Prayers & Saints of AOS-USA

Beads:

The chaplet of Our Lady Star of the Sea has a medal of Our Lady of Carmel, three separate beads, and 12 additional beads.

History:

Our Lady Star of the Sea is the patroness of those who sail the seas. According to Saint Bonaventure she is also the one who guides to a landfall in heaven those who navigate the sea of this world in the "ship of innocence or penance." Our Lady aids not only sailors, she assists those who sail the stormy seas of life.

Method:

This Chaplet is said as follows:

The prayer begins with the medal. Holding the medal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, you say this prayer:

Most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, Fruitful Vine, Splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succor me in this necessity; there are none that can withstand your power.

The first three beads are for one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be. These three beads are for John Paul II, Bishop Warren Boudreaux and John Paul Finke (The Confraternity of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Morgan City, Louisiana, was established in 1979 by Bishop Boudreaux). I suppose it would not be sacrilegious to say these three prayers for those who minister in the church at all levels.

On each of the 12 beads representing the 12 stars on Our Lady's crown say one Hail Mary followed by the invocation:

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, help and protect us!

Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hand.

For further information write to: The Confraternity of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Central Headquarters, PO Box 609, Morgan City, LA 70381.

Bishop Maurice Schexnayder (2nd Bishop of Lafayette, LA)

O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children. The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former calmness; You are still the Master of land and sea. We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control: the Gulf of Mexico, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its sleep, overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos and disaster.

During this hurricane season we turn to You, O loving Father. Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son on our behalf, so that spared from the calamities common to this area and animated with a true spirit of gratitude, we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son to reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a stormless eternity awaits us. Amen.

O God, I ask you to take me into your care and protection along with all those who sail ships.

Make me alert and wise in my duties. Make me faithful in the time of routine, and prompt to decide and courageous to act in any time of crisis.

Protect me in the dangers and perils of the sea; and even in the storm, grant that there may be peace and calm within my heart.

When I am far from home and far from loved ones and far from the country that I know,

help me to be quite sure that, wherever I am, I can never drift beyond your love and care.

Take care of my loved ones in the days and weeks and months when I am separated from them, sometimes with half the world between them and me.

Keep me true to them and keep them true to me, and every time that we have to part, bring us together in safety and in loyalty again.

This I ask for your love’s sake.

-Amen-

O God, who gave marriage for a blessing to mankind, bless my wife/husband and me, and unite us in the bond of true Christian love.

Help us both to resist all temptations to sin that would spoil our trust.

Enable us to be loyal to each other during all our separations.

Strengthen us to keep the vows we made when we were made man and wife, through Jesus Christ, our Lord

-Amen

Be with us, O Lord, on this voyage, to cheer us and keep us safe in all dangers.

Let nothing afloat or on shore cut us off from you.

May we please you in everything we do.

Bless all on board, whatever their responsibility.

Enable each of us to do his duty.

Help us to be good shipmates and bring us back again in safety to our homes, and those who long for our return, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

-Amen-

Father, all the elements of nature obey your command.

Calm the storms that threaten us and turn our fear of your power into praise for your goodness.

Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

-Amen-

Prayers for the Cause of Capt. LaRue/Brother Marinus, O.S.B. 

God, our Father, Creator of the seas, Protector of refugees, and all those in need,

You called Captain Leonard LaRue to recognize Your Son Jesus Christ in the faces of the Korean refugees, and led him as Brother Marinus to a life of prayer and service in the tradition of St. Benedict.

May his life be an inspiration to us, and lead us to greater confidence in Your love so that we may continue his work of caring for the people of the sea, welcoming those who are refugees from war, and deepen- ing all the faithful in their prayer and work of service.

We humbly ask that You glorify Your servant Captain Leonard LaRue/ Brother Marinus, O.S.B. on earth according to the design of Your holy will, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ our Lord.
AMEN.

Mary, Star of the Sea, light of every ocean, guide seafarers across all dark and stormy seas that they may reach the haven of peace and light prepared in Him who calmed the sea. 

As we set forth upon the oceans of the world and cross the deserts of our time, show us, O Mary, the fruit of your womb, for without your Son we are lost. 

Pray that we will never fail on life's journey, that in heart and mind, word and deed, in days of turmoil and in days of calm, we will always look to Christ and say,

'Who is this that even wind and sea obey him?'
Our Lady of Peace, pray for us!
Bright Star of the Sea, guide us!
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for seafarers, pray for us.

-Amen 

Steer the ship of my life, Lord, to your quiet harbor, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. 

Show me the course I should take. 

Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can see the right direction in which I should go. 

And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name we shall find comfort and peace.

-Amen

God of sea and land, you endowed your servant Brendan with a bold and adventurous spirit, to occupy himself for your business on the great waters, and revealed to him your wonders in the deep. Make us, who recall with thanksgiving his life and ministry, zealous to be pioneers and pilgrims for the faith of Christ. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.