Deepen your prayer life with these Catholic devotions.

Prayer is the key to walking closely with God.

As Catholics we have a rich tradition of prayers and devotions that serve to lead us deeper into loving relationship with God, and to seek His assistance in all of our needs. Below are some of those that have proven very useful and fruitful by countless numbers of the faithful.

St. Patrick Parish 100th Anniversary Prayer

Heavenly Father,
As the people of St. Patrick Parish, we give you thanks:

for forming us into your community of faith 100 years ago…Christ Behind Us
for guiding us to share the Gospel message so that it may be fully alive for generations to come…Christ Before Us
for enabling us to recognize your presence in our daily lives…Christ within Us

We make this prayer through the intercession of St. Patrick.  Amen

100th Anniversary Monthly Intentions

For focused prayer during each month of our Centennial Celebration.

  • Sept: For the Faith Formation of Our Children
  • Oct: For the Spiritual Guidance of Our World Leaders
  • Nov: For the Souls of Our Deceased Relatives, Friends and Parishoners
  • Dec: For the Strengthening of Family Life
  • Jan: That the World May Respect All Life from Conception until Natural Death
  • Feb: For an Appreciation of the Many Christian Vocations in our Church
  • Mar: For a Deeper Concern for the Sick & Forgotten
  • Apr: For Our Youth to Be On Fire for Their Faith
  • May: That a Deep and Active Faith May be the Fabric of Our Parish Family
  • June: For the Intentions of Pope Francis, and for Our Holy Catholic Church

Prayer for Mary, Undoer of Knots

Dearest Holy Mother, Most Holy Mary, You undo the knots that suffocate your children, extend Your merciful hands to me. I entrust to You today this knot and all the negative consequences that it provokes in my life. I give You this knot that torments me and makes me unhappy and so impedes me from uniting myself to You and Your Son Jesus, my Savior.

I run to You, Mary, Undoer of Knots because I trust You and I know that You never despise a sinning child who comes to ask you for help. I believe that You can undo this knot because Jesus grants You everything. I believe that You want to undo this knot because you are my Mother. I believe that You will do this because you love me with eternal love.

Thank you, Dear Mother.

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me. Amen.

Prayer for Vocations

O Holy Spirit, Spirit of wisdom and divine love, impart Your knowledge, understanding, and counsel to youth that they may know the vocation wherein they can best serve God. Give them courage and strength to follow God’s holy will. Guide their uncertain steps, strengthen their resolutions, shield their chastity, fashion their minds, conquer their hearts, and lead them to the vineyards where they will labor in God’s holy service.

The Divine Praises

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.

May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.

Prayer for Our Nation

God our Father, Giver of life,
We entrust the United States of America to Your loving care.
You are the rock on which this nation was founded. You alone are the true source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Reclaim this land for Your glory and dwell among Your people.
Send Your Spirit to touch the hearts of our nation´s leaders. Open their minds to the great worth of human life and the responsibilities that accompany human freedom. Remind Your people that true happiness is rooted in seeking and doing Your will.
Through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of our land, grant us the courage to reject the “culture of death.” Lead us into a new millennium of life.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord.

The Rosary

How to Recite the Rosary

While the complete rosary is composed of 15 decades, it is acceptable to recite five decades centered around either the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, or Glorious Mysteries on a given day.

Beginning Prayers

Sign of the Cross
The Apostle’s Creed (said on the large Crucifix)
The Our Father (first large bead after the Crucifix)
Three Hail Mary’s (said on the next three beads)
Glory Be to the Father (said on the next large bead )

Praying Each Decade

Begin by naming a mystery of the rosary and begin mediating on that mystery throughout the remainder of the decade.
Recite the Our Father on a large bead.
Recite one Hail Mary on each of the next 10 small beads.
Recite the Glory Be to the Father and the ‘O My Jesus’ Prayer from Fatima on the next large bead.
Begin the next decade by naming the next mystery, and reciting the Our Father on the same large bead. (continue steps two thru five until at least 5 decades have been recited).

Closing Prayers

Recite the Hail Holy Queen Prayer.
Close with the Prayer After the Rosary.

Divine Mercy Chaplet

This devotion uses ordinary rosary beads and begins with:
Our Father, Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

On the large bead before each decade of the Rosary say:
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

On the ten, small beads of each decade say:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

After praying for five decades, conclude by saying three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary . . .
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about
the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Prayer of Spiritual Communion

Most loving Jesus, I adore You with a lively faith. You are present in this Sacrament by virtue of Your infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. Although conscious of my unworthiness, I place all my hope in You. I love You, O Lord, with all my heart and I desire to receive You now spiritually. Come therefore, O Lord, to me in spirit. Feed me, for I am hungry; strengthen me, for I am weak; enliven and sanctify me with Your sacred Body and Blood. Deliver me from all sin and make me always obedient to Your commands. Let me never be separated from You, my Savior, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign one God forever and ever.

Act of Adoration and Reparation to Jesus

I adore Thee profoundly, O my Jesus, in Thy sacramental form; I acknowledge Thee to be true God and true Man, and by this act of adoration I intend to atone for the coldness of so many Christians who pass before Thy churches and sometimes before the very Tabernacle in which Thou art pleased to remain at all hours with loving impatience to give Thyself to Thy faithful people, and do not so much as bend the knee before Thee, and who, by their indifference proclaim that they grow weary of this heavenly manna, like the people of Israel in the wilderness. I offer Thee in reparation for this grievous negligence, the Most Precious Blood which Thou didst shed from Thy five wounds, and especially from Thy sacred Side, and entering therein, I repeat a thousand times with true recollection of spirit:

O Sacrament most Holy,
O Sacrament Divine,
All praise and all thanksgiving,
Be every moment Thine.