08/07/2019
THE ICON OF OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP is one of the most venerated Icons of Mary in the history of the Church. Many Theologians have attributed the emergence of the Icon to St. Luke, the Physician or a disciple of the Lucan Traditions within the Lucan Christian Community because it portrays the Lucan picture of Mary “who ponders all things in her heart (Lk. 2:19, 51).” The Mother of Perpetual Help Icon is not just a painting. It is a written prayer. Icons are not painted but written. Written there-in is the message of the passion and death of Christ with Mary as a key figure of hope in the mystery. Put simply, the Icon announces the passion of Christ (the Son of God and Son of Mary) through the angels (Michael and Gabriel) and shows Mary’s power of succour in the unfolding of Christ’s passion and death and how she too can help us in our own times of afflictions.
PRAYER FOR OURSELVES / PRAYER BEFORE THE SACRED ICON
O Mother of Perpetual Help, with the greatest confidence I come before thy Sacred Picture in order to invoke thine aid. Thou hast seen the Wounds whichJESUS hast been pleased to receive for our sake; thou hast seen the Blood of thy Son flowing for our salvation; thou knowest how much thy Son desires to apply to us the fruits of His Redemption. Behold, I cast myself at thy feet, and; pray thee to obtain for my soul the grace I stand so much in need of. O Mary most loving of all mothers, obtain for me from the heart ofCHRIST, the grace,…..
(Here mention your petition)
O Mother of Perpetual Help, thou desirest our salvation far more than we ourselves; thy Son has given thee to us for our Mother, thou hast thyself chosen to be called Mother of Perpetual Help. Show then that thou art really my Mother, show that thou art justly called Mother of Perpetual Help. I trust not in my merits, but in thy powerful intercession; I trust in thy goodness, I trust in thy motherly love.
Mother of Perpetual Help, for the love thou bearest of CHRIST thy Son and; my R
