THE FIERY PRAYER(by St. Louis Grignion de Montfort)
Memento, Domine, congregationis tuae, quam possedisti ab initio.
Remember, O Lord, Thy Congregation, which Thou hast possessed from all eternity. Thy mind dwelt on it before time began, ab initio. Thou madest it Thine own from the beginning, when Thou held it in Thy hand as Thou created the world out of nothing. Thou made it Thine own when Thou took it to Thy heart while Thy dear Son, dying on the cross, bedewed it with His blood, consecrated it by His death, and entrusted it to His holy Mother’s keeping .
Accomplish, O Lord, the designs of Thy mercy; raise up the men of Thy right hand, such men as Thou hast shown in prophetic revelation to some of Thy greatest servants—to Saint Francis of Paola, to Saint Vincent Ferrer, to Saint Catherine of Siena, and to many other great souls in the last century and even in ours.
Memento: Remember, O Almighty God, remember this Company, applying to it all the might of Thine arm, which is not diminished, to create, to produce, and to bring it to perfection. “Renew thy signs, and work new miracles, we feel the might of Thy arm.” (Innova signa, immuta mirabilia, sentiamus adjutoriom brachii tui.) O great God, Thou Who out of the very stones canst raise up children to Abraham, in the might of Thy Godhead say but one word to provide good laborers for Thy harvest and good missionaries for Thy Church.
God of all goodness, remember Thy mercy of times past, and, in that same mercy, remember this Congregation. Remember the promises Thou madest to us, time and again, through Thy prophets and through Thine own Son, that Thou wouldst grant our just requests. Remember the prayers that have been offered Thee by Thy servants for this end for so many centuries; let their wishes, their sighs, their tears, and the blood they have shed for Thee come into Thy presence and powerfully implore Thy mercy. But, above all, remember Thy dear Son: “Look on the face of thy Christ.” Contemplate His agony, His shame and confusion, His loving complaint in the Garden of Olives, when He said: “What profit is there in My blood.” His cruel death, His Blood poured out, cries aloud for mercy, in order that by means of this congregation His empire may be established upon the ruins of that of His enemies.
Memento: Remember, Lord, Thy Congregation, when Thou comest to dispense Thy justice. Tempos faciendi, Domine, dissipaverunt legem tuam: “It is time, O Lord, to do: they have dissipated Thy law.” It is indeed time to fulfill Thy promise. Thy Divine law is transgressed; Thy Gospel is thrown aside; torrents of iniquity flood the whole earth carrying away even Thy servants. “With desolation is all the land made desolate”; impiety is enthroned; Thy sanctuary is profaned, and abomination has reached even the holy place. Wilt Thou leave everything abandoned, just Lord, God of vengeance? Will everything come to the same end as Sodom and Gomorrah? Wilt Thou never break Thy silence? Wilt Thou tolerate all this forever? Must not Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Must not Thy Kingdom come? Hast Thou not given to some of Thy friends a prophetic glimpse of a future renovation of Thy Church? Are not the Jews to be converted to the Truth? Is not this what Thy Church expects? Do not all the saints in heaven cry out to Thee: “Avenge Thyself?” Do not all the just on earth say to Thee: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Do not all creatures, even the most insensible, lie groaning under the burden of Babylon’s countless sins and call for Thy coming to reestablish all things: omnis creatura ingemiscit, “We know that every creature groaneth.”
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Lord Jesus, memento Congregationis tuae: Remember to give to Thy Mother a new company, which, through her, will renew all things; and bring the era of grace to a close through Mary just as Thou began it through her. Da Matri tuae liberos, alioquin moriar: “Give Thy Mother children, otherwise I shall die:” to this end, give to Thy Mother children, servants; if not, let me die.
Da Matri tuae: it is for Thy Mother’s sake that I implore Thee. Remember that She who bore Thee and nurtured Thee, and reject me not. Remember whose Son Thou art and grant my plea. Remember what She means to Thee and what Thou dost mean to Her, and fulfill my request
What do I ask of Thee? Nothing for myself, but all for Thy glory.
What do I ask, but that which Thou canst and, I make bold to say, Thou must grant since not only art Thou truly God, having all power in heaven and on earth, but Thou art also the best of sons with an infinite love for Thy Mother.
For what, then, am I asking?
Liberos: Children, priests who are free with Thy freedom, detached from everything, without father, mother, brothers, sisters, or relatives according to the flesh, nor friends as the world understand them, without possessions or cares, and devoid of their very will.
