Prayer chain with the Virgin Mary and blessed Antoine Frederic Ozanam
The Council General requests Vincentians throughout the world to invoke the intercession of Mary just in a very simple prayer which we can say slowly and reverently:
- One Hail Mary
- And this prayer, dedicated to Vincentians around the world …
Our Lord and Our Father,
As Vincentian we are dedicated to doing your work to help those in need around the world. Please protect all Vincentians from communicable diseases in our home visits and in our many other forms of service which we do in your name. Please protect those that are now afflicted with the Coronavirus and help this global pandemic to pass. For this we humbly pray. Amen
THE BLESSED VIRGIN OF PONTMAIN, (FRANCE)
“But pray my children. God will soon answer you. My Son, allows himself to be moved”.
Appearances of the Blessed Virgin at Pontmain (France) 17 January 1871
During this troubled and uncertain period, when “the sun is darkened”,“the stars fall from the sky”one by one, and “the moon no longer gives its light”, (Matthew, 24, 29) we turn to Mary, our Refuge and our Mother. She is the sign God gives us in the battle, when the forces of Evil are released: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head”(Revelation, 12, 1).
Mary, Blessed Patron of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, we beseech you to intercede with your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the world today.“We know this man really is the Saviour of the World!” John 4, 42. We entrust especially to you:
- The people whom we are visiting, or whom we meet, especially those living in social works managed by SSVP
- The most vulnerable and distressed of our brothers and sisters
- All those who do not have the Faith, those who are afraid or overwhelmed by trouble
- Our Conferences and Councils, our Charitable works, all our members and our volunteers
- The whole Church, our priests, our bishops, our seminarians and our deacons
- All healthcare professionals
- Our families, friends and work colleagues
- Those who will die today
- That the Lord may give us the grace of a true conversion of heart, and that we may live evermore deeply the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
LET US MEDITATE WITH BLESSED ANTOINE-FREDERIC OZANAM
In uncertainty, believe in Providence
« Let us want all that God wants, even uncertainty. Uncertainty is just that trial in which it pleases him to place us, so that we recognise our trust in Him. He has made life uncertain, and death, and even virtue. We would like to be assured of our income in the coming year, and we aren’t even sure that the sun will rise tomorrow. We long to be able to rely on good fortune, but we cannot guarantee even a week of good health. By removing human support from us, Providence makes us feel more strongly that it is carrying us. It’s like a mother who takes away the chair in which her child was sitting, just so that she can pick him up and carry him in her arms.»
Blessed Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam, letter to his wife Amélie, 27 July 1844
The International General Council asks that this document reach all Conferences, Councils and Vincentian works around the world, and that the prayers contained in it be meditated on during the months of March and April 2020.
