Prayers Of The Church
For the Lord’s
Cleansing, Defense, and Governance of the Church
May your continual pity, O Lord, cleanse and defend Your Church;
and, because without you she cannot endure in safety, may she ever
be governed by Your bounty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God,
world without end. Amen.
Prayer for the Preservation of the Faith
O my Redeemer, will that dreadful time ever come, when but few
Christians shall be left who are inspired by the spirit of faith,
that time when Thine anger shall be provoked and Thy protection
shall be take away from us? Have our vices and our evil lives
irrevocably moved Thy justice to take vengeance, perhaps this very
day, upon Thy children? O Thou, the beginning and end of our faith,
we conjure Thee, in the bitterness of our contrite and humbled
hearts, not to suffer the fair light of faith to be extinguished in
us. Remember Thy mercies of old, turn Thine eyes in mercy upon the
vineyard planted by Thine own right hand, and watered by the sweat
of the Apostles, by the precious blood of countless Martyrs and by
the tears of so many sincere penitents, and made fruitful by the
prayers of so many Confessors and innocent Virgins. O divine
Mediator, look upon those zealous souls who raise their hearts to
Thee and pray ceaselessly for the maintenance of that most precious
gift of Thine, the true faith. We beseech Thee, O God of justice, to
hold back the decree of our rejection, and to turn away Thine eyes
from our vices and regard instead the adorable Blood shed upon the
Cross, which purchased our salvation and daily intercedes for us
upon our altars. Ah, keep us safe in the true Catholic and Roman
faith. Let sickness afflict us, vexations waste us, misfortunes
overwhelm us! But preserve in us Thy holy faith; for if we are rich
with this precious gift, we shall gladly endure every sorrow, and
nothing shall ever be able to change our happiness. On the other
hand, without this great treasure of faith, our unhappiness would be
unspeakable and without limit! O good Jesus, author of our faith,
preserve it untainted within us; keep us safe in the bark of Peter,
faithful and obedient to his successor and Thy Vicar here on earth,
that so the unity of Holy Church may be maintained, holiness
fostered, the Holy See protected in freedom, and the Church
universal extended to the benefit of souls. O Jesus, author of our
faith, humble and convert the enemies of Thy Church; grant true
peace and concord to all Christian kings and princes and to all
believers; strengthen and preserve us in Thy holy service, so that
we may live in Thee and die in Thee. O Jesus, author of our faith,
let me live for Thee and die for Thee. Amen.