From Forums of the Virgin Mary [translated from Portuguese]:
The instant prayer that gives you access to unexpected blessings and graces.
When we pray on a daily schedule, for example, the Rosary, or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy or the Angelus, we prepare ourselves to seek and listen to God in a profound way.
But in daily life, we have unforeseen events.
And they lead us to respond unexpectedly with prayer without delay, at the right time.
We are like a firefighter who has to put out a fire now so that a large fire does not start.
Therefore, we must be prepared to react quickly, because we are on the battlefield and we need God’s immediate response.
We may feel overwhelmed, unsupported, or even attacked, but if we respond in prayer at just the right time, we can see our Mighty God do what only He can do, and graces come to save the day.
Here we will talk about those small spontaneous prayers, that you should do as a reflex response, to situations that happen to you in daily life, to obtain God’s instant grace, and how to use them and in what situations.
There are several typical situations that happen to us in daily life, and we must be prepared to pray, almost as a reflex, for God to intervene immediately with His Grace.
For example, when you start or buy something new, like a new year, a job, a relationship, a new vehicle, a new house, or a new phase of your life.
In these cases, take time to pray and dedicate this to the Lord.
And also when you discover a physical, emotional, or spiritual need in you, you must let that need lead you to pray without wasting time.
Because God provides and is dedicated to satisfying our needs, objective and subjective.
When you feel the weight of the burdens you are trying to handle in your life, present them to the Lord.
Because loads can crush the spirit.
And Psalm 50 says, “Call on me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you will honor Me.”
In addition, Galatians 6:2 urges us to do it for others, calling us to “bear one another’s burdens.”
Therefore, all your own burdens and those of others, lead you to pray to the One Who loves us and can relieve us.
When worry overwhelms you, turn it into prayer.
When panic or fear tries to invade your thoughts, respond by surrendering everything in prayer to the God Who sees and knows what you are facing, and who has a solution.
In sin, the fear of God alone should lead us to pray.
It doesn’t matter if we are tempted or if we have already crossed the line, we have to go to the Lord immediately.
Jesus instructed His disciples to pray when tempted.
And if you have sinned and need forgiveness, 1 John 1 says that if you humble yourself and confess your sin, God will forgive you and cleanse you.
And when God provides you, protects you, forgives you, and guides you, at that moment, then give thanks.
Don’t let the routine blessings you receive every day go unnoticed.
For each of these situations, you must be prepared to say spontaneous, quick, short prayers, on account of deeper prayers that you will do at the time you have designated and are able to pray.
Spontaneous prayers are short texts, and easy to remember to obtain the immediate grace that God wants to give us.
So we must have on hand and remember several of these spontaneous prayers to use in times of trial, temptation, etc.
The first prayer for help is simply to say “Lord help me!”
Many times we forget it because we think it is too simple for God to answer.
But God has an incomprehensible love for us, and he not only listens to us, but wants to help us in our time of need.
Then the prayer “Lord help me!” should be more than enough to bring about a myriad of unexpected graces from the Heart of God.
And if you need to make a deeper invocation at that moment, evoke the consoling presence of our Blessed Mother, who always appears in the most desperate moments.
It’s beyond human logic, but if you say the Hail Mary, you’ll receive instant comfort from a mother coming to the aid of her child in trouble.
When the moment of suffering comes, say, “Lord, allow something good to come out of this suffering.”
Sometimes trials turn into suffering, and sometimes suffering has no quick relief or obvious meaning.
It can be debilitating and depressing if we don’t see anything good coming out of it.
So say, “Lord, make something good come out of this!”
And one of the great mysteries of the Christian life is that our sufferings can be associated with those of Christ, and help in the redemption of others.
All we need is to offer it to the Father as the gift of ourselves.
For everything that causes us suffering, say “Lord I give it to you.”
When I offer my suffering as an offering, as an act of love to the Father, and I ask him to turn it into a source of Grace for those who need it, you know that He will do it, just as he did with His Son.
In this way, the negativity of suffering becomes the positivity of giving, love, and grace.
And there are times when what you are doing gets out of control and you cannot find the solution to solve a problem.
No matter how hard you try, circumstances seem to overwhelm you and you notice that your human resources are absolutely insufficient.
Then say, “I give up, Lord, you take care of it.”
When you say this you let go of control.
And the pressure is relieved by turning it over to the Lord, Who can providentially bring something good out of your situation.
And sometimes it happens that nothing objectively dangerous happens to us, but we have premonitions and it invades us like a darkness.
It can come from feelings of anxiety and depression that our psyches project into the future, it can be a warning from God, the harassment of an evil spirit, or a kind of psychic protection.
Then say, “Lord, take care of this situation, please protect me.”
And repeat this prayer until the feeling begins to subside: first losing its strength, then gradually weakening, and finally a sense of normalcy or even comfort.
And when you feel sinful, overwhelmed by your mistakes, and need to ask for forgiveness for your sins, say the prayer from your heart, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner,” and repeat it many times.
But sometimes we think that God will withhold His forgiveness until we are a little more deserving, a little less weak, or a little more perfect.
This is to underestimate the scope of Divine love and forgiveness.
So when you ask for forgiveness, turn to God with the heart of a son who trusts his father unconditionally and say, “I accept your forgiveness.”
And finally, the most important prayer of all is, “Your will be done, Lord.”
Jesus teaches us this prayer in the Our Father and uses it himself in Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
It is the central spontaneous prayer of the Christian spiritual life and can be used in times of fear, temptation, anger, and trial.
It is effective when you remember that God’s Will is to bring love, kindness, justice, and salvation into your life.
And in this way, you find that the loving Will of God, and the immense providence of the Holy Spirit, are incredibly effective and transforming.
And when God’s Will is working through you, you become an instrument of His Will in the world.
Well, up to here what we wanted to tell you about small spontaneous prayers, to say at the right time, to obtain God’s graces in that precise situation, which work as if it were a fire extinguisher.
And I would like to ask you if when something unexpected happens in your life you usually say short sentences, or if you don’t.