Prayer

The Second Sunday of Advent

ImageKristin's Crosses

Second Sunday of Advent - KristinsCrosses.com

“At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God’s own love and concern.”

St. Teresa of Calcutta

Prayers for Lighting the Advent Wreath Candles
From A Prayer Book of Catholic Devotions

Second Week

God of power and mercy open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

ImageKristin's Crosses
[public domain]

The Vision of St. Anne (God the Father Sends the Virgin Mary to Her Parents Joachim and Anne), by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1757-1759

“The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”

Pope Pius IX

Prayer to the Immaculate Conception
of the Virgin Mary

Father, you prepared the Virgin Mary
to be the worthy mother of Your Son.
You let her share beforehand in the
salvation Christ would bring by His death,
and kept her sinless
from the first moment of her conception.
Help us by her prayers
to live in Your presence without sin.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son, who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Saint Nicholas

ImageKristin's Crosses
[public domain]

St. Nicholas, by Titian, 1563

Prayer to Saint Nicholas

O good St. Nicholas, you who are the joy
of the children, put in my heart the spirit of childhood,
which the gospel speaks, and teach me to seed happiness around me.
You, whose feast prepares us for Christmas,
open my faith to the mystery of God made man.
You, good bishop and shepherd, help me to find my place in the Church
and inspire the Church to be faithful to the gospel.
O good St. Nicholas, patron of children, sailors and the helpless,
watch over those who pray to Jesus, your Lord and theirs,
as well as over those who humble themselves before you.
Bring us all in reverence to the Holy Child of Bethlehem,
when true joy and peace are found.
Amen.