| Fourth Day |
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ACT OF REPENTANCE
I believe in Thee, O my God.
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of
Heaven, Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success,
We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father. Hail Mary.... We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son . Hail Mary... We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Hail Mary... Glory be to the Father... Consider the indescribable joy of the good Minorite brothers upon contemplating these prodigies. The Statue of our beloved Mother shone before them like a resplendent star, and they reverently prostrated themselves before her to praise and thank her for a gift so unique and an event so extraordinary. Their thoughts and sentiments were raised to heavenly considerations and they believe themselves favored by something supernatural. For everything they saw and felt within those walls of rock in such an inaccessible place so far from any other houses seemed made by more than human hands. They repeated their prayers of thanksgiving with fervor. Then, asking light and grace from Heaven to know what they should do, they decided to try to discover the origin of that sanctuary and Statue by seeking the pious persons or community who were caring so prodigiously for this cult. Even though it seemed impossible to them that such magnificence was the work of men in a place so retired and inaccessible, prudence and piety cautioned them to first make a cautious investigation about the matter. They inquired at the hamlets nearest the cave, which were more than three leagues in distance, but found no one who could give them the least information about the Statue. Not even the persons they questioned who were 80 and 100 years old had ever heard about the statue or any such devotion in those outlying woods or any other place near the region. Consider, then, the astonishment and holy joy of the Brothers, now the owners of the extraordinary finding, as they humbled themselves again before the Holy Statue, offering her their warmest thanks with embraces and warm emotion, choosing her as their special patron and mediatrix under the very significant title of Mother of Good Success. The heart is moved by sentiments of pious gratitude and admiration for such a prodigious favor as this that was granted to the Holy Brothers. Let us unite with them in their tender embraces of Mary, loving her and lavishing her with generous resolutions, because we also have mercifully found her on the dangerous pathway of life amid the horror of the storm of our passions. Prayer: O God of infinite love! Thou hath given
us in our Mother a precious shelter and consolation,
placing her in the pathway of our hazardous lives so that
she might be a shield to defend us in persecutions and
dangers as Our Mother of Good Success. Thankful for Thy
goodness, may we correspond with the practice of virtue
and a tender and constant devotion to Mary Most Holy, so
that through her intercession we might find Heaven.
Act of Thanksgiving to the
Blessed Virgin Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our
consolation on earth, our refuge, our help and our
protection in both our public and private needs.
Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms,
earthquakes and all the calamities, which we merit by our
guilt.. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible
head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be
thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place
our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and
through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son
pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until
death. Here, each one raising up
his heart to God, should ask, through the intercession of
Blessed Mary of Good Success, that grace or favor which
he desires to receive. Praises to the Holy Virgin O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent
above all on earth. Above all others, thou were attentive to
the Word of the Father, who does great things in thy
honor. Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy
Trinity. In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy. The Christian world proclaims that thou doth reign on the
right side of the King of Kings. O Mother of Grace! O our
hope! Port for the shipwrecked and star of the sea. Gate
of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness. Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the
court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns. Guide our
steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours. Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot
express thy singular grandeur. Antiphon: Holy
Mary save the miserable,
help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success! R. So that we may be made worthy to receive the promises of Christ.
We ask thee, Our Lord and God, that Thou
grant us health of soul and body through the intercession
of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those
of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from
the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. |