O CLEMENT, O LOVING, O SWEET VIRGIN MARY

My Dad wrestled us guys up out of bed at 5am to get us to 5:40 mass at the St. Joseph's Chapel at Santa Teresita Church in Monrovia.  I did not like waking up on Sunday mornings, but I also accepted its importance and the benefits that came from being with my brothers and my dad and spending Sunday morning with them, though unpleasant it may have been on occasion.  But I always loved my dad's energy and his efforts to organize time on Sunday for us to learn in some systematic way a faith.  It's hard to understand the value of that system as a kid but decades later one at least appreciates the instillation of prayers on the mind as one endures an onslaught of death, envy, evil, defeat, essentially what is referred to as the Valley of Darkness in the Psalm 23 prayer.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.— Psalm 23:1-6 

But there were other prayers as well, like the prayers of the Rosary, some of my favorites that helped protect me from the profanity and paganism of Darwinian, civic organizations.  

The Sign of the Cross: In the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen 

The Apostles' Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He arose again; He ascended into heaven,and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgivness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen 

The Our Father: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil. Amen. 

The Hail Mary: 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 

Glory Be to the Father: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Fatima Prayer: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Your Mercy".  (Our Lady at Fatima, 13th July 1917) 

The Hail, Holy Queen: Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. 

So there's that.  I am not a big fan of this Pope Francis, for he really is a Marxist.  Period.  Dot.  Stop.  Another favorite of mine is the Serenity Prayer.  In a profane world, this can be restorative. 

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference.  

Living one day at a time;enjoying one moment at a time;accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;taking, as He did, this sinful worldas it is, not as I would have it;trusting that He will make all things rightif I surrender to His Will;that I may be reasonably happy in this lifeand supremely happy with Himforever in the next.  Amen. 

And upon waking up to get to mass we had to make sure that we carried our Daily Roman Misssals.  These were small, hand-sized prayer books.  I don't think that the ones that we had were in Latin, but I remember seeing prayers missals in Latin for sure.  

But these missals were tiny.  The Roman Daily Missal contained the following: 

The Daily Roman Missal contains the complete prayers, antiphons, and readings (A, B, C cycle for Sundays, two-year cycle for weekdays) for all Masses throughout the liturgical year and the Order of the Mass all in one volume. Short explanations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church are given above the Sunday readings. It also contains English and Latin texts side by side for the Order of the Mass and the Eucharistic prayers, making this a great missal to use when Mass is said in Latin. It contains a liturgical calendar in the front that helps you locate the appropriate readings for the year and month. It has many other features such as the Proper of Saints, Masses and Prayers for various needs and occasions. It also has a very helpful section of Catholic devotions and common prayers in the back, and guides for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Six colored ribbons are included for ease of use.

The one here is a military missal, which is what we could have owned since my dad was a Marine.  

The ones we owned could have also looked like this.  The size is 6 x 4.5.