Prayer of a woman with child


O Most Glorious Mother of God, have mercy on me, Thy handmaid, and intercede
for me in times of my illnesses and dangers with which all wretched daughters
of Eve are beset at the time of child-bearing.

Remember, Thou Blessed among women, the joy and love with which Thou went into
the hill country with haste, to greet Thy kinswoman Elisabeth who was with
child, and the wonderous impact Thy grace-filled visit had on her and the
child in her womb.

By Thine inexhaustible Mercy help me, the lowliest of Thy handmaidens, to
complete my days in good health, bestow me with grace that the child, which
now rests beneath my heart, may bow before the Lord and Savior, Who, by His
boundless love towards us sinners, was pleased to become a Child Himself, as
soon as it stirs with life within my womb, with joyful leaping, as did the
holy child John. Let the unspeakable joy which filled Thy virgin heart when
Thou didst gaze upon Thy newborn Son and Lord, make lighter the pain which
awaits me during the affliction of child-bearing.

Intercede for me that the Life of the World, my Savior, to Whom Thou dist give
birth, may deliver me from the death which often cuts short the lives of
mothers at the hour of their birth-giving, and that He may count the fruit of
my womb among His chosen.

Hear, O Most Holy Heavenly Queen, my humble prayer, and take me, an unworthy
sinner, into Thy embrace, the centre of Thy Grace; put not to shame my hope in
Thee and Thy great mercy. O Helper of Christians, healer of illnesses, deem me
worthy to experience that Thou art the Mother of mercy that I may ever glorify
Thy grace, which hath never despised the prayers of the meek and lowly, and
which hath ever delivered those who have called upon Thee in times of sorrow
and illness. Amen.