May 9th is the liturgical feast of St George Preca (or as we Maltese know him as Dun Ġorġ), the Maltese diocesan priest who founded the Society of the Christian Doctrine, better known as M.U.SE.U.M. The Latin acrostic name means Magister Utiname Sequatur Evangelium Universus Mundus, (“MUSEUM”) whose English rendition is: “Teacher, O that the whole world would follow the Gospel!”
St George Preca dedicated his life spreading the Gospel through catechetics by various means, such as the great number of books on dogma, morals and spirituality in the Maltese language. Besides this, one should also mentions the innumerable booklets he published with prayers for the private use of the members of the Society he instituted as well as to animate popular devotion. The subsequent three prayers show his immense union with God as well as his passion for proclaiming the Gospel unceasingly.
In his Prayer to the Virgin Mary after the Rosary Dun Gorġ invokes the Virgin Mary to intercede for us so that we shall not be punished for our sins but be admitted into Heaven. O Virgin Mother Mary, who has begotten us as your children amidst the sorrows of your gentle soul as you stood by the cross, the altar on which Christ Jesus, God’s only begotten Son and the only fruit of your virginal womb, suffered as victim to God the Father for the forgiveness of the sins of all. Do not permit that after our death, as we stand before the just tribunal of this same Jesus your son, that we should be sent away in everlasting curse, but rather that we should be received by God with everlasting blessing into God’s joyful dwelling. Amen.
Then, in the prayer Honouring the Divine Wounds of Jesus Dun Ġorġ takes us back to the pieta scene when Jesus’ body is in the arms of his sorrowful Mother Mary and, in that dolorous yet holy ambience, we can contemplate with her Jesus’ Divine Wounds. Each wound of Jesus is honoured and adored. This prayer ends with the five-fold intention, namely for the safeguarding, blessing and sanctifying of M.U.S.E.U.M., the conversion of sinners, for the admittance into heaven of the souls who are suffering in purgatory, for evangelisation throughout the whole world, and for individual believers to grow in love, humility and meekness. This prayer certainly teaches you and me the wisdom of always offering our prayers for precise intentions. Hence, prayer is the very first means for the most powerful and convincing evangelization. Such a prayer can be prayed individually or within a group.
Dear friends, let us bring to mind the dead body of Jesus Christ, laid in the arms of his sorrowful mother, and contemplate with her His Divine Wounds. Let us adore them and offer them to God the Father for our salvation and for all the living and dead.
The divine wound of the left foot of Christ
Let us honour and adore. (bow)
The divine wound of the right foot of Christ
Let us honour and adore. (bow)
The divine wound of the side of Christ
Let us honour and adore. (bow)
The divine wound of the left hand of Christ
Let us honour and adore. (bow)
The divine wound of the right hand of Christ
Let us honour and adore. (bow)
Christ have mercy; Christ have mercy; Christ have mercy.
By the merits of your wounds, o Lord,
Heal the wounds of our souls.
Father, Everlasting God, we offer you the Divine Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved son, that you may deign:
- To protect, bless and sanctify our Society;
- To convert to you all sinners for whom these springs of life were opened;
- To admit into your glory the souls of Purgatory;
- To spread throughout the whole world the teaching of eternal life; and
- To fill each one of us, here present with the spirit of the same Jesus Christ, a spirit of love, humility and meekness.
Let us bless the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
The last prayer which I would like to appreciate and offer to you as a gift from the immense spiritual heritage of St George Preca is the Prayer to the Holy Spirit. In this prayer, one finds a very simple but deep pneumatology. First of all, Dun Ġorġ emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is God himself, who proceeds from God the Father and the Son (ex Patre et Filio procedentem). Here Dun Ġorġ is strictly and scrupulously following the line of Tertullian, St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine. All of them employed the term from the Father through the Son. The Creed of 381, which was propagated by the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, included in fact the exact phrase, who proceeds from the Father and the Son (in Greek ὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐκπορευόμενον and whereas in Latin we find qui ex Patre Filioque procedit). Let us not also forget what St Pope Gregory wrote in Gospel Homily 26: The sending of the Spirit is that procession by which It proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Second, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father through the Son to live in us. Third, the Holy Spirit is our life-Guide in whatever we are and do. Fourth, the Holy Spirit is discernment in person. He uncovers the inner and outer evil we are assailed with. Fifth, the Holy Spirit encourages us to grow in holiness, forbearance, self-denial and perseverance. Sixth, the Holy Spirit comforts us from the suffering we experience in life. Seventh, the Holy Spirit helps us avoid sin and our Companion which accompanies us to eternal life. As we can notice, in this small prayer there are the essential tenets for a sound and down-to-earth pneumatology.
God the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from God the Father and God the Son, come and remain in us. We need you in everything. We cannot do any good without you.
Come and remain in us in order to enlighten us against the deceits of the devil, of the world and of ourselves; to give us strength for holiness, for forbearance, and for self-denial in everything that pleases us.
Come and remain in us in order to comfort us in every sorrow. It’s only through your help alone that we can live a holy life, shun sin, and eventually, at death, enter into everlasting life where we praise you, the Father and the Son.
These are some of a much longer list of prayers which St George Preca wrote. If you were touched by one of them why not start praying it daily? Perhaps, through this prayer, the Lord can sustain and strengthen your faith in the long run.
St George Preca pray for us!
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