SCROLL DOWN TO NOVENA DESIRED — THEY ARE IN DATE ORDER:

FRIDAY REMAINS A DAY OF PENANCE:

In the U.S., the Bishops decided to take away the obligation to avoid/abstain from meat on Fridays outside of Lent, but they could not take away the obligation, on all Fridays of the year, to do penance, according to the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law.  We are obliged to do some type of penance each Friday unless it is a Solemnity or a Holyday of Obligation.  (I cannot think of anything quite as difficult as giving up meat on Friday, but if I forget and eat meat, I will give up something else I really like to eat or drink to make up for that.)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF LENT?

Your answer should be HEAVEN.

Why did God make us and every ratio­nal being?  KLSO — God made us to:  Know  Him, Love Him,  Serve Him, & Obey Him.

What do we get if we do so? HEAVEN

What is so great about Heav­en?  Since God  Is The Only Being, Who makes us per­fect­ly hap­py, when we die and go to Heav­en, we see God, Face to face, and we enjoy per­fect peace, hap­pi­ness, and joy, not for just a few moments, but for all eter­ni­ty, which nev­er ends.

How does Lent help us to get to Heaven?

Lent is the most impor­tant sea­son of grace all year.  Dur­ing Lent, we are to change to become clos­er to God, so that we can repeat our Bap­tismal Vows at East­er and be able to keep them well.  The more we keep our Bap­tismal Vows, the clos­er we are to God and to His Reward for a life lived with Him here on earth and a holy, hap­py death, which allows us to go straight to Heav­en with no stops along the way.

We should fol­low a M.A.P. to the emp­ty Tomb, from whence our Lord tri­umphant­ly rose from the dead, at Easter.

M     =     Mor­ti­fi­ca­tion                                                                         A     =     Alms­giv­ing                                                                          P     =     Prayer

M = One of the ways to help us to become clos­er to God is to detach our­selves from mate­r­i­al things and attach our­selves ever clos­er to God and to the things of God.  Mor­ti­fi­ca­tion, which means dying to the flesh, helps emp­ty us some­what of our mate­r­i­al desires and helps us to be more open to the whis­per­ings of The Holy Spir­it.  We are also try­ing to imi­tate Jesus Christ’s Exam­ple when He fast­ed from food and water for 40 days before He began His Pub­lic Min­istry on earth.  He did not need to fast, as He was per­fect­ly detached from all earth­ly things, but He Is The Way we are to live and die holily, so He gave us The Exam­ple to fol­low when He fast­ed.  We can abstain from more than one thing, and it should be some­thing, which is not absolute­ly nec­es­sary to eat or drink, and it can include smok­ing, as well.  We can begin any good habit or begin to get a han­dle on any bad habit, dur­ing Lent.  The more dif­fi­cult it is, the more The Lord will appre­ci­ate our sac­ri­fice and the more He will reward us by help­ing us to be more like Him and to be clos­er to Him at the end of Lent: East­er.

A = giv­ing alms or dona­tions to those in need.  Our Lord Jesus Christ lived on donations/alms dur­ing His Pub­lic Min­istry, yet He still had the per­son, who con­trolled the purse/money give mon­ey to oth­ers, who were poor or in need.  Our Lord did this, even though He did not have a home in which to live and often slept out­side on the ground.  This should show us that we all have some­thing we can give to oth­ers in need.  If we can­not give mon­ey or mate­r­i­al help, we can pray fer­vent­ly, dai­ly for those we meet and those we don’t even know, who need help.                                                                                                            We also should help mate­ri­al­ly and/or by prayer those, who don’t like us or who are estranged from us — our neigh­bors are those, who are in need and who are our ene­mies.  Our Lord showed us how to treat our ene­mies, when He said to The Father from The Cross:  “Father, for­give them, for they know not what they do.”  He for­gave those, who were tor­tur­ing Him, mur­der­ing Him, spit­ting upon Him, blas­phem­ing Him, even though they did not ask or want His For­give­ness.  If we do not show Mer­cy to or for­give those, who hurt us, God will not show Mer­cy or for­give us — as shown to us in the “Our Father”.  We can say, dai­ly, about our unfor­giv­en ene­mies: “Jesus, I for­give him; help me to for­give him,” until we do for­give that person.

