In yesterday's session of The Journey, I mentioned a prayer for Mary's intercession that goes back at least to the mid-third century - in fact this prayer may have come out of the intense persecution of Christianity in that time, or it may have been a popular prayer at that time, because it asks for Mary (through her intercession) to protect Christians in danger. Here is my translation of it, but feel free to look it up online and see other translations of both the Greek and Latin versions (my translation is a combo of the Greek and Latin):
Holy Mother of God, uniquely pure and blessed
We take refuge under your compassion
Do not ignore our prayers in our time of need
But free us from danger
Again, we are not meant to interpret this as though Mary herself has any power to protect anyone or prevent anything, but by her intercession, she asks her Son for that divine protection
Sub Tuum Praesidium means "under your protection," though in some versions the title is "under your compassion"
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
I hope to have another installment of THE JOURNEY up this Saturday - here's the text for the rest of the chapter - I didn't bother with the colored text since this is all from the Gospel of John.
