NV-Divine Motherhood

NOVENA TO THE DIVINE MATERNITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
FEAST DAY : OCTOBER 11th

What is a Novena?
A novena is a traditional devotion consisting of specific prayers recited on nine successive days. Besides being a form of praise, a novena is frequently offered for a particular intention. The first novena took place in the Cenacle, during the nine days preceding Pentecost, or the coming of the Holy Ghost. As a regular popular custom, this practice began in 12th century Christianity and continues to be beneficial today as a way of praying for healing, protection or other blessings for ourselves or others.

This particular novena is prayed to God in honor of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed VIrgin Mary, whereby Our Lady was granted the privilege and grace of becoming the Mother of God, at the moment of the Incarnation, when Jesus Christ, God the Son, took on flesh and blood as He became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the power of God the Holy Ghost. Being the Mother of Christ, Who is God, she also becomes the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ.

In praying this Novena, as in the case of all prayer, it is good to begin by opening ourselves wholeheartedly to God's will, offering a simple act of trust in God's wisdom and in His providential love for us all, that disposes all things for the ultimate benefit of our souls and their salvation.

How to Pray This Novena
This novena is based on our ultimate goal, which is to reach God in Heaven. Each day of the novena is divided into the following parts: (1) a quote from Holy Scripture, or a quote from Our Lady , or a quote from a Saint (2) a passage on the Divine Maternity from a pope or a theologian; (3) a Meditation; (4) a Prayer; (5) after mentioning your intention, pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary; (6) a Closing Prayer.

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

Lord, have mercy on us!
Christ, have mercy on us!
Lord, have mercy on us!
God our Father in Heaven, have mercy on us!
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us!
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us!
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us!

Holy Mother of God, pray for us!
Mother of our Creator, pray for us!
Mother of our Savior, pray for us!
Mother of Christ, pray for us!
Mother of divine grace, pray for us!
Mother conceived without sin, pray for us!
Mother of the Church, pray for us!
Mother and virgin, pray for us!
Mother most charitable, pray for us!
Mother most amiable, pray for us!
Mother most admirable, pray for us!
Mother most faithful, pray for us!
Mother most pure, pray for us!
Mother most chaste, pray for us!
Mother inviolate, pray for us!
Mother undefiled, pray for us!
Mother most humble, pray for us!
Mother most patient, pray for us!
Mother most compassionate, pray for us!
Mother most merciful, pray for us!
Mother of hope, pray for us!
Mother of penitents, pray for us!
Mother of all saints, pray for us!
Mother most prayerful, pray for us!
Mother most devout, pray for us!
Mother most courageous, pray for us!
Mother most strong, pray for us!
Mother most powerful, pray for us!
Mother most wise, pray for us!
Mother of good counsel, pray for us!
Mother most prudent, pray for us!
Mother of the Church, pray for us!

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord!

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord!

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us!

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: O God, Who didst will that, at the announcement of an Angel, Thy Word should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant to us Thy suppliants, that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

FIRST DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Chosen to be the Mother of God

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:
My daughter, the mortals are not capable of understanding the ineffable operations of the arm of the Omnipotent in preparing me for the Incarnation of the eternal Word. Especially during the nine days, which preceded this exalted sacrament was my spirit elevated and united with the immutable being of the Divinity. I was submerged in the ocean of his infinite perfections, participating in all those eminent and divine effect, which are beyond all presentiment of the human hearts. The knowledge of creatures communicated to me penetrated into their very essence, so that it was more profound and piercing than that of all the angelic spirits, though their knowledge of creation, on account of the beatific vision, is altogether admirable. Moreover, the images of them all were impressed upon my mind, to be used by me according as I desired.

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Taken from the Liturigcal Year (1919)

The Church celebrates, today, the august prerogative of this divine Maternity, which was conferred on a mere creature, and which made her the co-operatrix with Jesus in the great work of man's salvation.

But it is today, that we, the children of the Roman Church, must pour forth all the love of our hearts for the Virgin-Mother, and rejoice with her in the exceeding happiness she feels at having given birth to her and Our Lord. During Advent, we contemplated her as pregnant with the world's salvation; we proclaimed the glory of that Ark of the New Covenant, whose chaste womb was the earthly paradise, chosen by the King of Ages for His dwelling-place. Now, she has brought Him forth, the Infant-God; she adores Him, Him who is her Son. She has the right to call Him, her Child; and He, God as He is, calls her in strictest truth, his Mother. Let us not be surprised, therefore, at the enthusiasm and profound respect, wherewith the Church extols the Blessed Virgin, and her prerogatives.

Let us not be surprised, therefore, at the enthusiasm and profound respect, wherewith the Church extols the Blessed Virgin, and her prerogatives. Let us, on the contrary, be convinced, that all the praise the Church can give her, and all the devotion she can ever bear towards her, are far below what is due to her as Mother of the Incarnate God. No mortal will ever be able to describe, or even comprehend, how great a glory accrues to her from this sublime dignity. For, as the glory of Mary comes from her being the Mother of God, one would have first to comprehend God Himself, in order to measure the greatness of her dignity.

Meditation
The Third Ecumenical Council held by the Catholic Church took place in Ephesus in 431. The Council was called to refute the teaching being put forth by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius. He held that the Virgin Mary may only be called the Christotokos (Birth Giver of Christ) and not Theotokos (Mother of God).

This teaching was condemned and the Council confirmed that indeed, since it was God who was the Father, Mary was truly the Mother of God. This settled for all time the central mystery of the Catholic Faith which is the Incarnation; Jesus Christ is one person with two natures; one divine and one human. This is a mystery we embrace and believe but will never fully understand.

Pope Pius XI, who had a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin, honored her by creating a new feast day in her honor. In 1931, 1500 years after the Council of Ephesus had proclaimed that Our Blessed Lady was truly the Mother of God, Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast Day of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This action not only reaffirmed the Council’s dogmatic proclamation that Mary is Theotokos, it also set October 11th into the Roman calendar as the day the feast was to be celebrated.

Called in the Gospels, “the mother of Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, “as the mother of my Lord.” In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father’s eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly the “Mother of God” (Theotokos).”

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

SECOND DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of the Creator

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:
The more complete knowledge of the wonderful operations of the arm of the Almighty in raising me during the abstractive visions of the Divinity to the dignity of Mother, is reserved for the predestined when they shall come to know them in the heavenly Jerusalem. There they shall understand and see them in the Lord Himself and with that special delight and astonishment, which the angels experienced, when the Most High revealed these things to them for his exaltation and praise.

From what thou art going to learn of the favors and blessings conferred upon me in preparation for the dignity of Mother of God, I wish thee to perceive the admirable order of his wisdom in the creation of man. Take notice, therefore, that his Creator made him out of nothing, not in order to be a slave, but in order to be the king and the master of all creation (Genesis 1:26), and in order that he make use of creatures in sovereignty, command and mastery; yet at the same time man was to recognize himself as the image of his Maker and the work of his hand, remaining more devoted to God and more submissive to his will than the creatures to man; for all this was demanded by justice and reason.

And in order that man might not be without information and knowledge of the Creator and of the means of perceiving and executing his will, He added to his natural light a greater one, more penetrating, more limpid, more certain, more free and extensive, namely the light of divine Faith, by which man might know the existence of God and of his perfections, and conjointly with these, his works. Furnished with this knowledge and dominion man was established in good standing, honored and enriched, having no excuse for not devoting himself entirely to the fulfillment of the divine will.

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mother of Our Creator! Is there any title which gives us a greater idea of the power of Our Blessed Lady? The idea of God as our Creator is that which most fills us with awe and reverence towards Him and a sense of our own utter nothingness. We have become accustomed to say, “Mother of Our Creator,” so that we are not so much impressed by it, but let us try to realize what it means. The great God Who made us, Who has absolute and entire control over every part of our being, and everything belonging to us, and before Whom we are but as little grains of the dust of which we are made! Think of His choosing one of these little creatures of His to be His own Mother, with all the rights that a mother has over her child; what an idea of the greatness of Mary will then be ours!

That the great Creator should be her very own Child, absolutely dependent on Her for His being, His life, His support, His food – can we ever realize how great must be her power, when the very God Who had made her put Himself completely in her power?  “He Who created me rested in my tabernacle.”   If we were to begin our meditations on Our Lady by this thought, we might be overcome with awe at the idea of her greatness; and so this title does not occur till far on in the Litany, after we have deeply reflected on her kindness, her gentleness, her love, her many winning attributes, so that we shall not be frightened of this great Queen of Creation.

Meditation

Very often the people we love and trust, or who love us, cannot do for us what we wish, or what they wish, for they have not the power. But what a consolation to reflect that with Mary, who loves us so much more than anyone on Earth can do, this can never be the case.   She who is so loving, gentle, kind and compassionate, is equally powerful.   There is literally nothing that she cannot do. We may say of her what Our Lord says of Himself: “All power is given to her in Heaven and on Earth.”   On Earth, she gave herself and everything she had to Our Lord, and He, Who is the most tender, the most grateful and affectionate of sons, will deny nothing to His Mother.   Whatever she asks of Him, that He will do.

Even on Earth, in the days of their poverty, Our Lord showed Mary the greatest respect. At a simple suggestion from her, “they have no wine,” He advanced the time of His miracles, and worked His first wonder.   He even told her that His hour had not yet come, and yet because it was His Mother who asked, He did what she desired: He changed the water into wine. Thus would He show us what was the reverence of the Creator for His Mother.

St. Antoninus says: “The prayers of the Blessed Virgin, being the prayers of a mother, have in them something of a command, so that it is impossible that she should not obtain what she asks.” Our Lord said that He came into the world, not to break the law, but to observe it, and the law commands us to honor our father and our mother. Other saints say that Our Lord is a debtor to His Mother, for her consent to give Him His human nature, and thus, “the Son, as if paying a debt, grants thee all thy petitions.”

One day St. Brigid heard Jesus say to Mary: “Ask of Me what thou wilt. For no petition of thine can be void; because thou didst never deny Me anything on earth, I will deny thee nothing in Heaven.”

But we must ourselves ask her help. God has made this the law: “Ask, and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find.”   We must exert ourselves to ask for graces. God is so good that He gives us many, many graces that we do not ask for; but the more we ask, the more we shall receive.   “The hungry He hath filled with good things,” Mary herself tells us.   His law is that we obtain grace by prayer. Go then, with all confidence to Mary, the Mother of Our Creator, and ask for whatever you desire, be it little or great; she heeds not whether our requests are little or great, for she can do all. You will never be refused, no matter what your trouble is.  “Let us go with confidence to the throne of grace,” says St. Paul. The tabernacle where the Creator rested is that “throne of grace.” By Mary’s help you will prevail, for she, being the Mother of the all-powerful Creator, is omnipotent by her intercession.

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

THIRD DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of the Savior

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Taken from "Mother of the Savior" by Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange

There have been theologians who have declared that Mary’s fullness of grace is her greatest prerogative. The words spoken to Jesus by a certain woman as He passed in the midst of the people, and His answer, have led them to adopt this position. The woman in Holy Scripture said to Our Lord: “‘Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave thee suck!’ But He said: ‘Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11: 27–28). On their view, the Savior’s answer implies that the fullness of grace and of charity―which was the principle of Mary’s supernatural and meritorious acts―was superior to her divine maternity, a privilege in itself of the corporeal order only.

According to many other theologians, the reason, given just now, is not conclusive. Their arguments are many. They say that the woman in question did not speak precisely of the divine maternity―she thought of Jesus less as God, than as a prophet, whose words were heard eagerly, who was admired and acclaimed, and she was thinking therefore of a natural motherhood according to flesh and blood: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the paps that gave thee suck!” She did not speak of the divine maternity as of something which included a supernatural and meritorious consent to the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation.

That was why Our Blessed Lord answered as He did: “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it!” For it was precisely by hearing the word of God and believing in it that Mary became Mother of the Savior. She said her fiat generously and with perfect conformity of will to God’s good pleasure and all it involved for her, and she kept the divine words in her heart from the time of the Annunciation onwards.

Elisabeth, for her part, expressed this when she said: “Blessed art thou that hast believed! Because those things be shall accomplished which were spoken to thee by the Lord”! (Luke 1:45). What a contrast with Zachary who was struck dumb for not having believed the words of the Angel Gabriel: “And behold thou shalt be dumb! ... Because thou hast not believed my words!” (Luke 1:20).

Nothing said so far, therefore, is sufficient to solve the problem―which was the greater, the divine maternity as realized in Mary, or her fullness of grace and charity?

We must search deeper for a solution. To make the terms of the problem still more precise, it should be noted that the maternity proper to a creature endowed with reason is not the maternity according to flesh and blood which is found in the animal kingdom, but something which demands by its very nature a free consent given by the light of right reason to an act which is under the control of the will and is subject to the moral laws governing the married state: failing this, the maternity of a rational being is simply vicious.

But the maternity of Mary was more than rational. It was divine. Hence her consent needed to be not only free, but supernatural and meritorious: and the intention of divine providence was that in default of this consent the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation would not have taken place—she gave her consent, St. Thomas says, in the name of mankind (IIIa, q. 30, art. 2).

Hence the maternity we are discussing is not one which is merely of flesh and blood, but one which by its nature included a supernatural consent to the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation which was about to be realized, and to all the suffering it involved according to the messianic prophecies—especially those of Isaias—all of which Mary knew so well.

There can, in consequence, be no question of any divine maternity for Mary except a worthy one: in the designs of God she was to be a worthy Mother of the Redeemer, united perfectly in will to her Son. Tradition supports this by saying that her conceiving was twofold―in body and in soul―in body, for Jesus is flesh of her flesh, the flame of His human life having been lit in the womb of the Virgin by the most pure operation of the Holy Ghost; and in soul, for Mary’s express consent was needed before the Word assumed our nature in her.

To the problem so stated the great majority of theologians answer that tradition teaches that the divine maternity, defined in the Council of Ephesus, is higher than the fullness of grace, and that Mary’s most glorious title is that of Mother of God. The Blessed Virgin Mary was predestined first to the divine maternity, and in consequence to a very high degree of heavenly glory and to the fullness of grace, in order that she might be fully worthy of her mission as Mother of the Savior. Mary’s initial grace was given her as a worthy preparation for the divine motherhood—to prepare her to be a worthy Mother of the Savior. The divine maternity is not enough of itself to sanctify Mary. It called out for, or demanded, the fullness of grace, which was granted her to raise her to the level of her singular mission. She could not have been predestined to be any other kind of mother to the Savior than a worthy one. Mary was chosen to be not the minister of the Savior―but His associate and helper in the work of redemption.

Meditation

When the name of an acquaintance is mentioned, an image or idea of that person at once arises in our minds, and if it is one we love, an emotion of joy or pleasure unconsciously possesses us. At the very mention of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Saints felt the most intense delight. St. Bernard said that it was music to his ears, sweetness to his taste, joy to his heart. He declared that whatever he heard gave him no pleasure unless Jesus were the theme.

Jesus means Savior. We all know this, but do we now and then reflect upon it?

There was once, we are told, somewhere in Spain, a crucifix which had this peculiarity, that one arm was detached from the nail and hung down at one side. It was said that it had once hung upon the wall of a confessional, where a sinner confessed an atrocious crime, and the priest, appalled, hesitated to give him absolution. But what was the amazement of both priest and penitent when they heard sobs issuing from the crucifix, from which the hand of Our Lord detached itself and gave absolution to the poor sinner, while at the same time a voice was heard saying to the priest:”You have not shed your blood for this poor sinner, as I have.”

This is only a story, which may or may not be true, but it symbolizes exactly a certain truth, of which it gives us some faint idea, and that is what it means to be Savior. It is at the price of His Precious Blood that Christ has saved us from sin and its consequences.

He has brought us peace, pardon, grace and the love and friendship of God. Without these blessings, which have only come to us through Our Savior, we should be the most miserable of creatures, even if we had all the riches and pleasures of this world. Why? Because only the love of God and the possession of His grace can fill and satisfy the hungry soul of man. St. Augustine says: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it finds rest in Thee.” Only God can satisfy that mysterious craving for something, we know not what, which is in every human soul, and which we all feel at some time or another, and which we so often try in vain to satisfy by running after earthly loves and pleasures.

It is Jesus, Our Savior, Who alone can give us that which can satisfy the deep longing of our soul.

Perhaps we have never reflected upon or realized what it means when we say that Christ is Our Savior, or what it is that He has saved us from. But if we had lived in the world as it was before He had given us His Church and His Sacraments, we should know too well. It is Our Lord Who has brought all kindness and gentleness and peace into the world. Before that most men were hard and cruel and selfish. Those who were rich and powerful and strong, crushed down the poor and weak and wretched as a matter of course. The horrors of slavery show how men can treat one another without the Law of Charity which Our Lord teaches in the Gospel. We should not like to have lived in that world.

Children did not have a good time then. Think of the innumerable child lives sacrificed in the horrible worship of Moloch, for instance, “parents sacrificing with their own hands helpless souls,” “merciless murderers of their own children,” as we read in the Book of Wisdom. In ancient Rome parents could put their children to death, if they thought fit.

Helpless prisoners, again, were treated with horrible cruelty, and tortured before death. Our Lord had not yet come to teach that it was a blessed work of mercy “to visit the imprisoned.” There were no Sisters of Mercy or Charity to attend to the poor, the sick and the afflicted.

Now that Our Lord has shed His Precious Blood for each single soul, we know that souls are the most precious things in the world, and that every human being, even the puniest, poorest child, has sacred rights that must be respected. Those who love Jesus will make any sacrifice to save a single soul, no matter how poor, or wretched, or repulsive it may be. And Our Lord has expressly said that whatever we do to the least of His brethren, we do to Him. All this beautiful charity and pity and tenderness we owe to Our Savior. All the kindness and charity in the world had its beginnings in the teaching and example of Our Savior Jesus Christ.

And after God, it is to His Mother, Mary, that we owe Jesus. She gave Him of her substance for His human life; she nursed and fed, and took care of Him as a Babe; she worked and lived and suffered that we might have a Savior. That was the whole meaning of her life. This is what it means to be the Mother of the Savior, to suffer in all that He suffered for us. She stood by the Cross on Calvary, and gave Him up as a Victim for our sins. Let the title, “Mother of Our Savior” always remind us how dear and precious our souls are to Mary, since she, too, paid, in her compassion for her Son, the price of our ransom.

But Our Lord’s Life was for us, too, as well as His Death, His Birth, His Infancy, Childhood, Hidden and Public Life, His Miracles, His Resurrection, and Ascension. We were, every one of us, in His mind, in all that He said, and did, and suffered, all the time. All of it was for each one of us, as if we were the only ones. No one of us can be passed over, each one is as precious as another. Why? Because the same price was paid for every single soul of man. The only thing that makes any one of us of any value is the price we cost Our Lord, His Precious Blood. We may never look down on anyone; no matter how repulsive, or uninteresting; all men are of the same value as we are, in the eyes of God, they cost the same price, they are, every one of them, as we are, infinitely precious.

Who can teach us the mysteries of Our Savior as Mary can? She was an indispensable part of every one of them. As the Wise Men of old found Jesus “with Mary His Mother” ― so must we. We must ask our Mother, the Mother of Our Savior, to teach us how much we all need Him. His Most Precious Blood has to be applied to each one of our souls in the Sacraments, we shall never get to Heaven without Him, and it is through His Mother we reach Him.

No one ever appreciated Our Savior and His salvation, as did Mary. “My spirit hath rejoiced in God My Savior.” She alone fully realized what it meant. How many times in the Scripture does God show us that He would have us, too, rejoice in Jesus, Our Savior, and in our salvation. “Ye shall draw waters in joy from the fountains of the Savior;” “I will exult in God my Savior;” “My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation;” “in Thy salvation he (the king) shall rejoice exceedingly;” “restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;” etc.

Let us then rejoice in Our Savior and in the Mother of Our Savior.

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

FOURTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of Christ

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Meaning of “Mother of Christ”
It would seem at first sight that since Jesus Christ is God, to call her “Mother of Christ” is but a repetition, being the same as calling her “Mother of God.” That is essentially so, of course. There is none of her titles that can approach in glory—“Mother of God.” You can say no more than that, and could make a litany out of that one name. But just as all the other titles are special qualifications, calling attention to some of her special offices or graces or dignities, so is it with her name “Mother of Christ.”

A Royal Title
It is her accolade of royalty that distinguishes her as Queen, because she is the Mother of the King; Queen of Prophets, because she is the Mother of the Prophet-King; and Queen of the Clergy, a title that is added to the Litany in our seminaries, because she is the Mother of the High Priest, or King-Priest. Thus it is a title full of beauty, crowning her as the Virgin Mother who gave birth to the Christ, the expected Deliverer of the people, the Expected of the nations.

The Mother of the “Anointed One”
Jesus is the personal name of Our Lord, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Joshua, meaning Jehovah, the Savior. And “Christ” is His title, a qualifying title, also Greek, and a translation of the Hebrew “Messias,” or “Anointed One.”

How that word “anointed” opens up the whole treasury of the Scriptures! We see the long line of prophets, priests and kings, set apart for their special offices as the oil was poured upon their head. It would take us too far afield to go into the history of the custom of anointing. It is lost in antiquity. It is found in the history of every people, being one of the most primitive of rites in pagan religions.

History of Anointings
From the very beginning we find it in the Jewish law. The oil of the olive which was used was ever a symbol of the illuminating spirit, no doubt because it was used for light. To the Oriental, so dependent upon the olive-tree for many things, it meant fruitfulness, beauty, strength and everlasting life. One readily sees how applicable that significance is to Christ. Chrism, the Greek word from which Christ is derived, means anything smeared or anointed. So that Christ, being anointed as Prophet, Priest and King, is fittingly called from several points of view the Christ or the Anointed One.

We are all familiar with the many occasions when the anointing with Holy Oil is used in our Catholic ritual. The blessing of those oils is a solemn thing, filled with poetry as well as religion.

There is a beautiful prayer for the blessing of the Chrism, from the Gelasian sacramentary : “Send forth O Lord, we beseech Thee, Thy Holy Spirit the Paraclete from Heaven into this fatness of oil, which Thou hast deigned to bring forth out of the green wood for the refreshing of mind and body, of soul and spirit, for the expulsion of all pains, of every infirmity, of every sickness of mind and body. For with the same Thou hast anointed priests, kings, and prophets and martyrs with this Thy Chrism, perfected by Thee, O Lord, blessed, abiding within our bowels in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Meditation

An anointing with oil is a seal that connotes ownership. Military officers anointed their soldiers. Masters anointed their slaves. People anointed during confirmation belong to God, offer their lives in service to God and willingly agree to take their orders from God and obey them.

Soldiers were anointed before going to war, wrestlers before going into the ring and gladiators before facing an opponent. The anointing made their muscles glisten with the appearance of power and strength, thus intimidating their opponent, and it made them slippery, which made it easier to escape the grasp of their adversary.

When people receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, they are given strength for the battles to come, the daily confrontation with the devil, temptation, wrongdoers and those who oppose Jesus, his Gospel, goodness and truth. Not only does the oil give strength to fight sin with valor and courage, it soothes muscles wearied by battle fatigue and gives relief, and promotes healing to the cuts and gashes suffered in war with the darkness.

The Church makes use of three holy oils: the oil of the sick, the oil of the catechumens and the holy chrism oil. The first two are blessed, and the bishop consecrates the third, ordinarily during the annual Chrism Mass. Each has a distinctive purpose in the Church.

Oil of the Sick―The oil of the sick, which is pure olive oil, is used for the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, also known as the Anointing of the Sick.

Oil of the Catechumens―This oil is used in the baptismal rite of the Church. Both adults and infants prior to baptism are anointed with the oil of the catechumens, which is also pure olive oil.

Holy Chrism Oil―The third oil, holy chrism oil, is olive oil mixed with balsam. The oil symbolizes strength, and the fragrant balsam represents the “aroma of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:15). Anointing with chrism oil signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is used to consecrate someone or something to God’s service.

ANOINTINGS ARE MADE IN FOUR SACRAMENTS
The Church anoints her children with holy oil in four of the seven Sacraments―Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Extreme Unction.

ANOINTING AT BAPTISM: Chrism oil is also part of the baptismal rite. Immediately after being baptized with water, the Church anoints the newly baptized with the holy oil of chrism, to show further that Baptism identifies the Christian with Christ. According to long-standing tradition priests and kings are anointed with oil. Christ our High Priest and King of kings received a supernatural anointing from His heavenly Father. So also the child, newly made a Christian, is given the priestly anointing, because through baptism he shares in the priesthood of Christ; and the anointing is done on the crown of the head, because he shares likewise in the kingship of Christ. Another reason for the anointing is that baptism imprints on the soul an indelible character, marking one with the sign of membership in the Church and designating the right to participate in her worship.

ANOINTING AT CONFIRMATION: Each year we witness the use of the holy chrism when young people are confirmed, and at the Easter Vigil when adults are confirmed after baptism. The bishop traces the Sign of the Cross with chrism oil on the forehead of the one being confirmed and says: “I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” A baptized person, when anointed with the sacred chrism by the Bishop, becomes stronger with the strength of a new power, and thus begins to be a perfect soldier of Christ.

ANOINTING AT THE ORDINATION OF A PRIEST (AND THE CONSECRATION OF A BISHOP): Holy chrism oil is used as well during the ordination of a priest (the Sacrament of Holy Orders) and the consecration of a bishop. It is the anointing used in the consecration of a church and the blessing of an altar and the vessels used at Mass.

ANOINTING OF THE SICK: St. James wrote, “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:14-15).The priest anoints the sick person by placing oil, traced in the form of a cross, on the eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands and feet. Through this Sacrament, God gives the sick person grace and strength to bear the illness or infirmity. In addition, many Catholics have witnessed the power of this anointing to bring spiritual, emotional and even physical healing.

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

FIFTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of Divine Grace

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A Twofold Power
What deep thoughts are aroused by this high praise of Mary, so consoling to Holy Church who names her Mother of Divine Grace! The title “Mother of Christ” implies Mary’s actual, physical motherhood; her spiritual maternity, on the other hand, arises from a pact whereby Mary as almoner bestows upon others the abundance of those graces which she, as His Mother, receives from Christ. Mary has by right, then, a twofold gift and power:

1. She acquires and possesses grace in a degree hitherto unknown and unprecedented, and
2. She is consumed with her desire to communicate graces to others.

This is why we shall find in Mary (if we are fortunate enough and blessed enough to ask her) the fullness of that prerogative which this title in her Litany implies. “Mother of Divine Grace!” It is praise and prayer! May we offer her both each time we repeat her Litany with loving hearts.

What is Grace?
That we may better fathom the depths of this ocean of grace in Mary’s heart, that we may better appreciate the plenitude of its bounty, it seems necessary that we first define the word grace — a word so often used, so seldom carefully considered.

Grace, by definition, is a gratuity — a free gift — designed by God’s loving providence to bring to us the special helps we need at different times, in various circumstances, and thus to assure our salvation. Consider the wide variety of these needs, changing not only with each individual, but even in the same person, changing again and again with changing times and circumstances. Grace, then, is the kind gift of a loving Father bending down to help His children on Earth in every condition of life. And since Mary is His Mother, her pure heart is His divine treasury of graces.

Types of Grace
Grace is of various kinds, to meet and satisfy varying needs: habitual, actual, sanctifying, sacramental. Sanctifying grace is nothing other than the state of a soul in union with God, a union resulting from the sheer goodness and graciousness of the Infinite Creator for His finite creatures. As we can never merit it, so can we never hope to match it or repay it in kind. It originates in the free gift of faith, conferred on each of us in holy Baptism. No act has merited that first grace. It is solely and simply the proof of a special choice by Omnipotence, of me, my individual soul, to be the recipient of those divine gifts by which I acquire the means of becoming a saint. Therefore, sanctifying grace, which is what we refer to when we speak of the state of grace, supposes a continuing state or condition in which we live for a considerable period of time in the love and intimate friendship of God. This state admits of no artifice, nothing but utter, complete sincerity between the soul and God.

Sanctifying Grace
The soul of the infant before Baptism is like a ship, perfectly equipped, seaworthy, prepared for the voyage of life, but awaiting the master-touch of the Great Captain, and the wind of grace to fill its sails, before the port can be cleared. Sanctifying grace is this favorable wind: it fills the soul, renders it pleasing to God and launches it on its long voyage heavenward. Sanctifying grace first makes us children of God, and then sustains us as living members of Our Lord’s Mystical Body, children of His Church on Earth and heirs of His heavenly kingdom. Mary co-operated with her Divine Son who obtained this grace for us through the Incarnation, when her beautiful soul and body became the first tabernacle of the Son of God on Earth and she received into her heart the plenitude of celestial graces. Before that time, divine "prevenient grace" (a fore-running grace, or a preparatory grace) had brought about her Immaculate Conception; Heaven’s choicest graces had illumined her infant crib. She strove ever to live in humility and obscurity, unknown to all but God, at Nazareth with her spouse, the humble carpenter Joseph.

Full of Grace
Yet though Earth knew her not, God’s Angels from Heaven watched with loving awe, for all their cumulative graces and favors were as nothing in comparison with the privileges and blessedness of the soul of the Maiden Mary. What then can we say of the added graces that enriched her soul at the Incarnation? Indeed, it was this mystery that enthroned Mary as Mother of Divine Grace, since by it she became Mother of God, the Author and Source of all grace. Picture a pure mountain lake, ice-bound, high up amid eternal snows, while far below stretches a waste of arid desert. So before the Incarnation were all divine graces pent up within the eternal spheres, inaccessible to man, who wandered the hot, thankless desert of the Old Testament world. Then, in the fullness of time, God smiled upon Mary, His Mother; her willing Fiat melted that ice-bound lake and she became the channel through which, after four thousand arid years, the torrents of God’s grace came to fructify anew this parched Earth.

Among the many paradoxes of human existence is this reality that we are born children of nature, yet destined to be children of God. The beginnings of our life are rooted in the soil of the natural order, and the end of it points to, and is destined for Heaven. It is another chasm, such as that between Lazarus and Dives. God alone can bridge the impasse; and this He does by a gift known as grace. To appreciate as best we may the beautiful name of Mary, Mother of Divine Grace, because Mother of Him Who is the author of all favors bestowed on man in the supernatural order, we must know more about this divine aid; at least we should know more than the name, grace.

Meditation

We Need the Help of Grace
We are destined for Heaven; but we cannot attain it without help from God. “No man can come to Me except the Father draw him,” is Christ’s own word; and St. Paul had the same thought in mind when he wrote we can neither think a good thought nor speak a good word, which can be of use to our salvation, without the assistance of God. Grace means a favor; it means a gift, or something done for somebody, out of sheer goodness on the part of the benefactor, and no peculiar merit on the part of the beneficiary. The word, however, is usually understood in a spiritual sense, as a gift from God, the purpose of which is to make one holy, pleasing to God, and, eventually, qualified for Heaven.

Actual Grace
There is a grace, and it is called actual, that might be described as the initial motion given us by God on the road to holiness. Of itself it does not constitute sanctity. A good example of this would be the urge or determination to renounce a Protestant sect and to become a Catholic. This is a mysterious change of sentiment, or change of mind; an4 it sometimes happens instantaneously. St. Paul was galloping on horseback to persecute Christ and the Christians of Damascus, when he suddenly uttered his “What wilt Thou have me to do?” Actual grace is supernatural in its origin and in its object; because it is a help and an inspiration, a definite determination to shun one’s evil ways and to enter on a life of goodness. It is like the lifting of a cloud from the face of the sun; it is like a sudden light that shines and shows what is good, and, therefore, what a person should do. This initial help, this impulsive elan comes to souls, to whom the merits of Christ have been applied.

Sufficient Grace
Not the least difficult angle of this question of grace is that of its sufficiency for salvation,—a point to be touched on in passing. Since God wills that all men be saved, it stands to reason that He gives all men even the hardest sinners enough to help to work out their own salvation. That is what St. Paul meant when, writing to the Church at Ephesus, he said: “To every man is given grace.” Nay, more, to everyone is given more than enough for salvation, if he only cooperates with it. For, as St. Augustine expresses it: God who created man without man, cannot save man without man. And still, this grace never interferes with human liberty; it does not force man to do anything against his will; but it does enable him to will and do that of which he was utterly incapable by himself. Hence free-will, an essential part of human nature, is in no way interfered with by grace, which only strengthens it, rectifies and perfects it.

The Grace of Friendship
The grace, however, that makes man a friend of God, pleasing to God, united with God, the grace that divinizes him, so to speak, and which, when persevered in, opens Heaven is sanctifying grace. One of man’s most humiliating characteristics is the fact of his dependence on someone else from cradle to grave. He is born in another’s pain and he dies upon his own. And between these two milestones he is forever needing assistance from outside. He depends on his parents for his life; on the soil for sustenance; on the sun and the stars to guide his passage on the Earth. He begins to die at the instant of birth; and unless everybody and everything in the whole expanse of the world lends him a hand, he must lay down the load of his life, as a burden too heavy to bear, and that, long before he has reached the zenith of his power or the pinnacle of his prestige.

Without Grace, We Can Do Nothing
Nor is that all. Man, we said, is destined for higher things, for Heaven, which is his hereafter, his home. And of this supernatural destiny Christ said: “Without me, you can do nothing.” Without Him, there is no faith, no hope, no love, no Heaven. Without Christ there is nothing but sinfulness and sin. For, by coming down from Heaven, by His life and death He opened the gates of this new order of grace,—the supernatural order—to man.

This life of holiness on Earth as in Heaven is infinitely beyond man’s reach; and for it he needs light and strength from above. He needs the supernatural aid for his native weakness and helplessness to see the light for himself, to direct his steps in the darkness of this valley of exile, to maintain for himself a sort of heavenly paradise in the universe of God. It is grace that turns the eyes of his soul towards what is lasting beauty; and it is grace—sanctifying grace—that guides his feet towards the vast expanse of the sea of divine love.

Graceful Temples
The moment a soul receives this precious gift, it passes into a state of intimate union with God, and it receives a new honor, a new inheritance, as it thereby becomes an heir to the kingdom of Heaven. Sanctifying grace makes men temples of the Holy Ghost, gives special quality of merit to everything they do. It beautifies the soul, as it clothes it in a mantle of all Christian virtues. It was Saint Paul who said that it is the love of God, poured into men’s hearts by the Holy Ghost. The gift of grace, Saint Thomas tells us, excels every gift that any creature can receive, since it is a participation of the divine nature. Kingdoms and thrones art not to be compared with it; nor are riches or honors, or health or beauty.

From Christ, Through Mary
Grace, then, is from Christ, whose Mother is Mary. She is, accordingly, the Mother of Divine Grace. One of the most beautiful and touching qualities of our Faith is that we have been taught from infancy to go to Jesus through Mary. Our lips have long ago learned to say those prayerful words: “Never has it been known that anyone who had recourse to thee was left unaided.” And just as our first love in life was mother-love, and just as we had gone to that dear angel of our cradle days; and just as it was she who first folded us in her maternal arms, fed us from her own substance; and represented for us everything that was noble and good and beautiful and true; so, too, it was to Mary that we turned when our infant lips first began to pray. Like Gabriel, we did not call her by her rightful name; like him we said: “Hail, full of grace.”

Being Mother of God—and this cannot be repeated too often, to make our devotion profound—she must have whatever was necessary for that divine dignity. She must have the corresponding grace and endowments because her Son was God, the same Son as had Our Father in Heaven. The Blessed Virgin, says Saint Thomas, by the very fact that she is the Mother of God, has a certain infinite dignity from the infinite good that is God. Her purity, says the same Saint, under Christ was supreme.

Pinnacle of Grace
The fact that she was the Mother of God gave her a special office, and so, she must have a special sanctity from which even her intellect was not excluded. God owed it to His honor that in all that knowledge by which the human mind is ennobled, Mary should surpass the rest of mankind. Though seemingly but a poor peasant woman, busy about the daily tasks of her humble home, she was full of divine wisdom because she was full of divine grace; she saw more clearly than any saint, or intellectual or scientist the manifestation of the glory of God in the realm of nature, and she had a vision of the beauty of His world to which no poet can ever attain.

Mediatrix of All Grace
In virtue of her mission of Mother of Grace, she has been called the great Mediatrix of all graces. The reason is evident; she is the Mother of the Redeemer, who, by His Blood, has purchased all the graces that have been given, or shall be given since the Fall. Then, too, she became a spiritual Mother of men at the Incarnation, a title she actually received on Calvary from her expiring Son. Hence the belief that it is through her hands we receive all the graces we seek in prayer, all the graces that lead us to the Sacraments, and prepare us for their worthy reception. Truly is she the Mother of Divine Grace, full to overflowing with all the treasures of Heaven. And Jesus has given her to mankind, to be the channel through which all His graces flow, and all His blessings are bestowed—the blessings of faith and love, of hope and Heaven.

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

SIXTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of the Church

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Church has traditionally portrayed the Blessed Virgin Mary together with the Apostles and disciples gathered at that first Pentecost, joined in prayer with the first members of the Church. The title ― Mother of the Church (Latin: Mater Ecclesiae) ― was first used in the 4th century by St. Ambrose of Milan (died 397).

Not long afterwards, St. Augustine (died 430) says: “Mary is the Mother of the members of Christ, because, with charity, she cooperated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church.”

Pope St. Leo the Great (died 461) says: “The birth of the Head is also the birth of the Body, thus indicating that Mary is at once Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and Mother of the members of His Mystical Body, which is the Church.”

The title “Mother of the Church” is found in the writings of Berengaud, bishop of Treves (died 1125).

Pope Benedict XIV (died 1758) also used the title, “Mother of the Church.”

In the 1895, Pope Leo XIII, in his papal encyclical Adjutricem populi (Helper of the People), wrote: “She is invoked as Mother of the Church and the teacher and Queen of the Apostles.” Following the title’s usage by Leo XIII, it was later used many times in the teachings of successive popes up to and including the present day.

Mary is called the Mother of the Church, because she is the Mother of Christ, and the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Therefore, the Mother of Christ can also be called, by extension, the Mother of the Church and also the Mother of his Mystical Body. This mystical title means that the Church is more than an external organization, structure, and institution, but also and more primarily, it’s a union of all the members forming one body.

The Book of Hebrews 2:9-13 makes it clear that Jesus, the Son of Mary, is our “brother” and so Mary must be our Mother: “We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor for the suffering of death, so that, through the grace of God, He might taste death for all … by His passion. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: ‘I will declare Thy Name, O Lord, to My brethren; in the midst of the Church will I praise thee!’ And again: ‘I will put my trust in Him!’ And again: ‘Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me!’” (Hebrews 2:9-13). Since Jesus is our brother, and Mary is His Mother, it naturally follows that Mary is our Mother as well.

The Father chose Mary from among all women to be the mother, according to human nature, of His Divine Son. As she is Mother of Christ in the natural order, she is also the Mother of His Mystical Body, the Church, of which He is the Head in the order of grace. Since Mary is the mother of Christ, we who are the members of His body — the Church — are her sons and daughters.

On Calvary ― in addressing the words “Woman, behold your son” to Mary, and the words “Son! Behold thy Mother!” to St. John ― Jesus proclaims Mary’s motherhood, not only in relation to His Apostle St. John, but also to every disciple of Christ throughout all ages. On Calvary, Mary united herself to the sacrifice of her Son and made her own maternal contribution to the work of salvation, which took the form of labor pains, the birth of the new Church. Thus, the Tradition of the Church, coming from the Apostles, teaches us to understand that the Lord was entrusting all of His disciples to Mary, in the person of St. John.

At Pentecost, the Holy Ghost, brought the newly conceived Church out into the world from the “womb of the room” ― the Upper Room where they Apostles and disciples, together with Mary, were hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.

Meditation

Mary, the Mother of God, is our mother, too. Just as Mary gave us Jesus through God’s grace, so Jesus in turn gave Mary to the Church when He said to all of us in the person of His beloved disciple, St. John: “Behold, thy Mother!” (John 19:27). St. Paul expresses his supreme fascination with the fact that the Son of God had a mother: “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman ... so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). It did not have to be this way; Jesus could have just “appeared” on Earth like the Old Testament priest-king Melchisedech, who was “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3). But God the Father intentionally and purposefully gave his Son a mother in the Incarnation. Why?

Mary has been granted a special likeness between her motherhood and the divine fatherhood. The Father’s gift of the motherhood of Mary can, in a way, be linked to the Eucharist. The maternity of Mary becomes a unique means by which we are able to receive the Self of Jesus Christ more perfectly. God gives a Mother to his Son for our sakes. Whatever makes God seem abstract, distant, aloof, elusive, unapproachable or intimidating―is overcome in a mother. Although the theology of Mary’s maternity is rich and complex, its meaning becomes clear as we consider our own experiences. For example: When things go wrong, where would we turn without our mothers?

In a supreme act of generosity, Our Lord, in His agony on the cross, gave His Blessed Mother to us: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother’” (John 19:26-27). The last gift Jesus gave to us before shedding the last drops of His precious and sacred Blood was His mother. Mary is always mindful of the needs and desires of her children and is most willing to intercede on our behalf if we ask for her assistance. How comforting and reassuring it is to know that at every moment of every day throughout our earthly journey, the loving gaze of the most perfect of mothers always rests on us – the gaze of Our Blessed Mother.

“To Jesus through Mary” is a familiar phrase to most Catholics and if we consider our basic human condition, we come to understand God’s loving providence even more fully. As our mother, Mary is our loving Mediatrix with God and it is said that Jesus cannot refuse anything His Mother asks of Him – think wedding feast at Cana. Despite how unworthy we might feel, regardless of how troubled or conflicted, we rest assured of Our Lady’s steadfast love for us, for her willingness to wrap us in the mantle of her loving embrace and gently usher us to her Divine Son.

So much of the confusion, dissatisfaction and sadness we experience day to day comes from our own struggles with “real life.” We need someone to help us look at our lives, to show us who we are, to help us become ourselves and to live fully. We should turn with devotion to the “real life” of the mother of God so that, in seeing how Mary lived by Faith, we might find the courage and grace to do the same, united with her.

Dying soldiers on battlefields, it is said, automatically cry out for their mothers. Most likely they do not expect their mothers to “materialize” (the Latin word for mother--mater—is the root of the word matter). But something profound in their experience of having a mother comes to help them in their hour of death. For good reason, we conclude the “Hail Mary” prayer with the petition: “Pray for us … at the hour of our death.”

God the Father provides that very consolation to the humanity of his dying Son. Being able to cry out to his mother may have made the torture of Christ’s death easier to bear. Mary’s presence at the cross gave Jesus even greater courage to embrace his crucifixion. And our Lord was further consoled by the fact that he could give us his mother to be our mother. “When Jesus, therefore, had seen His Mother and the disciple standing, whom He loved, He said to His Mother: ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ After that, He said to the disciple: ‘Behold thy mother!’ And, from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (John 19:26-27).

If Christ had not given us his mother to be our mother, wouldn’t we have pined for such a relationship? In recounting her life, St. Teresa of Avila writes: “I remember that when my mother died I was 12 years old or a little less. When I began to understand what I had lost, I went, afflicted, before an image of our Lady and besought her with many tears to be my mother. It seems to me that although I did this in simplicity it helped me. For I have found favor with this sovereign Virgin in everything I have asked of her, and in the end she has drawn me to herself” (Collected Works).

Even if we have had excellent mothers well into our adult lives, we persist in looking for that ultimate maternal mirror in which we can discover ourselves to our deepest depths. Mary, the Mother of God, is the face we seek.

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

SEVENTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of Penitents

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saint Mary of Egypt, was born somewhere in the Province of Egypt, and, at the age of twelve she ran away from her parents to the city of Alexandria. There she lived an extremely sinful life in prostitution. She often refused the money offered for her sexual favors, as she was driven by an insatiable and an irrepressible passion.

After seventeen years of this lifestyle, she met a group of young men heading towards the sea in order to sail to Jerusalem for the veneration of the Holy Cross on the great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Mary went along for the ride, seducing the men as they traveled for the fun of it. She undertook the journey as a sort of “anti-pilgrimage”, stating that she hoped to find, in the pilgrim crowds at Jerusalem, even more partners in her lust. She paid for her passage on the ship by offering sexual favors to other pilgrims, and she continued her prostitution for a short time in Jerusalem.

On one day she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for the veneration of the True Cross, but she was barred from doing so by an unseen force. After three such attempts, she remained outside on the church patio, where she looked up and saw an icon of the Theotokos (the Mother of God). Realizing that this was because of her impurity, she was struck with remorse. She began to weep and looking up at the icon of the Theotokos outside the church, prayed with all her might to the Mother of God for forgiveness and begged that Our Lady might allow her to see the True Cross. She promised to give her worldly desires and go wherever the Theotokos may lead her. At this point she attempted again to enter the church, and this time there was no invisible force barring her entry.

After venerating the relic of the True Cross, she returned to the icon of the Mother of God (Theotokos) to give thanks, and heard a voice telling her: “If you cross the River Jordan, you will find glorious rest!” She immediately went to the monastery of Saint John the Baptist on the bank of the River Jordan, where she confessed her sins, received absolution and afterwards was given Holy Communion. The next morning, she crossed the River Jordan and retired to the desert to live the rest of her life as a hermit in penitence. She survived for years on only three loaves of bread and thereafter on scarce herbs of the land. For another seventeen years, Mary was tormented by wild beasts, mad desires and passions. After these years of temptation, however, she overcame the passions and was led by the Theotokos in all things until her holy death.

Meditation

Our Lady assured St. Bridget that she was mother not only of the just and innocent, but also of sinners, provided they wish to amend. When a sinner becomes penitent, and throws himself at her feet, he finds this good Mother of mercy more ready to embrace and aid him than any earthly mother could be. But whoever aspires to be the son of this great Mother, must first leave off sinning, and then let him hope to be accepted as her son―because he cannot be a son of Mary who does not first rise from the iniquity into which he has fallen. For Mary is humble, and will he be proud? Mary is pure, and will he be impure? Mary is full of love, and will he hate his neighbor? He proves that he is not, and does not wish to be the son of this holy Mother, when he so much disgusts her with his life.

A certain sinner once said to Mary, “Show thyself a mother!” but the Mother of God answered him: “Show thyself a son!” Another sinner, one day, invoked the Mother of God, calling her Mother of mercy. But Mary said to him: “When you sinners wish me to aid you, you call me Mother of mercy―and yet by your sins you make me the Mother of misery and grief!” As Holy Scripture says: “He is cursed of God that angers his mother!” Richard of St. Laurence applies this to the Mother of God, saying that God curses everyone who afflicts this His good Mother by a bad life or willfulness.

When a sinner, although he may not have left his sins, makes an effort to quit them, and seeks the aid of Mary, the Mother of God will not fail to assist him, and bring him to the grace of God. This St. Bridget once learned from Jesus Christ himself, who, speaking with His Mother, said: “Thou dost aid those who are striving to rise to God, and dost leave no soul without thy consolation.” While the sinner, then, is obstinate, Mary cannot love him―but if he finds himself enchained by some passion, which makes him a slave of Hell, but will commend himself to the Virgin, and implore her with confidence and perseverance to rescue him from his sin, then this good Mother will not fail to extend her powerful hand, she will loosen his chains, and bring him to a state of safety.

If he who prays, says St. Anselm, does not deserve to be heard, the merits of Mary, to whom he commends himself, will cause him to be heard. Hence St. Bernard exhorts every sinner to pray to Mary, and to feel great confidence in praying to her; because if he does not deserve what he demands, yet Mary obtains for him, by her merits, the graces which she asks of God for him. The office of a good mother, says the same saint, is this: if a mother knew that her two sons were deadly enemies, and that one was plotting against the life of the other, what would she do but endeavor in every way to pacify him? Thus, says the saint, Mary is Mother of Jesus, and Mother of man. When she sees anyone who, by his sin, is an enemy of Jesus Christ, she cannot endure it, and makes every effort to reconcile them.

When she sees a sinner coming to implore mercy at her feet, she does not regard the sins with which he is laden, but the intention with which he comes. If he comes with a good intention, though he have committed all the sins in the world, she embraces him, and this most loving mother condescends to heal all the wounds of his soul; for she is not only called by us the Mother of mercy, but she really is such, and shows herself such by the love and tenderness with which she helps us. The Blessed Virgin herself expressed all this to St. Bridget, when she said to her: “However great may be a man’s sins, when he turns to me, I am immediately ready to receive him! Neither do I consider how much he has sinned, but with what intention he comes! For I do not disdain to anoint and heal his wounds, because I am called, and truly am, the Mother of mercy.”

