DECEMBER 10 OUR LADY of LORETO. Plea to say today

O Maria Loretana, glorious Virgin, we approach confidently to You:

welcome our humble prayer.

Humanity is upset by serious evils from which it would like to free itself. She needs peace, justice, truth, love and she deludes herself into finding these divine realities far from your Son. O Mother! You carried the divine Savior in your most pure womb and lived with him in the holy House that we venerate on this hill in Loreto, obtain for us the grace to seek him and to imitate his examples that lead to salvation. With faith and filial love, we take ourselves spiritually to your blessed home. Because of the presence of your family, it is the holy house par excellence to which we want all Christian families to be inspired: from Jesus every child learns obedience and work; from you, o Mary, every woman learns humility and the spirit of sacrifice; by Joseph, who lived for you and for Jesus, every man learns to believe in God and to live in family and in society with faithfulness and righteousness.

Many families, O Mary, are not a sanctuary where God loves and serves himself; for this we pray that You will obtain that each one imitate yours, recognizing every day and loving above all things your divine Son. How one day, after years of prayer and work, he came out of this holy House to make His Word that is Light and Life heard, so still from the holy walls that speak to us of faith and charity, the echo reaches men of his almighty word that enlightens and converts.

We pray you, O Mary, for the Pope, for the universal church, for Italy and for all the peoples of the earth, for ecclesial and civil institutions and for the suffering and sinners, so that all may become disciples of God. O Mary, on this day of grace, united with the spiritually present devotees to venerate the holy House where you were overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, with lively faith we repeat the words of the Archangel Gabriel: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!

We invoke you again: Hail, Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians.

Among the difficulties and frequent temptations we are in danger of getting lost, but we look at you and we repeat to you: Ave, Gate of Heaven; Ave, Stella del Mare! May our supplication go to You, O Mary. May it tell you our desires, our love for Jesus and our hope in you, O our Mother. Let our prayers come down to earth with an abundance of heavenly graces. Amen.