P = If we do not pray, we can­not reach Heav­en.  Why not?  We can­not reach Heav­en on our own — we have to rely on help from God, often through His Saints, to reach Heav­en.  How do we obtain this help?  Well, nat­u­ral­ly, we want to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, and where we want to do it — that is our will — what we want and don’t want to do.  But, we can only get to Heav­en by doing God’s Will.  So, how do we find out what His Will for us is, and how do we get the pow­er to go against our wills to do God’s Will?

We learn our Faith — mem­o­rize The Ten Com­mand­ments, which are writ­ten on each person’s heart and are our ele­men­tary guide to a holy life.  When we have man­aged to keep for the most part, the Com­mand­ments, and go fre­quent­ly to Con­fes­sion — week­ly — to rec­on­cile our­selves to God when we fall, then, we try to live out the New Com­mand­ments of The New Testament/Covenant — The Beatitudes.

We can only live out well The Beat­i­tudes if we are drink­ing reg­u­lar­ly and fre­quent­ly from the well­springs of grace, which are the Sev­en Sacra­ments.  Through the Sev­en Sacra­ments, which our Lord insti­tut­ed, we receive grace — the pow­er to do God’s Will — and to live, as He did.  Through Bap­tism, we become Chil­dren of God.  The heavy bur­den of Orig­i­nal, Dead­ly sin is lift­ed off of our souls, so that we can see what is right and wrong, true and false much more eas­i­ly.  (St. Matt.:28:19)  Accord­ing to Proverbs 24:16:  For a just man shall fall sev­en times and shall rise again…”  Thus, as our Lord knew that the major­i­ty of us would sin sev­er­al times a day, He want­ed to give us a means to make up to Him for our betray­als and to become His close Friends again, so He gave us Con­fes­sion or Penance (St. John: 20:21–23).   This is an incred­i­ble gift, which noth­ing can buy — peace with God.  The Most Holy Eucharist is our dai­ly, spir­i­tu­al food, our “dai­ly Bread”, helps us to do God’s Will, imi­tate Him, and become ever clos­er to Him, each time, we “com­mune” with Him, receive Jesus-look­ing-like Bread and/or Jesus-look­ing-like-Wine.  (St. Matt.: 6:11)  Con­fir­ma­tion makes us sol­diers in Christ — gives us the Sev­en Gifts of The Holy Ghost:  wis­dom, under­stand­ing, coun­sel, for­ti­tude (or courage), knowl­edge, piety — love of God — and fear of the Lord. Holy Orders gives us spir­i­tu­al fathers, called by God to con­se­crate their lives to lead­ing us to Heav­en — to teach us, to gov­ern us, and to sanc­ti­fy us.  (St. John:20:22)  Through Holy Mat­ri­mo­ny, The Holy Ghost descends upon a valid­ly bap­tized man and woman, who are in a state of grace/friendship with God, for whom no imped­i­ments exist, and The Holy Ghost gives this cou­ple the grace to remain togeth­er for the rest of their lives, to live at least civil­ly with each oth­er, to help each oth­er to be good, to become a Cit­i­zen of Heav­en, along with rais­ing their chil­dren to do so, as well.  In this way, the King­dom of Heav­en is built up.  The Anoint­ing of the Sick is admin­is­tered by Catholic Priests to Catholics, who are in dan­ger of death or who are dying.  If the Catholic is cog­nizant, he should make a good Con­fes­sion; then the Priest will, through God’s pow­er, for­give his sins and anoint him, so that if he were to die at that very moment, with­out sin­ning, even in thought, the Catholic would go straight to Heav­en.  Some­times, the Catholic is healed not only spir­i­tu­al­ly but phys­i­cal­ly, as well.  That is why if a Catholic is to under­go a dan­ger­ous oper­a­tion, he should receive the Anoint­ing of the Sick, first.