Mary is the Mother of sinners who desire to be converted, and, as a Mother, she cannot do anything except show compassion to them, and it even seems that she regards the woes of her poor children as her own. When the woman of Canaan implored Jesus Christ to liberate her daughter from the demon which tormented her, she said: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David! My daughter is grievously troubled by a devil.” But as the daughter, not the mother, was tormented by the devil, it would seem that she should have said: “Oh Lord, have mercy on my daughter!” not “Have mercy upon me!” ― but no, she said: “Have mercy upon me!” and with good reason, for all the miseries of children are felt as their own by their mothers. That is how Mary prays to God, says Richard of St. Laurence, when she commends to him a sinner who has recommended himself to her: “Have mercy upon me!” It is as if she said to Him: “My Lord, this poor creature, who is in sin, is my child! Have pity on him―not so much on him, as on me, who am his Mother!”

O if only all sinners would have recourse to this sweet mother, for all would certainly be pardoned by God. “O Mary!” exclaims St. Bonaventure, “in wonder; thou dost embrace, with maternal affection the sinner who is despised by the whole world! Neither dost thou leave him until he is reconciled to his Judge!” The saint here intends to say that the sinner who remains in sin is hated and rejected by all men; even insensible creatures, fire, air, the earth would punish him, and inflict vengeance upon him in order to repair the honor of their insulted Lord. But if this wretch has recourse to Mary, does she banish him from her presence? No―if he comes asking for help, and intending to amend, she embraces him with the affection of a mother, and does not leave him until she has reconciled him to God by her powerful intercession, and re-established him in his grace.

We read in the Second book of Kings (14:4-7), that the wise woman of Thecua said to David: “My Lord, I had two sons, and for my misfortune one has killed the other; so that I have already lost a child; justice would now take from me my other and only son; have pity on me a poor mother, and do not let me be deprived of both my children.” Then David had compassion on this mother, and liberated the criminal, and restored him to her. It appears that Mary offers the same petition when God is angry with a sinner, who has recourse to her: “O my God!” she says to Him, “I had two sons, Jesus and man; man has killed my Jesus on the cross! Thy justice would now condemn man! My Lord, my Jesus is dead! Have mercy upon me, and if I have lost one, do not condemn me to lose the other also!”

God assuredly does not condemn those sinners who have recourse to Mary, and for whom she prays; since God himself has given these sinners to Mary for her children. The devout Lanspergius puts these words into the mouth of Our Lord: “I have commended sinners to Mary as her children. Wherefore she is so watchful in the performance of her office, that she permits none to be lost who are committed to her care, especially those who invoke her, and uses all her power to lead them back to Me.”

“And who can describe,” says Blosius, “the goodness, the mercy, the fidelity, and the charity with which this our Mother strives to save us, when we invoke her aid?”

“Let us prostrate ourselves, then,” says St. Bernard, “before this good Mother, let us cling to her sacred feet, and leave her not until she gives us her blessing, and accepts us for her children.

“Who could distrust the goodness of this mother?” said St. Bonaventure. “Though she should slay me, I will hope in her; and, confident in my trust, I would die near her image, and be saved!”

And thus should every sinner say who has recourse to this kind Mother: “O my Lady and Mother, I deserve for my faults that thou shouldst banish me from thy presence, and shouldst punish me for my sins! But even if thou shouldst cast me off and slay me, I shall never lose confidence in thee and in thy power to save me! In thee I entirely confide, and if it be my fate to die before some image of thine, by commending myself to thy compassion, I should have a certain hope of my salvation, and of going to praise thee in Heaven, united to all thy servants who called upon thee for help in death, and are saved!”

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

EIGHTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of Saints

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort writes:

In the Heavens, Mary commands the angels and the blessed. As a recompense for her profound humility, God has empowered her and commissioned her to fill with saints the empty thrones from which the apostate angels fell by pride.

God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world; and He speaks to her these words: “Dwell in Jacob” (Ecclesiasticus 24:13); that is to say: Make your dwelling and residence in My predestined children, prefigured by Jacob, and not in the reprobate children of the devil, prefigured by Esau.

Just as in the natural and corporal generation of children there are a father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there are a Father, who is God, and a Mother, who is Mary. All the true children of God, the predestinate, have God for their Father and Mary for their Mother. He who has not Mary for his Mother has not God for his Father.

God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day, by His dear Mother, and He says to her: “Take Israel for your inheritance.” (Ecclesiasticus 24:13). It is as if He had said: God the Father has given Me for an inheritance all the nations of the Earth, all men, good and bad, predestinate and reprobate. The ones I will lead with a rod of gold, and the others with a rod of iron. Of the ones, I will be the Father and the Advocate; of the others, the Just Punisher; and of all, the Judge. But as for you, My dear Mother, you shall have for your heritage and possession only the predestinate, prefigured by Israel; and as their Mother, you shall bring them forth and take care of them; and as their sovereign, you shall conduct them, govern them and defend them.

“This man and that man is born in her” (Psalm 86:5), says the Holy Ghost through the Royal Psalmist. According to the explanation of some of the Fathers, the first man that is born in Mary is the Man-God, Jesus Christ; the second is a mere man, the child of God and Mary by adoption. If Jesus Christ, the Head of men, is born in her, then the predestinate, who are the members of that Head, ought also to be born in her, by a necessary consequence. One and the same mother does not bring forth into the world the head without the members, or the members without the head; for this would be a monster of nature. So in like manner, in the order of grace, the head and the members are born of one and the same Mother; and if a member of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ—that is to say, one of the predestinate—were born of any other mother than Mary, who has produced the Head, he would not be one of the predestinate, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but simply a monster in the order of grace.

Besides this, Jesus being at present as much as ever the fruit of Mary—as Heaven and Earth repeat thousands and thousands of times a day, “and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”—it is certain that Jesus Christ is, for each man in particular who possesses Him, as truly the fruit and the work of Mary as He is for the whole world in general; so that if any one of the faithful has Jesus Christ formed in his heart, he can say boldly, “All thanks be to Mary! What I possess is her effect and her fruit, and without her I should never have had it.” We can apply to her more than St. Paul applied to himself the words: “I am in labor again with all the children of God, until Jesus Christ my Son be formed in them in the fullness of His age.” (Cf. Galatians 4:19).

St. Augustine, surpassing himself, and going beyond all I have yet said, affirms that all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death, which is properly the day of their birth, as the Church calls the death of the just. O mystery of grace, unknown to the reprobate, and but little known even to the predestinate!

God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her, and He says to her: “Strike the roots,” My Well beloved and My Spouse, “of all your virtues in My elect” (Ecclesiasticus 24:13), in order that they may grow from virtue to virtue and from grace to grace. I took so much complacence in you when you lived on Earth in the practice of the most sublime virtues, that I desire still to find you on Earth, without your ceasing to be in Heaven. For this end, reproduce yourself in My elect, that I may behold in them with complacence the roots of your invincible Faith, of your profound humility, of your universal mortification, of your sublime prayer, of your ardent charity, of your firm hope and of all your virtues. You are always My spouse, as faithful, as pure and as fruitful as ever. Let your Faith give Me My faithful, your purity, My virgins, and your fertility, My temples and My elect.

When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin who never has had, and never will have, her equal in purity and in fruitfulness.

Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her. For it is only that singular and miraculous Virgin who can produce, in union with the Holy Ghost, singular and extraordinary things.

When the Holy Ghost, her Spouse, has found Mary in a soul, He flies there. He enters there in His fullness; He communicates Himself to that soul abundantly, and to the full extent to which it makes room for His spouse. Nay, one of the greatest reasons why the Holy Ghost does not now do startling wonders in our souls is because He does not find there a sufficiently great union with His faithful and inseparable spouse. I say “inseparable” spouse, because since that Substantial Love of the Father and the Son has espoused Mary, in order to produce Jesus Christ, the Head of the elect, and Jesus Christ in the elect, He has never repudiated her, because she has always been fruitful and faithful.

Meditation

Mary has received from God a great domination over the souls of the elect. God the Father ordered her, as their mother, to form, nourish and bring them forth to eternal life, and form them in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in them, and strike the roots of her virtues in their hearts and be the inseparable companion of the Holy Ghost in all His works of grace.

Mary is the Queen of Heaven and Earth by grace, as Jesus is the King of them by nature and by conquest. Now, as the kingdom of Jesus Christ consists principally in the heart or the interior of man—according to the words, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21)—in like manner the kingdom of our Blessed Lady is principally in the interior of man; that is to say, his soul. So we can call her, as the saints do, the Queen of All Hearts.

