INVOCATION OF THE HOLY NAME OF MARY

September 12: The Holy Name of Mary

Oh great mother of God, and my mother Mary, it is true that I am unworthy to pronounce thy name, but thou who lovest me, and dost desire my salvation, thou must obtain for me, that, unclean as maybe my tongue, I may yet always invoke thy most holy and most powerful name; for thy name is the support of the living, and the salvation of the dying.

Ah, most pure Mary! ah, most sweet Mary! make thy name henceforth to be the breath of my life.

Oh Lady, do not delay coming to my help when I call upon thee, since in all the temptations which may assail me, in all the necessities I may suffer, I shall never cease calling upon thee, al ways repeating Mary, Mary.

Thus I hope to do in life, thus especially I hope to do in death, that I may afterwards come to praise eternally in heaven thy beloved name: O clemens! O pia! O dulcis Virgo Maria! Ah Mary!

Mary most amiable! what comfort, what sweetness, what confidence, what tenderness does my soul fee) only in pronouncing thy name, only in thinking of thee? I thank my God and my Lord that he has given thee, for my good, this name so sweet, so lovely, so powerful.

But, oh my Lady, I am not satisfied with merely pronouncing thy name, I would pronounce it also with love; I desire that my love may remind me to speak thy name at every hour, that I may exclaim with St. Anselm:

Oh name of the mother of God, thou art my love. O amor mei nomen matris Dei. Oh my dear mother Mary! oh my beloved Jesus! may your most sweet names always live in my own and in all hearts.

May I forget all other names, that I may remember and always invoke none but your adored names.

Ah Jesus, my Redeemer! and my mother Mary, when the moment of my death shall arrive, and my soul shall depart from this life, by your merits grant me the grace then to utter my last accents, repeating:

Hove you, Jesus and Mary; Jesus and Mary, I give you my heart and my soul.

Amen

by ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

THE HOLY NAME OF MARY

The Holy Mother of God is no stranger to the struggles of her children in this valley of tears.

She is attentive to every situation that threatens this world of ours, to every assault against the Church and, when we invoke her Holy Name, she is quick to intervene. When it comes to calling upon the Name of Mary, there is no struggle too global and too enormous, and no struggle too personal or too little.

In the Bible, the name wields a mysterious power. Names are not to be pronounced casually or lightly. Names are not to be taken in vain.

The invocation of the name renders present the one who is named. So often as you pronounce the sweet Name of Mary with devotion and confidence, Mary is present to you, ready to help.

So often as you pronounce the sweet Name of Mary, you have her full and undivided attention.