MARIAN PRAYERS OFCARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN Nr. 2 (A.D. 1801-1890)

What shall bring me forward in the narrow way,

as I live in the world,

but the thought and patronage of Mary?

What shall seal my senses,

shall tranquilize my heart,

when sights and sounds of danger

are around me but Mary?

What shall give me patience and endurance,

when I am wearied out

with the length of the conflict with evil,

with the unceasing necessity of precautions,

with the irksomeness of observing them,

with the tediousness of their reception,

with the strain upon my mind,

with my forlorn and cheerless condition,

but a loving communion with you!

You will comfort me in my discouragements,

solace me in my fatigues,

raise me after my falls,

reward me for my successes.

You will show me your Son,

my God and my all.

When my spirit within me is excited,

or relaxed,

or depressed,

when it loses its balance,

when it is restless and wayward,

when it is sick of what it has,

and hankers after what it has not,

when my eye is solicited with evil

and my mortal frame trembles

under the shadow of the tempter,

what will bring me to myself,

to peace and health,

but the cool breath

of the Immaculate

and the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon?