A Prayer Request

Recently, I received this request:

Please pray for Joseph L. who used to be a very active Catholic when a teenager. He is 25 now and has been an opium addict for 4 years. Please pray that he be totally healed, physically, mentally, and emotionally of his addiction. And please ask the good God to grant that Joseph contact me because I don't know where he is and I am suffering.

The first thing to came to mind was to ask our Lord for His mercy in this situation and to ask our Blessed Mother to help this poor man. I am convinced that it was through the intercession of Our Mother of Perpetual Help which helped rescue me from similar circumstances many, many years ago.

A good Catholic woman and mother gave me a holy card of Our Mother of Perpetual Help during that difficult time of my life and, for some reason (Divine Providence), I kept that card with me and I still have it and treasure it since it was given to me to remind me of God's infinite mercy and grace and the love of Jesus and His Mother.

The prayer on the card? The Memorare:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that any one who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence,
I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my Mother;
to thee do I come,
before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful;
O Mother of The Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy clemency
hear and answer me.
Amen.

The pain that this woman is suffering is probably quite unbearable. The fact that the young man may still be alive after his addiction to opium for four years speaks to the urgency of her request.

"O Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to Thee,
and for all those who do not have recourse to Thee,
especially for the enemies of Holy Mother Church,
and all those in most need of Thy mercy."

Please join with me and invoke the intercession of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, whose patronage includes that of drug addicts.

"St. Maximillian, please pray for Joseph and his friend Robin, and please pray for us!"