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Night Prayers with Our Lady
by Brian
As a wedding present, my wife and I received two beautiful statues, one of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the other of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These generous gifts, compliments of my wife's family, are situated upon the dresser in our bedroom. Often before retiring, I will go before the statues and make my examination of conscience, offer up some special intentions and ask for God's blessing before going to bed.
Unfortunately, there was a time when my focus was only on the statue of Jesus whose wounded Heart, surrounded by flames of love, guided my night prayers. Our Lady, who stood beside Him with a heart pierced by a sword and arms outstretched, would almost go unnoticed except for a quick Hail Mary.
This all changed, praise God, after I attended a men's retreat. On the first day of the retreat during an afternoon conference, the retreat director gave a short talk on how to make the most out of one's night prayers. In the talk, he included the examination of conscience, but also mentioned how we should converse with the Blessed Virgin Mary. This took me by surprise!
The priest said that praying to Our Lady before retiring was an ancient tradition. It was a common practice to spend a few minutes every night conversing with her. He went onto explain how this practice was an important part of his spiritual development and how Our Lady blessed him with numerous graces for being faithful to it.
After the conference, I went back to my room and started to think about the way I said my evening prayers. Suddenly a light bulb went off; actually, the Holy Spirit blessed me with a spiritual light. It was as if my mind starting replaying, like a tape recorder, how I prayed at night before going to bed. In an instant, I realized the Blessed Virgin was missing from my prayers.
Although I did pray "at her," I must admit I really did not converse with her. I would say a Hail Mary or the Hail Holy Queen, but I would never really spend time sharing my day with her and asking for her help. The little time I spent praying to Our Lady was very formal, rather than informal, like a child talking to his mother.
Following the last conference of the day, which ended in the evening, I decided to head over to the chapel. There, before Our Lord, in the Blessed Sacrament, I prayed for the grace to change the way I said my night prayers. After conversing with Our Lord briefly, I felt compelled to sit back in the pew and silently remain in His Holy presence.
After having my eyes closed for some time, I opened them and looked over to my left. There was a beautiful wooden sculpture of Our Lady. I again knelt and looked to her who was directly looking at me. I did not say any formal prayers to Our Lady, but simply spoke to her about all I had learned about saying my night prayers.
After talking with Our Lady, I sat back once again in the pew and remained silent. I thought I would receive some sort of spiritual light or confirmation from Our Lady as to whether or not this was a worthy and good practice, but I did not. Therefore, I got up and headed back to my room to get some sleep.
On the way back to my room, I noticed a little plaque of Our Lady hanging on the sidewall along the long corridor. I stopped before the plaque and just gazed at Our Lady. I felt her speak to my heart, not so much in words, but with grace. Our Lady explained to me that she was my Mother and wanted to have a greater role in my spiritual life. Instantly my thoughts turned to night prayer.
In that brief moment, I understood the importance of praying and conversing with Our Lady before retiring. When I got back to my room, I got on my knees and thanked Jesus for this great grace. I then humbly spoke to Our Lady and said, "good night" and went to bed.
From that evening forward, I have done my best to speak to Our Lady before retiring. I know longer just look to the statue of the Sacred Heart, but now also to the statue of the Immaculate Heart. I share with Our Lady my concerns and hopes. I ask her to help me, and those who are in need, especially family members and friends. I now speak to my mother who wants nothing more than to be a part of my life.
God bless!