PRAY!—Prayer is com­mu­ni­ca­tion with God — to adore Him, love Him, ask for for­give­ness, and final­ly peti­tion Him for our and/or oth­ers’ needs.  Prayer should start in the morn­ing and should reg­u­lar­ly be done at var­i­ous times through­out the day and night and in case of need.  Prayer helps us to receive the Sacra­ments well, so that we gain the max­i­mum amount of grace to do God’s Will — not ours — and get to Heav­en when we die.  Some impor­tant prayers include:  The Most Holy Rosary, The Chap­let of Divine Mer­cy, The Way of The Cross, The Morn­ing Offer­ing, The Angelus, The Acts of Faith, Hope, and Char­i­ty, The Act of Con­tri­tion, Prayers before and after Holy Com­mu­nion, Prayers before and after Con­fes­sion,…  If we pray one or more of the above dai­ly, & make more fre­quent use of the Sacra­ments, we will def­i­nite­ly become clos­er to God and fol­low­ing in His Way.

Fol­low the M.A.P. to a good Lent, a joy-filled East­er, & a clos­er rela­tion­ship with Jesus, our Sav­ior & King!

© & All Rights Reserved, The Holy Fam­i­ly House, A.D. 2009.                                                       This can be repro­duced gratis, w/copyright.   † A.M.D.G.

LENTEN PRAYER:

Please pray this prayer every day dur­ing Lent (and con­tin­ue to do so), while kneel­ing before a Cru­ci­fix (Rac­col­ta #201):

Behold, O Good and Sweet­est Jesu, I cast myself upon my knees in Thy Sight, and with the most fer­vent desire of my soul I pray and beseech Thee to impress upon my heart live­ly sen­ti­ments of faith, hope, and char­i­ty, true repen­tance for my sins and a most firm pur­pose of amend­ment; whilst with deep affec­tion and grief of soul I con­sid­er with­in myself and men­tal­ly                 con­tem­plate Thy Five Most Pre­cious Wounds, hav­ing before mine eyes that which David, the Prophet, long ago spoke in Thine own per­son con­cern­ing Thee, my Jesus:  “They have pierced My Hands and My Feet; they have                 num­bered all My Bones”.

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS,                                  Friday before Good Friday; Novena begins the previous Wednesday; and September 15th; Novena begins September 6th:

There are Sev­en (Major) Sor­rows, which our Most Blessed Lady endured dur­ing Her Life­time, and they should be remem­bered fre­quent­ly as well as on Good Fri­day from 3:00 p.m. on.  Those, who med­i­tate often on Her Sor­rows are reward­ed gen­er­ous­ly by our Lord.  Look the Sor­rows up in the Bible — it will help. The Sev­en Sor­rows are: 1. The Presentation/Purification in the Tem­ple (Feb. 2); 2. The Flight into  Egypt for 7 years; 3. Los­ing Jesus in the Tem­ple when He wast 12 years old; 4. Meet­ing Jesus Suf­fer­ing along The Way of The Cross; 5. Our Lord’s Most Sacred Death on The Cross; 6.  Hold­ing our Lord’s Most Sacred, Blood­ied Body after He wast tak­en down from The Cross; 7. Watch­ing our Lord’s Most Sacred, Blood­ied Body be buried. 

Pray an “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary”, and a “Glo­ry Be” for each one of the  Sev­en Sor­rows. Or pray before med­i­tat­ing on each sor­row one or more of the fol­low­ing prayers:

(#375 , Rac­col­ta): Latin: “Sanc­ta Mater, istud agas, Cru­ci­fixi fige pla­gas, Cor­di meo valide.” “Holy Moth­er, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew, of my Sav­iour Crucified.”

(#376, Rac­col­ta): “Mary, Most Sor­row­ful, Moth­er of Chris­tians, pray for us.”

(#377, Rac­col­ta): Latin:  “Vir­go doloro­sis­si­ma, ora pro nobis”.                                                             “Vir­gin Most Sor­row­ful, pray for us.”                          Then, pray the “Hail, Mary” sev­en times with this short prayer.

