I
Queen of the Rosary

Queen of the most holy Rosary,
by your gift of a simple string of beads
you lead those of us
who will listen to your soft words
to the love of your son
prayer by prayer,
mystery by mystery
chaplet by chaplet.

Queen of the most holy Rosary,
You lead those of us
who will listen to your soft words
to ponder all these things in our hearts,
moment by moment,
day by day
until they bloom in our lives,
roses for your garden.

O Full of Grace,
Thank you for pouring that grace
onto we your children.

By your example,
prayer,
and loving intervention,
Teach us to love your son
more and more.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
that we may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ.

                        II

To Our Lady of Sorrows

Blessed Mother,
when you saw your son walking down that crowed holiday
road
flanked by the Romans and marked by blood and blows and
the hatred of men,
And you saw with your own eyes
the lengths to which he would go down the road to reach
out to sinful man,
the pain he was willing to suffer,
the weight he was willing to bear
to make all things anew,
how hard was it to let him go,
to let him do the task he came to do,
to drink the bitter, bitter chalice
that was yours alone to taste.

Thank you for agreeing with your son
O Lady of Sorrows,
that the father's will be done.
O Queen of martyrs,
in that living martyrdom of witnessing
the pain and torture and death
of your perfect son,
you who plumbed the depths of sorrow
deeper than I can fathom,
thank you,
O Consoler of Afflictions
for loving enough to ease all our hurts.

                            III

Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy

O Blessed Mother,
Mother of mercy,
We turn to you
Our mother,
our hope
when times overwhelm us,
and you are there
to share our grief,
comfort us in our mourning
and guide us to the safety of your Son.

O Blessed Mother
remember today those
who stare out at an uncertain future,
those who have lost their homes,
their loved ones,
their friends,
their work.

Pray for those who work
to help in the wake of disaster,
who fight the fires,
shelter the homeless,
rescue the shaken and injured,
care for the dying
and stand watch against the darkness.

Pray for us who look on and see.
May we not look on with unseeing eye,
but with the eye that causes us
to do your Son's will,
to act mercifully,
to care,
to pray,
to do.

O Queen of Heaven,
You truly understand our suffering,
You always and ever care for each of us, your children.
Teach us to be the hands and feet
that you may work through,
that you may pour your Son's graces through,
to bring salt and light
to this sorrowful world.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
I know that you do not despise our petitions,
but in your mercy,
You hear and answer us.
Thank you.

Amen.
                                        IV




Like the fragrance of rose
wafted on the breeze
on a spring afternoon,
sweet,
gentle,
almost unperceived at first,
but growing more precious by the second,
O Maria,
Blessed Virgin,
beloved mother,
you come into my life,
when I need it most,
when I least expect it,
calling me gently home.

How could it be,
that the mother of my Lord
would deign come to me,
with the gentlest of mother's touches
to call me home
in that kindest of ways
never condemning,
ready to wipe my tears
and take me gently home?

O my Lady and my Queen,
Friend and comforter,
too often I have sent you looking for me!
Forgive me,
and thank you
for always keeping me under your mantle,
ready to lead me gently home
to your son Jesus.

Amen

                                      V


O Mother of Consolation,
hold my hand
as I walk the road
that your Son has led me.

And as the light grows clearer
and each veil of self deception
is pulled from my eyes,
and I see clearer and more certainly
the faults in me
and the perfection in him
and learn how utterly short I fall,
O Blessed Mother
let me weep in your arms
over what I have done.

O how I have driven the nails myself,
wielded the whip,
joined in the angry mob,
betrayed the One
whom I should love best of all -
but I will not despair,
for your Son has called me,
and the radiance of his love
heals my aching soul.

Pray for me, O holy Mother of God,
That I may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ,
no matter how painful the transformation.

                                 VI

Thoughts on Our Lady

O Blessed Mother,
Impossible for me to imagine, really,
all those years with him who was love incarnate,
growing up straight and tall ,
a graceful sapling
turnng into a man.

I can imagine him
playing games through the streets of Nazareth,
sitting at Joseph's feet among the wood shavings,
watching you sewing.

Yet, to be with him all that time -
Did not the villagers notice
something special
about the youth
growing in their midst?

And you -
impossible to imagine
a lifetime spent
tending and caring,
loving and fixing for
God on earth -
Amazing that the glory invisible in your home
did not shatter your walls -
Indelible the brightness
it left upon your soul!

                                                 VII

Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows on Man's Inhumanity in the name of Freedom

She cries in the hospital
as the life ebbs from her child,
victim of a "freedom fighter"
who has brought in his wake
only pain,
anger,
sorrow,
despair.

She is too exhausted to cry,
as she and her child wait for the end,
an empty stomach
long past the point of hunger pangs,
far away from the home where she was raised,
a home now in a war zone,
the fields stripped by drought
and mines
and the blood of men
fighting in the name of freedom.

She weeps for her son,
child of a husband long dead,
brutalized and blamed
for all the evil in their village,
the hunger,
the poverty,
aids,
and every moment of bad luck
as her father and brother
call him a witch,
and she knows
they will kill him,
or drive him away in the name of their freedom.

She weeps for her child
a child deep in a coma,
that others long to kill,
in the name of the child's freedom.


O Blessed Mother,
O Lady of Sorrows,
hold these women,
and the countless victims of
man's willingness to harm
in the name of freedom
in your most loving arms,
like you held your son
in the unfathomable depths of grief
after he laid down his freedom
for the love of us.


Pray for us, O Mother of God,
that we may recognize where our true freedom lies,
at the foot of the cross.

                                 VIII

Prayer to Our Lady:

Oh Mary, Queen of Heaven, who still reaches out to her
children one by one across this wide and sin-torn world
as a mother to each of us, thank you for being there.
Thank you for the precious gift of the rosary, which is
like a life-line you throw to us in the tempetuous sea
of our sin and sorrow. Help us learn to pray we ought,
to ponder in our hearts the truth and glory of your Son
Jesus, the joy of being united to his Sorrowful and
your Immaculate hearts, and come to us who love you at
the hour of our deaths.