Mary of the Angels, Hope Amidst the Fires

 The devastating fires in Los Angeles, the City of Our Lady Queen of Angels of the Portiuncula, have caused untold damage to thousands upon thousands of families. At least one parish, Corpus Christi, in Pacific Palisades, has been destroyed. The parish dedicated to the Latin Mass, St. Vitus, has remained outside of harm's way.

But in one of the other fires, in Altadena, an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe remained intact:

(Source: Twitter)

We pray for those deceased, and for those families, of all social classes, left without their homes, their memories, their livelihoods, their neighborhoods. We pray to Our Lady of the Angels, so that her city may one day be completely restored, and become a beacon of Christendom as intended by the missionaries who founded the pueblos of California:

Virgin of the Angels, who for so many centuries have set thy throne of mercy at the Portiuncula, listen to the prayer of thy children who confidently have recourse to thee. From that truly holy place and dwelling place of God, particularly dear to the heart of Saint Francis, thou have always called all men to Love.

Thine eyes, filled with tenderness, assure us of perennial maternal assistance and promise divine help to those who prostrate themselves at the feet of thy throne or from afar turn to thee, calling thee to their aid.

Thou truly art our sweet Queen and our hope.

O, Our Lady of Angels, obtain for us, through the intercession of Blessed Francis, the forgiveness of our sins, and help our will to keep us from sin and indifference so that we may be worthy to call thee always our Mother.

Bless our homes, our work, our rest, giving us that serene peace that is enjoyed within the ancient walls of the Portiuncula, where hatred, guilt, weeping are, due to Love, transformed into songs of gladness, like the song of thine Angels and of the Seraphic Francis.

Help those who have no succour and those who have no bread, those who are in danger or temptation, in sadness or discouragement, in sickness or at the hour of death. Bless us as thy beloved children and with us please bless, with one and the same motherly gesture, the innocent and the guilty, the faithful and the lost, the believers and the doubters. Bless all of mankind, so that men, recognizing themselves as children of God and thy children may find, in Love, true Peace and the one true Good. 

Amen [Traditional prayer of the Portiuncula, in Assisi.]