Monday, April 13, 2009

Day Nine of Bl. Margaret Novena

And, of course, today is her feast day.

O Blessed Margaret of Castello, through your suffering and misfortune, you became sensitive to the sufferings of others. Your heart reached out to everyone in trouble – the sick, the hungry, the dying prisoners. Obtain for me the grace to recognize Jesus in everyone with whom I come into contact, especially in the poor, the wretched, the unwanted! Obtain for me also the special favor which I now ask through your intercession with God.

Let us pray:

O God, by whose Will the blessed virgin, Margaret, was blind from birth, that the eyes of her mind being inwardly enlightened, she might think without ceasing on You alone: be the light of our eyes, that we may be able to flee the shadows in this world, and reach the home of never-ending light. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, glorify your servant blessed Margaret, by granting the favor we so ardently desire. This we ask in humble submission to God’s Will, for His Honor and Glory, and the salvation of souls. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…

Prayer

O my God, I thank you for having given Blessed Margaret of Castello to the world as an example of the degree of holiness that can be attained by anyone who truly loves you, regardless of physical abnormalities.

In today’s perverted culture, Margaret would have, most likely, never been born, death through abortion being preferable to life, especially life in an ugly, distorted, twisted body. But Your ways are not the world’s ways; and so it was Your Will that Margaret would be born into the world with just such a malformed body.

It is Your way that uses our weakness to give testimony to Your power. Margaret was born blind, so as to see You more clearly; a cripple, so as to lean on You completely; dwarfed in physical posture, so as to become a giant in the spiritual order; hunch-backed, so as to more perfectly resemble the twisted, crucified body of Your Son. Margaret’s whole life was an enactment of the words expressed by Paul: “So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast, so that the power of Christ may stay over me; and that is why I am content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:10).

I beseech you, O God, to grant, through the intercession of Blessed Margaret of Castello, that all the handicapped -- and who among us is not? -- all rejected, all unwanted of the world may make their weaknesses their own special boast so that your power may stay over them now and forever. Amen.

Blessed Margaret of Castello, pray for us.

Our Father...
Hail Mary...

Our Father...
Hail Mary...

Our Father...
Hail Mary...

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