Litany of Powerlessness
-Franciscan Sisters, TOR

A proud and self-reliant man rightly fears to undertake anything, but a humble man becomes all the braver as he realizes his own powerlessness; all the bolder as he sees his own weakness, for all his confidence is in God, who delights to reveal his almighty power in our infirmity and his mercy in our misery. ~St. Francis de Sales

Through your choosing to do nothing on your own, but only what you see your Father doing, (Jn 5:19)
Jesus, Lord of Lords, save us.

Through your choice to become a tiny embryo enclosed in the womb of your mother Mary unable to even breathe on your own,
Jesus, Creator of the Universe, save us.

By your submission to the limitations of time when you exist in eternity
Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, save us.

Through your choice to become the lost sheep sought out by the shepherds who “left the 99” on the night of your birth,
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, save us.

Through your need to be nourished at your Mother’s breast when you are “a table laden with abundance”
Jesus, Eucharistic Feast, save us.

Through your defencelessness during the flight into Egypt, when you had to rely on Joseph’s protection,
Jesus, our Deliverer, save us.

By the dependence of your childhood in the home of Mary and Joseph, when you needed their time, attention and love,
Jesus, our Provider, save us.

By your obedience to Mary and Joseph when you have dominion over the universe,
Jesus, Ruler of All Nations, save us.

Through your refusal to turn “stones into bread” when you were famished after 40 days in the desert, though you later multiplied the loaves for your hungry disciples,
Jesus, Bread of Life, save us.

Through your desperate request to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane to save you from the sufferings that you anticipated,
Jesus, our Savior, save us.

For surrendering yourself to the judgment of Pontius Pilate,
Jesus, our Just Judge, save us.

Through your choice to be identified as a criminal and a blasphemer, causing the high priest to tear his robe,
Jesus, our Great High Priest, save us.

Through your silence, “opening not your mouth”(Is 53:7) in defense, as you were accused unjustly,
Jesus, The Word , save us.

By not resisting a crown of thorns, you who crown us with glory and honor (Ps 8:5)
Jesus, King of Kings, save us.

Through the weakness you experienced on the way of the cross causing you, through whose strength we can do all things (Phil 4:13), to fall three times to the ground,
Jesus, Our Stronghold, save us.

Through your acceptance of Simon’s help on the Way of the Cross when you carry the whole world on your shoulders
Jesus, Strength of Pilgrims, save us.

Through surrendering yourself to the gibbet of the cross when you have exalted us with great power
Jesus, Enthroned on the Praises of Israel, save us.

Through your refusal to “save yourself” as the crowds jeered at you while you hung upon the cross, yet promising to “save us from the hands of our enemies” (Lk 1:74)
Jesus, Source of Eternal Salvation, save us.

Through your refusal to demand justice and your choice to forgive and make excuses for your friends and enemies who crucified you
Jesus, our Justice, save us.

Through the deep thirst you suffered as you cried out from the cross, when you had miraculously drawn water from a rock to quench the Israelites’ thirst in the desert.
Jesus, Source of Living Water, save us.

Through submitting yourself to the greatest abandonment possible, that of your true Father, yet never leaving the temple of our hearts and promising to be with us until the end of the age,
Jesus, Son of God, save us.

By your entering into our greatest moment of powerlessness: death, and allowing it, for a moment, to appear victorious
Jesus, Author of Life, save us.

Through your raising the only son of the widow of Nain, yet letting your dead body remain in the arms of your widowed mother,
Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, save us.

Through your choice to remain imprisoned in tabernacles throughout the world, yet breaking our chains of sin and death
Jesus, our Freedom, save us.

Let us pray.

Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer,
even though you are all-powerful, you embraced our human powerlessness
throughout your life on earth and you embrace it still in the Eucharist.
You did nothing of your own will, but only that of your Father’s.
Help us, who are intrinsically powerless,
to abandon our illusions of control and self-sufficiency,
and give us the humility to relinquish our own wills and plans
so that like you, Jesus, we will do nothing on our own,
but only the Father’s will,
and by always asking your help,
we may find true freedom and perfect power. Amen

Litany to Jesus Christ living in the womb of Mary

Jesus Christ, knit so wonderfully in the womb of Mary.
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary.
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, uniquely Man from the moment of conception in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, present at Creation, created in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, through Whom the world was made, formed in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Word made flesh, taking on a human body in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, revealed by God the Father, concealed in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, subject to human development in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Whose precious Blood first flowed through tiny arteries and veins in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, hidden nine months in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Only begotten of the Father, assuming flesh in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, begotten by God, nourished by the substance and blood of Thy Most Holy Mother in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, leaping from eternity into time, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, revealing with His Father and the Holy Spirit all wisdom and knowledge to His Most Holy Mother, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, aware of His role as Redeemer in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Sanctifier of His Precursor from the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Eternal Word, Divine Child, embraced by the Father, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, raising His Mother to the heights of sanctification, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, everlasting delight of Heaven, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, manifesting His Incarnation to His Holy Mother, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, adored and contemplated by His Mother in the sanctuary of the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, before Whom the Angels prostrated themselves, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, in Whom the very Angels beheld the humanity of the Infant God and the union of the two natures of the Word in the virginal womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, our Protector and Savior, asleep in the inviolable womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Whose Holy Limbs first budded in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Whose Sacred Heart first began beating in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Whose Godhead the world cannot contain, weighing only a few grams in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Whose Divine Immensity, once measuring only tenths of an inch in the womb of Mary
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Whose Divine Grasp outreaches the universe, cradled in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Sacrificial Lamb, docile Infant in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, Who was to suffer the agony and passion of death, accepting the human capacity for pain and grief, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, foretelling His Eucharist Presence, in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us.

Jesus, Lamb of God, in the womb of Mary,
Spare us, O Lord.
Jesus, Holy Innocent in the womb of Mary,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Jesus, Son of God and Messiah in the womb of Mary,
Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Prayer Before Communion by Saint Thomas Aquinas

Almighty and Eternal God, behold I come to the sacrament of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sick I come to the Physician of life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the Light of eternal splendor; poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I beg of You, through Your infinite mercy and generosity, heal my weakness, wash my uncleanness, give light to my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness. May I thus receive the Bread of Angels, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, with such reverence and humility, contrition and devotion, purity and faith, purpose and intention, as shall aid my soul’s salvation.
Grant, I beg of You, that I may receive not only the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord, but also its full grace and power. Give me the grace, most merciful God, to receive the Body of your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, in such a manner that I may deserve to be intimately united with His mystical Body and to be numbered among His members. Most loving Father, grant that I may behold for all eternity face to face Your beloved Son, whom now, on my pilgrimage, I am about to receive under the sacramental veil, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Almighty God, Heavenly Father,
who have placed me, by Baptism, in the womb of the Virgin Mary
beneath her Immaculate Heart
to be together with your Son
and ever more conformed to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit,
grant that I may whole-heartedly embrace my dependence on you
as I place all my trust in my Mother Mary.
May I never scorn my weakness which your Son chose to share with me,
but may I always be grateful to be little and helpless,
knowing that without you I can do nothing.
Veiled with her beneath the protective care of Saint Joseph her spouse,
may I find in her a refuge against every danger
and in her womb a hiding place invisible to the ancient foe.
May I know that I am loved perfectly like Jesus by Joseph and Mary,
those parents, who, receiving everything from You,
will always provide for all of my needs.
Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.