St. John the Baptist

Today is the feast day of St. John, the Apostle. While he wasn't a martyr in the regular sense, he was one in every other sense. He was scourged and placed in boiling oil, but these things didn't slow him down much, even when he was an old man. There are many beautiful prayers for this day, and I think I have picked one to help reach our goal. This one is from the Mozarabic Missal, asking for help from the saint himself.

O Son of God, Begotten of the Unbegotten infinite God! who didst open the sacred treasury of thy Breast to thine Apostle, when he, reclining on thy Bosom, merited to drink in from the very fountain of thy Heart the streams of his own Gospel: look upon us with an eye of pity, that so by thee we may know thy mysteries, and do the good thou hast manifested unto us. Reveal unto us the hidden things of thy Heart, whereby we may be taught both the weakness of our own nature, and the Divinity which is thine. Show us thyself, that we may love thee; show us in ourselves what we must correct. That thus, by the prayers of thy beloved Disciple, our evil ways being converted, pestilence may flee from us, sickness disappear, and the sword be sheathed. May all that is adverse to Christian faith perish; may all that prospers it be strengthened. May famines cease, may dissensions be appeased, may the upholders of heresy be confounded. May the earth be pregnant with fruits, our souls be clad with virtues, and all good things come unto us all. That thus, faithfully serving thee our God, we may both use these gifts without sin, and, hereafter enjoy the bliss of possessing thee for eternity. Amen.