“Mondays with Mary” today is dedicated to the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Their example of holiness and love for teaching children is a true profession of what is to be a Bride of Christ in today’s world. They are my favorite religious order and I miss teaching with them! As Dominicans, they have love for one of their own  – Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Being that today, January 28, is the feast day of the great theologian and Doctor of the Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas, I have found a prayer written by him ‘To the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.’ Like many of the saints before him, and after him, Saint Thomas Aquinas had a great love for the Holy Mother of God. As you read and pray through this prayer below, you will notice some of the theological doctrines that the Church has always taught about the Blessed Mother.

St. Thomas asks for Our Lady’s assistance, intercession, and advocacy. These are terms that are associated with the 5^th Marian doctrine – Co-Redemptrix: Spiritual Motherhood, Mediation, and Advocate. In this role, Our Blessed Mother’s position is to intercede for all the faithful as the Queen Mother just as the Old Testament king’s mothers, their queens, would intercede for the people. Also in this prayer, the Angelic Doctor uses the phrase – “O Queen of Heaven.” Even though the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven was not declared solemnly dogmatic until 1950, the Church always taught that Mary assumed body and soul into heaven after her earthly life was complete. As the Queen of Heaven (and Earth), Mary intercedes for us to the new King – Jesus Christ.

To the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

O most blessed and sweet Virgin Mary, Mother of God, filled with all tenderness, Daughter of the most high King, Lady of the Angels, Mother of all the faithful,

On this day and all the days of my life, I entrust to your merciful heart my body and soul, all my acts, thoughts, choices, desires, words, deeds, my entire life and death,

So that, with you assistance, all may be ordered to the good according to the will of your beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Be to me, my most holy Lady, a comforter and an ally against the stratagems and traps of the ancient enemy and of all those who harbor ill intentions against me.

From your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, request for me the grace to resist firmly the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, an a constant resolve to sin no more and to persevere in your service and the service of your beloved Son.

My most holy Lady, I also beseech you to obtain for me true obedience and true humility of heart

So that I may recognize myself truly as a sinner – wretched and weak – and powerless, without the grace and help of my Creator and without your holy prayers, to do any kind of good work or even to resist the unrelenting assaults of evil.

Procure for me also, O my most sweet Lady, perpetual purity of mind and body, so that with a pure heart and chaste body I may be strengthened to serve you and your beloved Son through the Dominican Order.

From Him, obtain for me a spirit of poverty willingly accepted with patience and tranquility of mind, so that I will have the strength to sustain the labors of this Order and to work for my own salvation and that of my neighbors.

Obtain for me as well, O most sweet Lady, true charity with which from the depths of my heart – I may love your most holy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and, after Him, love you above all other things, and love my neighbor in God and because of God.

Thereby may I rejoice in his goodness, sorrow over his evils, despise no one, never judge rashly, and never in my heart exalt myself over anyone.

Grant, O Queen of Heaven, that ever in my heart I may have fear and love alike for your most sweet Son; That I may give thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon me not for my merits but by His kindness;

And that I may ever make a pure and sincere confession and do true penance for my sins, in order that I might deserve to obtain His mercy and grace.

I pray also that, at the end of my life, you, Mother without compare, Gate of Heaven, and Advocate of sinners, will not allow me, your unworthy servant, to stray from the holy Catholic faith

But that you will protect me with your great piety and mercy, defend me from evil spirits, and obtain for me, through the blessed and glorious Passion of your Son and through your own intercession, received in hope, the forgiveness of all my sins.

When I die in your love and His love, may you direct me into the way of salvation and blessedness.

Amen

Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth…Pray For Us!