Liberos: Slaves of Thy love and of Thy will, men after Thine own heart who, without taint or impediment of self-love, will carry out Thy will to the full and, like other Davids, lay low all Thy enemies, with the Cross for their staff and Rosary for their sling: in baculo Cruce et in virga Virgine.
Liberos: Clouds filled with heavenly dew that sail high above the earth, without let or hindrance, moving at the breath of the Holy Ghost. They are included among those whom the prophet had in mind when he asked: qui sunt isti qui sicut nubes volant? Ubi erat impetus spiritus illuc gradiebantur, “Who are these, that fly as clouds? Whither the Spirit was to go, there they went.”
Liberos: men, ever at Thy hand, ever ready to obey Thee, like Samuel, at the voice of their superiors: “I am ready”; ever ready to run and suffer everything with Thee and for Thee, like the Apostles were: Eamus et moriamur cum illo, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Liberos: True children of Mary, Thy holy Mother, who are begotten and conceived by her charity, carried in her bosom, fastened to her breasts, nurtured by her milk, reared under her care, upheld by Her arms, and enriched with Her graces.
Liberos: True servants of the Blessed Virgin, who, like so many other Saint Dominics, will range far and wide, with the holy Gospel issuing from their mouths like a bright and burning flame and with the rosary in their hands: baying like watchdogs, burning like fire, and illuminating the darkness of the world like suns. Men who would, by means of a true devotion to Mary—that is to say, interior not hypocritical; exterior but not critical; prudent, not ignorant; tender without indifference; constant without fickleness; holy without presumption—will crush the head of the serpent wherever they go and ensure that the curse Thou hast laid upon it will be fulfilled to the letter: Inimiciatias ponam inter te et mulierem, inter semen tuum et semen ipsius et ipsa conteret caput tuum, “I will put enmities between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and Her seed: She shall crush thy head.”
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True it is, indeed, great God, as Thou Thyself hast foretold, the world will lay mighty snares to entrap the heel of this mysterious woman, that is to say, the little company of her children who will come toward the end of time. There will be great enmities between the blessed posterity of Mary and the accursed issue of Satan, the only enmity which Thou hast instigated; but it is an altogether divine enmity, and the only one of which Thou art the author: inimicitias ponam. But these combats and persecutions which the children of the race of Belial will inflict on Thy Blessed Mother’s race will only serve to make more manifest, in a striking manner, the power of Thy grace, the courage of their virtue, and the reality of Thy Mother’s authority, because Thou hast given her, from beginning of the world, the mission of crushing this proud spirit by the humility of her Heart: Ipsa conteret caput tuum.
Alioquin moriar: otherwise, I shall die. Is it not better for me to die rather than see Thee, my God, offended so cruelly and with impunity, daily; and to stand, myself, in constant danger of being swept away by the ever-swelling torrents of iniquity? I would rather die a thousand deaths than endure such a fate. Either send me help from heaven, or take away my soul.
Were it not for the hope that I have that, sooner or later, the interests of Thy glory will prevail and that Thou wilt hear this poor sinner’s prayer, as Thou hast heard so many others: “this poor man cried out and the Lord heard him,” I would make mine the ultimate plea of Thy prophet: tolle animam meam, take away my soul. Yet, my trust in Thy mercy makes me say like another of Thy prophets: “I shall not die, but live; and shall declare the works of the Lord”; until the time comes when I can say with Simeon: “Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord . . . in peace, because my eyes have seen Thy salvation.”
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Memento: O Holy Ghost, remember that it is Thou Who, with Mary as Thy divine and faithful Spouse, art to bring forth and fashion the children of God. In Her and with Her, Thou brought forth the Head of the predestined and, in the same way, Thou wilt fashion all His members. Within the Divinity, none of the divine Persons is begotten by Thee. Outside the Trinity, Thou art the begetter of all the divine persons. All the saints who have ever existed or will exist until the end of time, will be the outcome of Thy love united with Mary.
The reign especially attributed to God the Father lasted until the Flood and ended in a deluge of water. The reign of Jesus Christ ended in a deluge of blood, but Thy reign, Spirit of the Father and the Son, is still unended and will come to a close with deluge of fire, of love, and of justice.
When will it happen, this fiery deluge of pure love with which Thou art to set the whole world ablaze and which is to come, so gently yet so forcefully, that all nations, Turks, idolaters and even Jews, will be caught up in its flames and be converted? Non est qui se abscondat a calore ejus: “And there is no one that can hide himself from his heat.”
