Prayers to San Luigi
The prayers to St Luigi Gonzaga by John Paul II and Cardinal Martini celebrate the purity of soul of the patron saint of young people.
St Luigi, a shining example of poverty, obedience and chastity, is asked to watch over the new generations so that they may resist the lure of worldliness and have the courage to go against the tide to build Christ's kingdom.
Together with the Saint of Gonzaga, Mary is also invoked, who inspired in him the intention of virginity, so that she may consolidate in all of us the desire for purity through which we can become witnesses to the glory of God.
Prayer of Giovanni Paolo II
to San Luigi Gonzaga - 22 giugno 1991
San Luigi, poor in spirit
to you with confidence we turn
blessing our heavenly Father
for in you he has offered us eloquent proof
of his merciful love.
Humble and confident worshipper
of the designs of the divine Heart
you have stripped yourself since adolescence
of all worldly honour
and every earthly fortune.
You clothed yourself in the cilizium of perfect chastity,
you trod the path of obedience,
you made yourself poor to serve God,
offering everything to Him out of love.
You, "pure in heart
make us free from all worldly bondage.
Do not allow young people to fall victim
of hatred and violence;
do not allow them to succumb to the lure
of easy and fallacious hedonistic mirages.
Help them to free themselves from all murky feelings,
defend them from the selfishness that blinds,
save them from the power of the Evil One.
Make them witnesses of purity of heart.
Thou, heroic apostle of charity
obtain for us the gift of divine mercy
that it may stir the hearts hardened by selfishness
and keep awake in each one
the yearning for holiness.
Grant that even today's generation
have the courage to go against the current
when it comes to spending their lives
to build the Kingdom of Christ.
May they also know how to share
your own passion for man,
recognising in him, whoever he may be,
the divine presence of Christ.
With you we invoke Mary,
the mother of the Redeemer.
To her we entrust our souls and bodies,
every misery and anguish, life and death,
that everything in us, as it was in you,
is fulfilled to the glory of God, who lives and reigns
for ever and ever.
Amen!
Prayer to San Luigi (Card. Martini)
Lord Jesus,
who revealed to St Louis
the face of the God of love,
who gave him the strength to follow you
by renouncing all that to the world
appeared prestige and wealth,
to spend his life for his brothers
in readiness and simplicity of heart,
grant, through his intercession
to welcome your plan for our life
and to communicate to all brothers the joy of the Gospel,
the smile of your loving presence.
Let your cross be
as it was for Luigi Gonzaga
our consolation, our hope,
the solution to life's dark problems,
the light of all nights and all trials.
And you Mary, who inspired the adolescent Luigi
the intention of virginity
consolidate in us the desire
of purity and chastity,
obtain for us the gift of contemplating the mystery of God
through that Word
through which Jesus speaks to us,
calls us, arouses our response.
We ask this, Father, through Christ our Lord
in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Prayer to San Luigi Gonzaga (No news of the author)
O lovable San Luigi, whose unblemished purity made him like the Angels, and whose ardent love for God equalled the Seraphim of Heaven, turn a merciful gaze upon me. You see how many enemies surround me, how many occasions threaten my soul; and how the coldness of my love for God puts me in danger of offending Him at every turn and of turning away from Him, allowing myself to be lured into the fallacious pleasures of earth.
Save me, O great Saint... to You I entrust myself. Impose upon me an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament and obtain for me the grace that I always approach the Eucharistic Banquet with a pure and contrite heart, filled with living faith and profound humility. My communions will then be, as they were for You, a powerful medicine of immortality, a sweet perfume of God's eternal kiss.