O Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of prayer. Come into my heart, and teach me the strength
not to abandon it because I sometimes grow weary of it; And give me the spirit
of prayer, the grace to pray continually. – St. Alphonsus de’ Ligouri
OUR FATHER
Our
Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth
as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass
against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
HAIL MARY
Hail
Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb
Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray
for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
GLORY BE
Glory
be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
As
it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World
without end. Amen.
O
my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all
souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen
HAIL HOLY QUEEN
Hail
Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope, to thee do
we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of
tears. Turn then, most gracious
Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this, our exile, show unto
us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin
Mary! Amen.
END OF THE ROSARY PRAYER
O
God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has
purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that
meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through
the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
APOSTLE’S CREED
I
believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our
Lord. He was conceived by the power of
the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was
buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the
right hand of the Father. He will come
again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of
saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting.
ACT OF CONTRITION
My
God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and
failing to do good, I have sinned against You whom I should love above all
things. I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to
avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for
us. In his name, my God, have mercy. Amen.
MEMORARE
Remember
O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy
protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left
unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I
fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother.
To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not
my petitions, but in thine mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.
GUARDIAN ANGEL PRAYER
Angel
of God, my Guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here,
Ever
this day be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule, and guide. Amen.
But
above all, to acquire the virtue of chastity prayer is necessary: it is
necessary to pray, and to pray continually. It has already been said that
chastity can neither be acquired nor preserved unless God grant His aid to
preserve it; but this aid He gives only to those who ask it.
We should then, says St. Cyprian,
instantly resist the first carnal solicitations with which the devil assails
us, and not permit the serpent, that is, the temptation, to grow strong.
Let us guard against reasoning with
temptations contrary to chastity: let us endeavor instantly to banish them.
And, as the spiritual masters teach, the best means of banishing such
temptations is not to combat them directly face to face, by making contrary
acts of the will, but to get rid of them indirectly by acts of the love of God,
or of contrition, or at least by turning the mind to other things.
But the means in which we should place
the greatest confidence is prayer, and recommending ourselves to God. It is
useful, as soon as we perceive the first motion of impurity, to renew our
purpose to suffer death rather than consent to sin, and immediately after to
have recourse to the wounds of Jesus Christ for aid.
It is also very useful to make the sign
of the cross on the breast, and to have recourse to our angel guardian and our
holy patron. But above all, it is useful to have recourse to Jesus Christ and
the divine Mother by instantly invoking their most holy names, and by
continuing to invoke them until the temptation is beaten down. Oh! how powerful
are the most holy names of Jesus and Mary against the attacks of impurity!
Devotion to the holy Virgin, who is
called "the Mother of fair love, and the guardian of virginity," is a
most useful devotion for the preservation of chastity. And to recite, at rising
in the morning and going to bed at night, three "Hail Mary's," in honor of the purity
of Mary, is a devotion that has singular efficacy in obtaining the gift of
continence.
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Background taken from Catholic Doors Ministry