Prayer to the Immaculate Virgin Mary (26 February 1981)

On 26 February 1981, the Holy Father offered a prayer to the Immaculate Virgin Mary at the Church of the Immaculate at Nugenzai-No-Sono.

Immaculate Mother of the Church,
through your humble intercession with your Son,
grant that this "little flock" may become,
day by day,
a more eloquent sign of the Kingdom of God in Japan!
Ensure that, through him,
this Kingdom shines
with a brighter light in the life of the people and
spreads among others through the grace of faith
and holy Baptism.
May it grow ever stronger
through the exemplary Christian lives of the sons and
daughters of the Church in Japan.
May it grow strong in anticipation of the coming of the Lord,
when the history of the world will be realized in the one God. 

This I entrust to you, oh Unique Immaculate, and this I implore from Christ through the intercession of all the holy and blessed Japanese martyrs, and of Blessed Maximilian Kolbe, the apostle who loved this land so much. Amen. 

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