APRIL:  MONTH OF THE HOLY GHOST:

The Holy Ghost/The Holy Spir­it Is The Third Per­son of The Most Holy Trin­i­ty.  He Is The Love of God The Father for God The Son and The Love of God The Son for The Father.  He Is The Sanc­ti­fi­er; He Is The Spir­it, Who fills the uni­verse; He Is The Author of All Good.  He Is The Par­a­clete, Whom was sent to The Blessed Vir­gin Mary and the 120 Dis­ci­ples in the Upper Room, on Pen­te­cost, to give the Dis­ci­ples every­thing they need­ed to go out and con­vert all nations:  His Sev­en Gifts in abun­dance (which we receive at Con­fir­ma­tion if we are in a state of grace or lat­er when we are in a state of grace) and His Twelve Fruits in abun­dance.  The Holy Ghost con­firmed the 120 Dis­ci­ples in their faith, mak­ing of them Sol­diers in Christ, so that they could go any­where and live and spread The Good News no mat­ter what obsta­cles, even to being tor­tured to death for The Faith.

Please pray a prayer to The Holy Ghost each day for His Sev­en Gifts and Twelve Fruits in abun­dance, so that you will be able to know, love, live and spread The Faith to oth­ers, and, hope­ful­ly mer­it Heav­en when you die.  Look up the prayer on the inter­net:  “Come, Holy Ghost”, a very effi­ca­cious prayer from the Rac­col­ta, 287, and use it through­out the year, as well.

SEE “ST. JOSEPH, PATRON, PROVIDER, PROTECTOR” Page to begin Novena for 3rd Wednesday after Easter & 3rd Sunday after Easter.

SEE “EASTER — 50 DAYS” PAGE

OUR LADY OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT, May 13th; Novena 5/4 — 5/13.

O Vir­gin Mary, our Lady of The Blessed Sacra­ment, Thou Glo­ry of the Chris­t­ian peo­ple, Joy of The Uni­ver­sal Church, Sal­va­tion of the whole world, pray for us, and awak­en in all believ­ers a live­ly devo­tion toward The Most Holy Eucharist, that so they may be made wor­thy to par­take of The Same dai­ly. Amen.

Novena to The Most Holy Trinity —                                  (the Sunday after Pentecost) A.D. 6/10 — 6/19/2011:

Pray 3 times in the ear­ly morn­ing, at noon, and at 6:00 p.m.:

Glo­ry Be to The Father, and to The Son, and to The Holy Spir­it,                               as It Was in The Begin­ning, Is Now, and ever Shall be, world with­out end.  Amen.   (Rac­col­ta 47 & 48)

Dai­ly:  Almighty and Ever­last­ing God, Who hast giv­en unto us, Thy ser­vants, grace by the pro­fes­sion of The True Faith, to acknowl­edge The Glo­ry of The Eter­nal Trin­i­ty, and, in The Pow­er of Thy Divine Majesty, to wor­ship The Uni­ty; we beseech Thee, that by our stead­fast­ness in this same Faith, we may ever­more be defend­ed from all adver­si­ties  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.   (Rac­col­ta: 49)

WhitMonday/Pentecost Mon­day Col­lect (Prayer):

O God, Who didst pour out upon Thine Apos­tles The Gift of The Holy Spir­it : gra­cious­ly ful­fill the devout prayers of Thy Peo­ple ; that upon them to whom Thou hath giv­en faith, Thou mayest also abun­dant­ly bestow the bless­ing of peace.  Through Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in The Uni­ty of The Same Holy Ghost.  Amen.

WhitTuesday/Pentecost Tues­day Col­lect (Prayer):

Let The Pow­er of The Holy Spir­it come upon us, O Lord, we beseech Thee : that He may both mer­ci­ful­ly cleanse our hearts, and defend us from all adver­si­ties.  Through Christ our Lord, Who livest and reignest with Thee, in The Uni­ty of The Same Holy Ghost.  Amen.

EMBER WEDNESDAY, EMBER FRIDAY, & EMBER SATURDAY — DAYS OF FAST (ABSTINENCE) FOR VOCATIONS & CROPS FOR THE SEASON OF SUMMER:

O Almighty God, who hath com­mit­ted to the hands of men the min­istry of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion; we humbly beseech Thee, by The Inspi­ra­tion of Thy Holy Spir­it, to put it into the hearts of many to offer them­selves for this min­istry; that there­by mankind may be drawn to Thy Blessed King­dom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CORPUS CHRISTI — THE BODY & BLOOD OF CHRIST-LOOKING-LIKE-BREAD & WINE — THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST (Solemnity date changes each year.)

