Talks on the Sacramentals, by Msgr Arthur Tonne - Litanies

"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." Philippians, 4:13.

A father and his eight-year-old son were working together in their garden, preparing it for spring planting. In addition to a lot of spading and raking and leveling of ground, they had to remove quite a few stones. As the father found them in his digging, he threw them upon a pile, and asked his son to carry them over to a little ditch. The boy worked like a little man for some time, but suddenly he cried out:

"Daddy, here's one stone I can't lift. I've tried with all my might but I can't lift it."

"No, my boy," answered the father, "you have not tried with all your might, for I am here as part of your might, and you didn't ask me to help you."

The person who never prays or who prays but seldom and feebly, is like that little boy trying to move a heavy rock without the help of his father, who is nearby waiting to be asked to help. The prayers of Mother Church are composed in that spirit, in the spirit of St. Paul who wrote to the Philippians:

"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me."

Among the official prayers of the Church litanies are very popular and very powerful. They call upon God in every possible way to come to our assistance. They fit every possible need. We appeal to God in terms that are pleasing to Him. We also call upon His Blessed Mother under a variety of attractive titles to pray for us to God. We ask the saints, the special friends of God, to do the same thing. In every way we can think of we ask God and His saints to assist us.

A litany is a prayer in which greetings and petitions are repeated again and again in varying forms. They are powerful sacramentals. From early Christian times the Church has used them. In fact, prayers that resemble our litanies were used in the Old Testament. For example, Psalm 135, which was chanted in the public worship of the Jewish temple, has twenty-seven verses, each ending with the words: "for his mercy endureth forever."

The song of the three youths in the fiery furnace, found in Daniel 3, ends each verse with the words: "praise and exalt Him above all forever."

In the public services of the Church today there are five approved litanies: The Litany of the Saints, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Litany of the Sacred Heart, the Litany of St. Joseph, and the Litany for the Dying.

1. The Litany of the Saints is made up of petitions to saints of different classes--to the Blessed Virgin, to the apostles, the martyrs, virgins, and confessors. There are three forms of this litany:

a. The most common form is used for private devotion. It is prayed at the laying of a corner-stone of a church, the blessing of a church or cemetery, at Forty Hours, on the feast of St. Mark, April 25, and on the Rogation days, the three days before the Ascension.

b. The second form of this litany, somewhat shorter, is used on Holy Saturday and the vigil of Pentecost.

c. The third form, known as the Litany of the Dying, is used in the prayers for the dying.

2. The Litany of the Blessed Virgin consists of a number of her favorite titles, some from the Old Testament, some from the New. After each we ask her to pray for us. It is also called the Litany of Loreto because it was used for many years at the Italian shrine of that name. At different times new titles and new petitions have been added.

3. The Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus is composed of salutations addressed to our Savior under titles and attributes expressing His mercy in redeeming us. It is believed that St. Bernardin of Siena and St. John Capistran, those great Franciscan missionaries, those zealous originators and promoters of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, began this particular prayer.

4. The Litany of the Sacred Heart gives special honor to the loving Heart of Christ. Its thirty-three petitions remind us of the thirty- three years Jesus lived and labored on this earth. It is one of the most popular of the litanies, especially for the Holy Hour, for Benediction, and for First Friday devotions.

5. The Litany of St. Joseph has twenty-five prayerful greetings to the foster-father of the Son of God, the spouse of the Blessed Mother, the patron of the universal Church. It breathes the atmosphere of the tiny home at Nazareth, the humble, hard- working spirit of the man closest to Christ, the spirit of a really holy head of a household.

The variety, the expressiveness, the simplicity and depth of the greetings in our litanies are a continual source of sweetness and strength in our devotions both public and private. They offer an effective and appealing means of obtaining special spiritual strength, and physical assistance too.

Like that little boy we have not tapped all the power available until we have asked the heavenly Father and His special friends to come to our assistance.

May I suggest that you find one of these litanies in your prayer- book and pray it devoutly, thoughtfully. Another time pray another of those litanies. Vary them in your devotions from time to time, especially in your morning, evening and family prayers. You will realize and receive new spiritual strength. Amen.