Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/507

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thy grief, and by the unspeakable joy thou hadst when the Angel of God opened to thee the mystery of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, pray for us, that endeavouring to advance thy honour and worship through the whole world, we may, by God’s holy grace, overcome all affliction and dejection of mind in this life, and in the other become a fit mansion of the Holy Ghost for all eternity. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

Hail Mary, etc.

The Second Prayer.

O THRICE happy Joseph, foster father to Jesus!

by the great grief that pierced thy heart when thou didst contemplate this beloved infant lying in the manger, weeping and shivering with cold, and by the great joy thou receivedst in beholding the holy angels adoring and honouring him with their heavenly music, and in seeing the three kings prostrate before him, and offering him their precious gifts; pray for us, O great Saint, to the end that our souls may become a fit mansion to receive our Saviour, and that we may lodge and keep him always therein, even to the last moment of our lives; that then we may find and enjoy him in heaven, in the possession of his everlasting glory. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

Hail Mary, etc.

The Third Prayer.

O GREAT Joseph, a man according to God’s own heart! by the grief thou didst feel at the circumcision of the tender infant Jesus, shedding his most precious blood, and by the joy thou hadst in giving him the most sweet name of Jesus, according to the