Pardon Prayer (from our Lady at Fatima):

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I ask par­don for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.

Most Holy Trin­i­ty – Father, Son and Holy Spir­it- I adore Thee pro­found­ly.  I offer Thee The Most Pre­cious Body, Blood, Soul and Divin­i­ty of Jesus Christ, Present in all of the taber­na­cles of the world, in repa­ra­tion for the out­rages, sac­ri­leges, and indif­fer­ences by which  He is offend­ed. And through The Infi­nite Mer­its of His Most Sacred Heart and The Immac­u­late Heart of Mary of Thee the con­ver­sion of poor sin­ners. Amen.

See “June = Month of The Sacred Heart” for dai­ly prayers this month.

SOLEMNITY OF THE BIRTHDAY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, June 16th through June 23rd:

O Glo­ri­ous Saint John the Bap­tist, great­est Prophet among those born of woman (St. Luke 7, 28), although Thou wast sanc­ti­fied in Thy moth­er’s womb and didst lead a most inno­cent life, nev­er­the­less it was Thy will to retire into the wilder­ness, there to devote Thy­self to the prac­tice of aus­ter­i­ty and penance; obtain for us of Thy Lord the grace to be whol­ly detached, at least in our hearts, from earth­ly goods, and to prac­tice Chris­t­ian mor­ti­fi­ca­tion with inte­ri­or rec­ol­lec­tion and with the spir­it of holy prayer.  (pray one “Our Father”, one “Hail, Mary”, and one “Glo­ry Be”.)…   Pray for us, Saint John the Bap­tist, that we may be made wor­thy of The Promis­es of Christ.  Let us pray.  O God, Who has made this day to be hon­or­able in our eyes by the Nativ­i­ty of Blessed John, grant unto Thy Peo­ple the grace of spir­i­tu­al joy, and direct the minds of all of Thy Faith­ful into the way of ever­last­ing sal­va­tion.  Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP,                 June 17th — June 27th

Behold at Thy Feet, O Moth­er of Per­pet­u­al Help! a wretched sin­ner, who has recourse to Thee and con­fides in Thee.  O Moth­er of Mer­cy!  Have pity on me.  I hear Thee called by all the Refuge and the Hope of sin­ners:  be, then, my refuge and my hope.  Assist me, for the love of Jesus Christ; stretch forth Thy Hand to a mis­er­able fall­en crea­ture, who rec­om­mends him­self to Thee, and who devotes him­self to Thy Ser­vice for­ev­er.  I bless and thank Almighty God, Who in Mer­cy has giv­en me this con­fi­dence in Thee, which I hold to be a pledge of my eter­nal sal­va­tion.  It is true that in the past I have mis­er­ably fall­en into sin, because I had not recourse to Thee.  I know that, with Thy Help, I shall con­quer.  I know, too, that Thou wilt assist me if I rec­om­mend myself to Thee; but I fear that, in time of dan­ger, I may neglect to call on Thee, and thus lose my soul.  This grace, then, I ask of Thee, and this I beg, with all of the fer­vor of my soul, that, in all of the attacks of hell, I may ever have recourse to Thee.  O Mary, help me.  O Moth­er of Per­pet­u­al Help, nev­er suf­fer me to lose my God.

SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL:  June 29th; Novena begins June 20th:

