Prayer to the Madonna del Pilar to ask for her help

Merciful and eternal God: look at your pilgrim Church, which is preparing to celebrate the fifth centenary of the evangelization of America. You know the ways that the first apostles of this evangelization walked. From the island of Guanahani to the forests of the Amazon.

Thanks to the seeds of faith that they sowed, the number of your children has grown widely in the Church, and many distinguished saints such as Toribio di Mongrovejo, Pedro Claver, Francisco Solano, Martin de Porres, Rosa da Lima, Juan Macías and many other unknown people who lived their Christian vocation with heroism, flourished and flourished on the American continent.

Accept our praise and gratitude for the many children of Spain, men and women who, abandoning everything, have decided to dedicate themselves entirely to the cause of the Gospel.

Their parents, some present here, asked for the grace of Baptism, educated them in faith, and you granted them the priceless gift of the missionary vocation. Thank you, Father of kindness.

Sanctify your Church so that it is always evangelizing. Confirm in the Spirit of your apostles all those, bishops, priests, deacons, men and women religious, catechists and seculars, who dedicate their life, in your Church, to the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have called them to your service, make them, now, perfect cooperators of your salvation.

Arrange for Christian families to educate their children intensely in the faith of the Church and in the love of the Gospel, so that they may be the seedbed of apostolic vocations.

Put your gaze, Father, even today on young people and call them to walk behind Jesus Christ, your son. Give them prompt response and perseverance in your following. It gives them all value and strength to accept the risks of a total and definitive commitment.

Protect, O Almighty Father, Spain and the peoples of the American continent.

Look at the distress of those who suffer hunger, loneliness or ignorance.

Let us recognize your beloved in them and give us the strength of your love so that we can help them in their needs.

Holy Virgin of Pilar: from this sacred place it gives strength to the messengers of the Gospel, comforts their families and maternally accompanies our journey towards the Father, with Christ, in the Holy Spirit. Amen.

written by John Paul II