Accendatur: Let its flames rise. Rather let this divine fire which Jesus Christ came to bring on earth be enkindled before the all-consuming fire of Thine anger comes down and reduces the whole world to ashes. Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur et renovabis faciem terrae: “Send forth Thy spirit, and they shall be created; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.” Send this all-consuming Spirit upon the earth to create priests who burn with this same fire and whose ministry will renew the face of the earth and reform Thy Church.
Memento Congregationis tuae: It is to be a congregation, a gathering, a selection, a picked handful of predestined men which Thou must make in the world and of the world: Ego elegi vos de mundo: “I have chosen you out of the world.” It is a flock of peaceful sheep which Thou must collect amongst the wolves; a company of chaste doves and royal eagles amidst so many ravens; a swarm of honeybees amongst so many hornets; a herd of fleet deer amongst so many tortoises; a battalion of bold lions amongst so many timid hares,.
Ah! Lord, congrega nos de nationibus, gather us in from every nation. Bring us together and unite us and that we may render all glory to Thy holy and mighty name!
Thou didst predict this illustrious company to Thy prophet who spoke of it in very obscure and very secret but divine terms:
Pluviam voluntariam segregabis, Deus, haereditati tuae et infirmata est, tu vero perfecisti eam.
Animalia tua habitabunt in ea. Parasti in dulcedine tua pauperi, Deus.
Dominus dabit verbum evangeli-zantibus virtute multa.
Rex virtutum dilecti dilecti e speciei dividere spolia.
Si dormiatis inter medios cleros, pennae columbae deargentatae et posteriora dorsi ejus in pallore auri.
Dum discernit cælestis reges super eam, nive dealbabuntur in Selmon; mons pinguis.
Mons coagulatus, mons pinguis: ut quid suspicamini montes coagulatos.
Mons in qui beneplacitum est Deo habitare in eo, etenim Deus habitabit in finem.
Thou shalt set aside for Thine inheritance a free rain, O God; and it was weakened, but Thou hast made it perfect.
In it shall Thine animals dwell: in Thy sweetness, O God, Thou hast provided for the poor.
The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings with great power.
The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house shall divide spoils.
If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold..
When He that is in heaven appointeth kings over her, they shall be whited with snow in Selmon. The mountain of God is a fat mountain!
A curdled mountain, a fat mountain. Why suspect, ye curdled mountains?
A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end.”
What is this voluntary rain which Thou hast separated and chosen for Thy weakened inheritance if not these holy missionaries, children of Mary, Thy spouse, whom Thou art to gather together and set apart from the world for the good of Thy Church, at present so weakened and besmirched by the crimes of Her children?
Who are these animals and these poor who will dwell in Thine inheritance, to be nourished there with the divine sweetness which Thou hast prepared for them, if none other than these poor missionaries, entirely dependent on Providence and overflowing in Thy divine delights. They are none other than those mysterious animals described by Ezekiel having the humanity of man by their disinterest and beneficent charity toward their neighbor; the courage of the lion by their holy wrath and their ardent and prudent zeal against the demons and the children of Babylon the strength of the ox by their apostolic labors and their mortification of the flesh; and, finally, the agility of the eagle by their contemplation in God. Such will be the missionaries Thou hast in mind for Thy Church. They shall have the eye of a man for their neighbor, the eye of a lion against Thine enemies, the eye of an ox for themselves, and the eye of an eagle for Thee.
These imitators of the Apostles shall preach virtute multa, virtute magna, with a strength and a virtue so great and so splendid that they will stir up all minds and all hearts, wheresoever they preach. It is to them that Thou wilt give Thy word—dabit verbum; the very words of Thy own mouth and wisdom: dabo vobis os et sapientiam, cui non poterunt resistere omnes adversarii vestri: and none of their enemies will be able to withstand them.
It is among these well-beloved that Thou, as King of the virtues of Jesus Christ, the Well-Beloved, wilt take Thy delights; for, in all the missions they undertake, their sole aim will be to give glory to Thee for the spoils they have won from Thy enemies: Rex virtutum dilecti dilecti et speciei domus dividere spolia: “The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house shall divide spoils.”
