(a prayer by St. John Paul II, on April 13, 1980)
Our Lady and Mother! At the beginning of the story of salvation, the Eternal Father made His resolve and chose you, Immaculate One, to be the Mother of the Word made flesh. And at the beginning of the struggle between good and evil He chose you, as the woman who crushes the head of the serpent. In this way He marked your humble maternity as the sign of hope for all those who, in this battle, in this struggle, wish to persevere with your Son and vanquish evil with good.
…[W]e feel these struggles profoundly. The events around us show us continually how threatening are the forces of sin, hatred, brutality, and death. So again we look to the Mother of the Redeemer of the world, to the Lady of the Apocalypse of John, to the “woman clothed with the sun,” in whom we see you, welling up with light, which illuminates the dark and perilous stages of human life on earth.
O Mother, let this prayer and this abandon, which we renew yet again, tell you everything about us. Bring us close to you, again, Mother of God and men—Comforter, Protector, great Mother of God and our mother, and come to us again. Do not let the brothers and sisters of your Son perish. Give our hearts the power of truth. Give peace and order to our existence.
Show yourself a mother!
Queen of Heaven, rejoice!
