PRAYERS
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN,
TO HE USED ON OCCASION OF PAYING A VISIT TO HER ALTAR OR IMAGE, OR AT OTHER TIMES.
FOR OBTAINING THE LOVE OF MARY.
O MARY, thou art the purest, the fairest, the holiest of creatures. O that all men would acknowledge and love thee as thou deservest! But I rejoice in the thought of the great number of the just whose hearts are inflamed with the love of thee. O amiable Queen, I also, unworthy as I am, I also love thee, but I love thee too little. I desire to love thee more tenderly and more generously, for to love thee is one of the marks of predestination. I ask thee not for the good things of the world — its riches, its honors, or its pleasures; I beseech thee to obtain for me the grace to love thy Son with all the fervor of my heart, and to consecrate myself entirely to his honor and thine. O Mary, O my Mother, cease not to pray for me, until thou seest me secure of possessing my God, of loving him and loving thee forever and ever. Amen.
ANOTHER.
O THAT I had the heart of all the angels and all the saints, to love Mary as they love her! O that I had at my disposal the life of all mankind, that I might consecrate it whole and entire to the glory and the service of this most amiable Mother! O that