O Holy Apos­tles, Peter and Paul, I choose Thee this day and for­ev­er to be my spe­cial Patrons and Advo­cates; Thee, Saint Peter, Prince of the Apos­tles, because Thou art the Rock, upon which Almighty God hath built His Church; Thee, Saint Paul, because Thou wast fore-cho­sen by God as the Ves­sel of Elec­tion and the Preach­er of truth in the whole world.  Obtain for me, I pray Thee, live­ly faith, firm hope and burn­ing love; com­plete detach­ment from myself, con­tempt of the world, patience in adver­si­ty, humil­i­ty in pros­per­i­ty, atten­tion in prayer, puri­ty of heart, a right inten­tion in all of my works, dili­gence in ful­fill­ing the duties of my state of life, con­stan­cy in my res­o­lu­tions, res­ig­na­tion to The Will of God and per­se­ver­ance in the grace of God even unto death; that so, by means of Thine Inter­ces­sion and Thy Glo­ri­ous Mer­its, I may be able to over­come the temp­ta­tions of the world, the flesh, and the dev­il, and may be made wor­thy to appear before The Chief and Eter­nal Shep­herd of souls, Jesus Christ, Who with The Father and The Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for end­less ages, to enjoy His Pres­ence and love Him for­ev­er.  Amen.  (Pray one “Our Father”, one “Hail, Mary”, and one “Glo­ry Be”.)  V.  Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.  R.  They shall be mind­ful of Thy Name, O Lord.  Let us pray.  O God, Whose Right Hand raised up Blessed Peter when he walked upon the water and began to sink and thrice deliv­ered his fel­low-Apos­tle Paul from the depths of the sea, when he suf­fered ship­wreck:  gra­cious­ly hear that we also may attain unto ever­last­ing glo­ry:  Who livest and reignest world with­out end. Amen.

FEAST OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS (Friday after transferred Feast of Corpus Christi — Movable Feast):

V=Verse; R. = Response

Litany of The Sacred Heart of Jesus:

V.  Lord, have mercy on us.

R.  Christ, have mercy on us.

V.  Lord, have mercy us.

V.  Christ, hear us.                                                                                                                              R.  Christ, graciously hear us.

V.  God, The Father of Heaven, R.  have mercy on us.

V.  God, The Son, Redeemer of the World, R.  have mercy on us.

V.  God, The Holy Ghost, R.  have mercy on us.

V.  Holy Trinity, One God, R.  have mercy on us.

V.  Heart of Jesus, Son of The Eternal Father, R.  have mercy on us.

V.  Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of The Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, R.…

V.  Heart of Jesus, United Substantially with The Word of God,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of The Most High,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, glowing Furnace of Charity,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Vessel of Justice and Love,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Full of Goodness and Love,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Abyss of all virtues,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Most Worthy of all praise,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, King and Center of all hearts,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, in Whom are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge…

V.  Heart of Jesus, in Whom dwelleth all of the Fullness of the Divinity,..

V.  Heart of Jesus, in Whom The Father is well pleased,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, of Whose Fullness we have all received,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Desire of the everlasting hills,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Patient and Rich in Mercy,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Fount of life and holiness,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Propitiation for our sins,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Saturated with revilings,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Source of all Consolation,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, our Life and Resurrection,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, our Peace and Reconciliation,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Salvation of those who hope in Thee,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Hope of those who die in Thee,…

V.  Heart of Jesus, Delight of all of the Saints,…

V.  Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, R.  spare us, O Lord.

V.  Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, R.  graciously hear us, O Lord,

V.  Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, R.  have mercy on us.

V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart.

R. Make our hearts like unto Thine. / Make my heart like unto Thine.

Let us pray.

Almighty and Everlasting God, look upon The Heart of Thy Well-Beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy Great Goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of The same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.

SEE “THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS”

The Feast of The Precious Blood of Jesus is no longer celebrated in the new Church calendar, but it is still celebrated in the calendar of the Tridentine/old Latin Mass.

Litany of The Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ  (Litaniae Pretiosissimi Sanguinis Domini Nostri Iesu Christi):

