280. Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

We beseech thee also to bless our country. She has many failings, for which we must implore par- don; but in the midst of her wanderings from the right path, she has never ceased to proclaim through the best of her sons that thou art for ever her Mother and her Sovereign. Thou hast always shown her thy love, and we hope that thou wilt not abandon her after having heaped thy favours and benefits upon her. VARIOUS TITLES OF MARY 255 While we pour forth our hearts in prayer at thy feet, O Virgin Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, we cannot forget our Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff, and in his person thewholeCatholic Church, which thy divine Son has entrusted to him to lead along the paths of eternal salvation. He, too, places his whole trust in thee. Protect and bless him; be his support and consolation in the midst of his trials, and help him to extend the Kingdom of Gop.

O Mother of mercy, be for us all ‘‘the cause of our joy,” and ‘‘show unto us” Jesus CuristT, as thy gift in this life and in eternity. Amen