glory on Mount Tabor,
and of His agony in Gethsemane;
thou, whose very name is a symbol
of warfare and victory:
obtain for us strength and consolation
in the unending warfare of this life,
that, having constantly
and generously followed Jesus,
we may be victors in the strife
and deserve to receive
the victor’s crown in heaven.
Amen.