The saints and theologians say that devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of damnation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin; while, on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.

If devotion to the most holy Virgin Mary is necessary to all men simply for working out their salvation, it is still more so for those who are called to any special perfection; and I do not think anyone can acquire an intimate union with Our Lord and a perfect fidelity to the Holy Ghost without a very great union with the most holy Virgin, and a great dependence on her assistance.

It is Mary alone who has found grace before God (Luke 1:30) without the aid of any other mere creature; it is only through her that all those who have since found grace before God have found it at all; and it is only through her that all those who shall come afterward shall find it. The Most High has made her the sole treasurer of His treasures and the sole dispenser of His graces to ennoble, to exalt and to enrich whom she wishes; to give entry to whom she wills into the narrow way of Heaven; to bring whom she wills, and in spite of all obstacles, through the narrow gate of life; and to give the throne, the scepter and the crown of king to whom she wills.

Particularly at the end of the world and indeed presently, the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties. By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone.

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

LITANY OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD

NINTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Mother of Mercy

Our Lady said to the Venerable Mary of Agreda:

Reading on the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). Mercy is the greatest of God’s works―and Mary is the greatest of God’s creatures. Hence it should logically follow that Our Lady should also be the Mother of Mercy!

“Mary was made Mother of God to obtain salvation for many who, on account of their wicked lives, could not be saved according to the rigor of Divine justice, but might be saved with the help of her sweet mercy and powerful intercession.” (St. John Chrysostom, 349-407 AD, Father and Doctor of the Church).

Our Lady herself said to St. Bridget of Sweden: “As a mother, on seeing her son in the midst of the swords of his enemies, would use every effort to save him, so do I, and will do for all sinners who seek my mercy! … I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the door through which sinners are brought to God. There is no sinner on Earth so accursed as to be deprived of my mercy; for all, if they receive nothing else through my intercession, receive the grace of being less tempted by the devils than they would otherwise have been. No one, unless the irrevocable sentence has been pronounced [that is, the one pronounced on the damned], is so cast off by God that he will not return to him, and enjoy his mercy, if he invokes my aid … I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of my Son towards men has made me thus merciful towards them … and therefore miserable will he be, and miserable will he be to all eternity, who, in this life, having it in his power to invoke me, who am so compassionate to all, and so desirous to assist sinners, is miserable enough not to invoke me, and so is damned” (Revelations 1, 6, c. 10; 1, 4, c. 138; 1, 2, c. 23).

Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.

St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”

St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”

If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.

St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”

St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”

St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”

Meditation

Let us meditate theses word and prayers of St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the subject of the Mother of Mercy:

Take not your eyes from the light of this star if you would not be overwhelmed by the waves; if the storms of temptation arise, if you are thrown upon the rocks of affliction, look to the star―then call upon Mary. Are you confounded at the enormity of your sins, are you ashamed at the defilement of your conscience, are you terrified on account of the dreadful judgment, so that you begin to be overpowered by sadness, or even to sink into the abyss of despair―then turn your thoughts to Mary. In dangers, in distress, in doubt―call on Mary. She will not be far from your mouth, or your heart; and that you may obtain her intercession omit not to imitate her conduct. When you follow her, you will not go astray; when you invoke her, you will no longer be in doubt; when she supports you, you will not fall; when she leads you, you will surely come to eternal life, and will find by your own experience that she is justly called Maria―that is, “Star of the Sea.”

St. Bernard then prays:

Your mercy tastes sweeter to the miserable, and we embrace your mercy with more affection, reflect on it more often, and invoke it more frequently.

For it is your mercy that gained a cure for the whole world and obtained salvation for all.

Who then can search out the length and breadth of your mercy, O blessed woman, or its height or depth?

Its length is such that it comes to the aid of all who call upon it up until the last day.

Its breadth fills the terrestrial sphere, so that the whole earth is full of your mercy.

Its height is such that it contrives to bring about the renewal of the heavenly city.

And its depth gains redemption for those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

May your piety, you who found favor with God, be known to the world; may it through your holy prayers obtain pardon for the guilty, health for the sick, strength for the fainthearted, consolation for the afflicted, and help and deliverance in danger.

On this day of solemnity and joy, O merciful Queen, may your Son, our Lord, shower the gifts of his grace on your servants who call upon the most sweet name of Mary with praise!

Remember, O Mary, that it was never heard of, that a sinner had fled to thy protection and had been abandoned by thee. O Mother of God, thou prayest for all! Pray, then, for me, who am the greatest of sinners, and therefore have the greatest need of thy intercession!

Help me, Mary! Mary, help me!

O Mother of mercy, I acknowledge, with confusion, that it is my sins which, in nailing thy well- beloved Son to the cross, have transpierced thy soul with sorrow! Yet deign, O refuge of sinners, to obtain my pardon, and permit me to adore, in thy maternal arms, my crucified God and Redeemer! Obtain also for me, I conjure thee, so to contemplate in His sacred wounds, His infinite love and the malice of sin, that by sincere contrition and the exercise of penitential works, I may deserve the application of His merits; and having cleansed my soul in His sacred blood from every stain, I may never offend Him more!

Prayer

Sweet mother of the Lord most high,
To thee we bow in humble prayer,
To thee from evil powers we fly;
O shield and keep us in thy care.

It was to lift our fallen race
Above the curse of Adam's crime,
The king bestowed on thee all grace
And shaped thy Motherhood sublime.

So Mother, unto thee we pray;
Thou sets our need; thy Son entreat
That He, His anger turned away,
May raise our souls in mercy sweet.

All glory, Jesus, unto Thee,
Born of the Virgin void of stain;
The same to Sire and Spirit be
Proclaimed through one eternal reign. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; Despise not our prayers in our necessities, But ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE
MOTHER OF GOD

Most Holy Virgin Mary―Mother of God, Mother of Christ, Mother of our Savior, Mother of Mercy and Mother of the Church! We consecrate ourselves your Divine Maternity and beg to be taken under the care and protection of your Divine Motherhood. We poor sinners recommend ourselves to your maternal care! As a mother feeds her children, may you also nourish us with the graces of God―for He made you the Mediatrix of All Grace and distributes His graces through you! You are the Throne of Grace, the Mother of Fair Love and the Mother of Mercy.

O Mother of God! Help us and teach us how to love God with our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole soul and our whole strength! Help us seek first the kingdom of God and His justice! Help us to love God by keeping His commandments! Help us find God in our souls―for Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is within you!”

O Mother of our Savior, plant in our hearts a true and sincere desire to seek and save souls! Jesus said that He had come to seek and save that which was lost! Let us not lose sight of that ultimate purpose of live―which is the salvation of souls, especially those who have most need of mercy!

O Mother of Christ! Help us renounce Satan and love Christ! Grant us the grace to hate sin and love virtue! Help us to renounce the world and seek Heaven! Give to us a love of prayer and a hatred of idle talk! Take us away from the things that attract us to the world and attract us to the things of God! Teach us to value virtue over wealth; humility over pride and praise; charity over anger and hatred; purity over immodesty and lust; detachment over greed; temperance over indulgence; courage over cowardice; fervor over lukewarmness; zeal over sloth; sacrifice over comfort; generosity over miserliness; mercy over vengeance; compassion over indignation; godliness over worldliness.

Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism, materialism, sensuality and impurity! Kindle in our hearts and homes the love of God, purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to fulfill your command to pray the Rosary more frequently and more faithfully.

O Mother of the Church! Preserve our Faith―safe within the womb of the Church! Let us not abort that Faith through apostasy! Help us pray frequently, fervently and faithfully for Holy Mother Church! Remove our indifference in matters of the Faith and help us spread the Word of God and bring others to the Church! Teach us to treasure the treasures of the Church―the Holy Sacrifice of Mass; the Sacraments―especially Confession and Holy Communion; the many Sacramentals, especially the Holy Rosary, the Brown Scapular, the Miraculous Medal, and all the other scapulars, medals, chaplets and blessed objects that Holy Mother Church offers us.

O Mother of Mercy! Mercifully accept our consecration to your maternal care and protection. Never cease to help us and never let us cease to implore your help! Keep us safe under your maternal care, nourish us with God’s grace and lead us safely to that heavenly home which God desires to give to all those who faithfully love and serve Him. Amen!