What can we do, in addition to washing our hands and taking prudent measures to avoid contracting or spreading the coronavirus? PRAY.
Here is one idea. Ask your parish schola to chant this prayer in a time of pestilence on Sunday. Imagine if hundreds, if not thousands, of churches around the world took a few minutes to pray for the end of the coronavirus.
Please share.
The Star of Heaven that nourished the Lord drove away the plague of death which the first parents of man brought into the world. May this bright Star now vouchsafe to extinguish that foul constellation whose battles have slain the people with the wound of death.
O most pious Star of the Sea, preserve us from pestilence; hear us, O Lady, for Thy Son honors Thee by denying Thee nothing. Save us, O Jesus, for whom Thy Virgin Mother supplicates Thee.
The origins of this prayer are, as some writings have detailed, from the Sisters of the Monastery of Santa Clara in Coimbra, Portugal, during the plague in 1317.
H/T to a journalist friend in New York City for making this writer aware of the Gregorian chant.
