Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church

Pope Francis wrote this prayer at the very beginning of his pontificate, before placing the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, in the liturgical calendar.

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In 2018 Pope Francis instituted a new feast in honor of our Blessed Mother, called “Mary, Mother of the Church.” It is celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost.

The celebration was created to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”

Interestingly, before this feast was created Pope Francis penned a prayer that was at the end of his encyclical Lumen fidei, released in 2013, an encyclical begun by Pope Benedict XVI.

Here is this prayer, invoking the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.

Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!