A Prayer for Anxiety
In the tradition of the Church, we have many forms of liturgical prayers that honor Mary. Litanies, among the oldest forms of prayer, incorporate petitions and titles for God or a saint. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most well-known of this kind of prayer. It has been popular since the fourth century.
Pope Sixtus V approved the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1587. It is also called the Litany of Loreto after its first-known place of origin, the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy.
Novenas and special tributes to our Lady typically include the Litany of Loreto. The history of devotions in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help began in March 1499 with a procession to the Church of St. Matthew in Rome that incorporated the litany and the rosary.
Fifty titles are bestowed upon our Lady in the Litany of Loreto, each followed by the response, “Pray for us.” One of the titles is “Mirror of Justice.” “Mirror” has special meaning in prayers of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Icons are said to be windows, openings, or mirrors into mystery. In the litany we pray:
Mirror of Justice,
Pray for us.
We know Mary is the reflection of the image of God because of the mystery of the Word made flesh within her. When we gaze upon the icon, Mary reflects back to us the image of the Christ she holds. In this mystical type of mirroring, we do not see ourselves. Rather, we see the image of God looking back at us.
Because we’ve been baptized into the mystery of Christ, gazing is powerful. Through faith, we have the ability to see Christ in all things. Meister Eckhart, a great mystic, offers this insight: “The eye by which I see God is the eye by which God sees me.”
When we practice the prayer of gazing before the icon, our eyes look with devotion upon the image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and center on some element of the image. We are drawn into what our eyes behold. This is the moment of contemplative awareness. Mary connects with us, and we connect with her.
In this time of anxiety spawned by the ravages of the coronavirus that have required us to often shelter alone, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a soothing prayer to recite for our own needs and the needs of others. If you wish to pray but a few select lines from the litany, feel free to do so. These titles for Mary may provide particular comfort as we pray:
Mother of good counsel,
Pray for us.
Health of the sick,
Pray for us.
Comforter of the afflicted,
Pray for us.
Help of Christians,
Pray for us.
Mother of Perpetual Help, show us a mother’s love and care as we honor you with our prayer and veneration! Amen.