By their total dependence on Providence and their devotion to Mary; inter medios cleros pennae columbae deargentatae: they shall have the silvery wings of the dove, that is to say, purity of doctrine and of morals; et posteriora dorsi ejus in pallore auri, and their backs gilded: that is to say, a perfect charity towards their neighbors to bear with their defects, and a great love for Jesus Christ enabling them to carry His Cross.
Thou alone, as King of heaven, and King of kings, shall set these missionaries apart from the world, like so many kings, in order to make them whiter than the snow on the top of Mount Selmon, the mountain of God, the abundant and fertile mountain, the strong and curdled mountain, in which God takes wonderful delight, and in which He dwells and shall dwell forever.
Lord, God of truth, Who is symbolized by this mysterious mountain of which so many marvels are told if not Mary, Thy beloved Spouse, whose foundations Thou established on the heights of mountains: “The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains . . . the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains.”
Happy, and a thousand times happy, are the priests whom Thou hast chosen and predestined to dwell with Thee upon this abundant and divine mountain. There they will become kings for eternity by their contempt of the world and their elevation in God; there to be made whiter than snow by their union with Mary, Thy Spouse, all beautiful, all pure, all immaculate; they will be enriched with the dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of the land, with all the temporal and eternal blessings with which Mary is completely filled.
From the summit of this mountain, like other Moses, they shall launch the arrows of their ardent supplications against their enemies to lay low or convert them; This is the mountain on which Jesus Christ, Who dwells there forever, will teach them in His own words the meaning of His Eight Beatitudes; it is on this mountain of God that they shall be transfigured with Him as on Tabor, die with Him as on Calvary, and ascend to heaven with Him as on Mount Olivet.
Memento Cogregationis tuae. Remember Thy congregation: It is Thou alone who must form this assembly by Thy grace; if man touch it first, nothing will be done; if he interfere with Thy work, he will spoil all, overturn all. It is Thy congregation, Thy work, great God. Opus tuum fac: Do Thy work; do Thy all-divine work; collect, call, gather together Thine elect from every corner of Thy dominions and make of them an army to fight against Thy enemies.
Seest Thou, Lord God of hosts, the captains who are forming complete companies; the potentates mustering up immense armies, the ship owners bringing together whole fleets, the merchants thronging to the markets and the fairs? How many thieves, impious, drunkards, and libertines are uniting against Thee every day--and so easily and promptly. Blow a whistle, beat a drum, show the blunt tip of a sword, promise a withered laurel wreath, offer of a bit of yellow or silver earth; in short, a whiff of fame, a worthless reward, a vile beastly pleasure for which they long, can instantly reunite robbers, gather together soldiers, join battalions, assemble merchants, fill houses and marketplaces, and cover the land and the sea with an innumerable multitude of reprobates, who, although at variance amongst themselves, either by the places whence they come, by differences in temperament, or by personal interests, are nevertheless united as one man to wage war to the death against Thee, under the banner and the leadership of the devil.
And Thou, great God! Though there is so much glory, sweetness and profit in serving Thee, shall there be so few to take up Thy cause? Scarcely a soldier to line up under Thy banners! Hardly a Saint Michael to proclaim amongst his brethren, full of zeal for Thy glory: Quis ut Deus!
Ah, let me cry out everywhere: Fire! Fire! Fire! Help! Help! Help! Fire in the House of God! Fire in souls! Fire even within the sanctuary! Help for our brother who is being murdered! Help for our children whose throats are being cut! Help for our kind Father Who is being stabbed!
Quis Domini est, jungatur mihi: “If any man be on the Lord's side let him join with me.” Let all good priests who are spread over the Christian world, and those who are actually in the warfare, and those who have withdrawn from the combat to bury themselves in deserts and solitude, let them all come forward and unite with us. In unity there is strength, in order that we may form, under the banner of the Cross, a well-regulated army in battle array, and together attack the enemies of God who have already sounded the call to arms: “They have shouted; they have raged; they have swelled their ranks.” “Let us break their bonds asunder; and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them.”
Exsurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus!
Exsurge, Domine, quare obdormis? Exsurge.
“Let the Lord arise, and let His enemies be scattered.”
“Arise, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? Arise.”
Arise, O Lord, why feignest Thou to sleep? Arise in all Thy might, Thy mercy, and Thy justice, to form Thyself a chosen bodyguard to watch over Thy house, to defend Thy glory, and to save the souls that are Thine, that there may be but one fold and one shepherd, and that all may glorify Thee in Thy holy temple: "And in His temple all shall speak His glory." Amen.
(for private recitation)
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