A Prayer on Our 150th Anniversary – Folha de S. Paulo, January 16, 1972
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
O Lady Aparecida,
As the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our independence approaches, our souls rise to You, Queen and Mother of Brazil.
For a nation, one hundred fifty years of existence is like fifteen years for a person: the transition from adolescence, with its energy, uncertainties, and hopes, to youth, with its idealism, daring, and ability to accomplish.
At this threshold between two historical eras, we are also reaching another milestone. For we are joining the ranks of nations that, through their influence, shape the course of current events and hold the threads that weave the future of peoples.
THANKSGIVING
At this moment rich in hope and glory, O Lady, we come to thank You for the benefits You have obtained for us from Almighty God as our ever-heeded Mediatrix.
We thank You for our vast territory and the riches You have placed within it.
We thank You for the unity of our people, whose diverse racial backgrounds have blended so seamlessly into this great Portuguese heritage and whose cultural environment, inspired by Latin genius, has effectively integrated contributions from people around the world.
We thank You for the Catholic faith, with which we have been privileged since the blessed moment of the First Mass.
We thank You for our history, serene and harmonious, filled with so much more culture, prayer, and work than with strife and war.
We thank You for our just wars, always illuminated by the halo of victory.
We thank You for these present times, so full of achievements and hopes for greatness.
We thank You for the nations of this continent, which You have given us as neighbors, and which, united with us in faith, race, tradition, and hopes for the future, walk alongside us in ever-closer coexistence along the same path of ascent and success.
We thank You for our peaceful and selfless nature, which leads us to understand that the first duty of the great is to serve and that our emerging greatness was granted not only for our benefit but also for the benefit of all.
We thank You for bringing us to this stage in our history, at a time when storms are raging around the world, problems are mounting, and terrible choices are lurking at every turn for individuals and nations. For this is the moment for us to serve the world, carrying out the Christian mission of the young nations of this hemisphere, called to shine the true light in the eyes of the world, a light that darkness will never be able to extinguish.
PRAYER
Our prayer, O Lady, is not that of the proud and disloyal Pharisee, who is mindful of his qualities but forgetful of his faults.
We have sinned. In many ways, our Brazil is not the truly Christian nation that Nóbrega and Anchieta envisioned. In both public and personal life, terrible seeds of decay are evident, keeping all clear-headed and watchful minds on edge.
For all of this, O Lady, we ask for your forgiveness.
And besides asking for forgiveness, we pray for strength. Without your help, the weak cannot overcome their weaknesses, and the good cannot stop the violence and schemes of the wicked.
With forgiveness, O Mother, we also ask for your blessing.
How much we trust it!
We know that a mother’s blessing is a valuable gift that helps her child’s prayers be answered, makes his soul strong and generous, his work honest and fruitful, his home pure and joyful, his struggles noble and deserving, his fortunes honorable, and his hardships dignified.
How abundant are your blessings, O Mary, in all these and other imaginable gifts — You, the Mother of mothers, the Mother of all people, and the Virginal Mother of the Man-God!
Yes, O Mary, bless us, shower us with graces, and above all, grant us the grace of graces. O Mother, unite this Brazil of yours with You intimately.
Love it more and more.
Make the generous patronage you have bestowed upon us ever more maternal.
Make the forgiveness You have always granted us ever more generous and merciful.
Increase your generosity with earthly goods, but above all, nurture in our souls a desire for the goods of Heaven.
Make us increasingly loving of peace and stronger in the fight for the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord.
So that, always willing to abandon everything to remain faithful to Him, we may see the divine promise of a hundredfold on this earth and eternal bliss fulfilled in us.
* * *
O Lady Aparecida, Queen of Brazil! With what words of praise and affection can we greet You at the end of this prayer of thanksgiving and supplication? Where can we find them if not in the Holy Books, since You are beyond human praise?
The chosen people prophetically proclaimed about You, words we lovingly repeat:
“Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laeticia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostro.”
You are the glory, joy, and honor of our people who love You.
* * *
The thought of our 150th anniversary has inspired this prayer in my Brazilian soul, so I chose not to delay sharing it. Next week, I plan to continue the topic I began last Sunday.
