Compare and contrast the following prayers to Mary with the common Roman Catholic claim that one merely petitions saints in heaven to pray for them in the same way one would ask a friend to pray for them:
79 (34)O Mary, my Mother
and my Lady, I offer You my soul, my body, my life and my death, and all that
will follow it. I place everything in Your hands. O my Mother, cover my soul
with Your virginal mantle and grant me the grace of purity of heart, soul and
body. Defend me with Your power against all enemies, and especially against
those who hide their malice behind the mask of virtue. O lovely lily! You are
for me a mirror, O my Mother! (1929, Notebook 1, Divine Mercy in my Soul:
The Diary of the Servant of God Sister M. Faustina Kowalska [Stockbridge,
Mass.: Marian Press, 1987], 41)
161 O Mary, Immaculate Virgin,
Pure crystal for my heart,
You are my strength, O sturdy anchor!
You are the weak heart’s shield and protection.
O Mary you are pure, of purity
incomparable;
At once both Virgin and Mother,
You are beautiful as the sun, without blemish,
And your soul is beyond all comparison.
Your beauty has delighted the eye
of the Thrice-Holy One.
He descended from heaven, learning His eternal throne,
And took Body and Blood of your heart
And for nine months lay hidden in a Virgin’s Heart.
O Mother, Virgin, purest of all
lilies,
Your heart was Jesus’s first tabernacle on earth.
Only because no humility was deeper than yours
Were you raised above the choirs of Angels and above all Saints.
O Mary, my sweet Mother,
I give you my soul, my body and my poor heart.
Be the guardian of my life,
Especially at the hour of death, in the final strife. (October 26, 1934,
Notebook 1, Divine Mercy in my Soul: The Diary of the Servant of God Sister
M. Faustina Kowalska [Stockbridge, Mass.: Marian Press, 1987], 89-90)
