Page:PrecesGertrudianae.djvu/142

and be to me, a miserable sinner, needful help and succour in all things. O most blessed John, thou beloved friend of Jesus, who wast chosen in thy purity by our Lord, and because of thy purity more tenderly beloved, and more deeply imbued with high and heavenly mysteries than thy brethren; thou most glorious apostle and evangelist, I invoke thee together with Mary the Mother of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, and beseech thee that thou wouldst, in union with her, bestow upon me thine aid. O ye two gems of heavenly brilliance, ye two lights shining with divine lustre in the presence of God, scatter with your bright beams the mists and clouds of my sins. For you are they unto whom, by reason of your spotless purity, our Lord confirmed his love of predilection when hanging on the cross, saying to the one: Woman, behold thy son; and to the other: Behold thy Mother. Wherefore, in the sweetness of that most holy love wherein you are joined by our Lord himself as mother and as son, I, a miserable sinner, now commend to both my body and my soul, beseeching you to deign to be my sure protectors, both inwardly and outwardly, at every moment of my life, and my compassionate intercessors with God. Demand for me, I beseech you, the salvation of my soul and of my body. Grant, I implore you,