Today's devotion February 2: the candlestick

PRAYER TO MARY in the presentation of Jesus in the Temple

O Mary, today you humbly ascended to the Temple, carrying your divine Son and offered him to the Father for the salvation of all men. Today the Holy Spirit has revealed to the world that Christ is the glory of Israel and the light of the people. We pray you, O Holy Virgin, also present us, who are also your children, to the Lord and arrange that, renewed in spirit, we can walk in the light of Christ until we meet him gloriously in eternal life.

THE OFFER OF CHRIST AND OF HIMSELF TO THE FATHER

Jesus is the great gift of God to humanity and is the only worthy offering that we can make to Him. You, Mary, in the Presentation you offer Jesus and you begin a journey that leads you to the cross; a sword will pierce your soul. The Church and every Christian continue to offer Jesus the Eucharist and to offer themselves with him to the Father.

Ave, o Maria ...

O Lord, we at Mass offer you like Mary Christ, your son. Allow us to be able to offer our life together with his. For Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE FEAST OF PURIFICATION OF MARY VIRGIN

I. Because of that heroic obedience that you exercised, O great Virgin, in subjecting yourselves to the law of Purification, you also obtain for us the most exact obedience to all the commands of God, of the Church and of our elders. Ave Maria

II. For that angelic modesty and celestial devotion with which you, O great Virgin, went and presented to the temple, you also obtain for us to take us and stay in the temple with that internal and external recollection that is fitting for the house of God. Ave Maria

III. For that holy care that you had, o illibat Virgin, to remove from you with the sacred rite of Purification every appearance of stain, you also obtain for us a tireless concern to always remove from us any even smaller stain of sin. Ave Maria

IV. For that profound humility that led you, O Mary, to place yourself in the temple among the most vulgar women, you were almost one of them, although the holiest of all creatures, also impetrate to us that spirit of humility that makes us dear to God and deserving of his favors. Ave Maria

See for that great faith that You, O most faithful Virgin, kept alive and firm in God your Son in hearing from the holy prophet Simeon that he would have been for many an occasion of contradiction and ruin, you also obtain a similar vivacity for us and firmness of faith in the midst of any temptation and contradiction. Ave Maria

YOU. For that unassigned resignation with which you listened to the very bitter omens that the enlightened Simeon made you, Mary, let us, in all events, even the saddest ones, always be perfectly resigned to every divine will. Ave Maria

VII. For that most ardent charity that moved you, O Mary, to make the Eternal Father the great sacrifice of your Son for common redemption and health, ask us also for the grace to sacrifice to the Lord anything even more dear, when it is necessary for our sanctification and salvation. Ave, Gloria