V.  Kyrie, eleison.

R.  Christe, eleison

V.  Kyrie, eleison.

V.  Christe, audi nos.

R.  Christe, exau­di nos.

V.  Pater de caelis, Deus, R.  mis­erere nobis.

V.  Fili, Redemp­tor mun­di, Deus, R.  mis­erere nobis.

V.  Spir­i­tus Sancte, Deus, R.   mis­erere nobis.

V.  Sanc­ta Trini­tas, unus Deus, R.  mis­erere nobis.

V.  San­guis Christi, Uni­gen­i­ti Patris aeterni, R.  SALVA NOS.

V.  San­guis Christi, Ver­bi Dei incar­nati, R.…

V.  San­guis Christi, Novi et Aeterni Tes­ta­men­ti, R.…

V.  San­guis Christi, in ago­nia decur­rens in ter­ram, …

V.  San­guis Christi, in fla­gel­la­tione proflu­ens, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, in coro­na­tione spinarum emanans, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, in Cruce effusus, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, pretium nos­trae salutis, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, sine quo non fit remis­sio, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, in Eucharis­tia potus et lavacrum ani­marum, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, flu­men mis­eri­cor­diae, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, vic­tor dae­mon­um, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, for­ti­tu­do mar­tyrum, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, vir­tus con­fes­so­rum, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, ger­mi­nans vir­gines, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, robur per­i­cli­tan­tium, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, lev­a­men lab­o­ran­tium, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, in fle­tu solatium, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, spes paen­i­ten­tium, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, sola­men mori­en­tium, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, pax et dul­cedo cordi­um, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, pignus vitae aeter­nae, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, ani­mas lib­er­ans de lacu Pur­ga­torii, R…

V.  San­guis Christi, omni glo­ria et hon­ore dig­nis­simus, R…

V.  Agnus Dei, qui tol­lis pec­ca­ta mun­di, R.  parce nobis, Domine.

V.  Agnus Dei, qui tol­lis pec­ca­ta mun­di, R.  exau­di nos, Domine.

V.  Agnus Dei, qui tol­lis pec­ca­ta mun­di, R.  mis­erere nobis, Domine.

V.  Redemisti nos, Domine, in san­guine tuo.

R.  Et fecisti nos Deo nos­tro regnum.

Ore­mus.

Omnipotens sem­piterne Deus, qui uni­gen­i­tum Fil­i­um tuum mun­di Redemp­torem con­sti­tu­isti, ac eius san­guine placari voluisti: con­cede, quae­sumus, salutis nos­trae pretium ita vener­ari, atque a prae­sen­tis vitae malis eius vir­tute defen­di in ter­ris, ut fruc­tu per­petuo laete­mur in caelis. Per eun­dem Chris­tum Dominum nos­trum. Amen.

FEAST OF THE  IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY — (Saturday after Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus, Movable Feast):

Offering of a Family to Mary:

Most Blessed Virgin, our Immaculate Queen and Mother, Refuge and Consolation of the distressed, prostrate before Thy Throne with all of my family, I choose Thee as my Patroness, my Mother, and my Advocate with God.  I consecrate myself forever, with all that belongs to me, to Thy Service, and I pray Thee, O Mother of God, to receive us into the number of Thy Servants, taking us into Thy Protection, succoring us during life and above all at the hour of death.  Bless me, with all of my family, and permit not that anything in us should ever offend Thy Son.  Protect us in all temptations, deliver us from all dangers, provide for all of our wants, counsel us in all of our doubts, console us in all of our afflictions, assist us in our sickness, and especially in the agonies of death.  Permit not the wicked one to boast of having under his dominion any of us who has been solemnly consecrated to Thee, but grant that we may all be safely brought to Heaven, there to thank Thee, and, with Thee, to love and praise Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, world without end. Amen.

Act of Reparation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary

O Heart of Mary, I honor Thee as The Heart Most Pleasing to our Lord and Most Intimately United to Him.  I love Thee as The Heart of The Best of mothers, and I rejoice in Thy Glorious Prerogatives.  Prostrate before Thee, O heart of Mary, I make Thee this humble act of reparation for all of the outrages, which Thou hast received from me and from all of mankind.  I humbly confess that I have been guilty of the greatest ingratitude towards Thee; but seeing that, through Thee, The Divine Mercy has so often had regard unto me, I venture even yet to hope that Thou wilt not abandon me.  In this sweet confidence I am animated by a most earnest desire to be more faithful and more devoted to Thee.  I pray Thee to accept all of the good that henceforth I am resolved to do, to present it to Thy Dear Son, Jesus, so that, through Thee, my Most Loving Saviour may pour down His Benedictions more and more on me, and on all who are dear unto me.

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL:  July 16th:  Novena begins July 7th:

First Day (July 7th) O Beau­ti­ful Flower of Carmel, most fruit­ful Vine, Splen­dor of Heav­en, Holy and Sin­gu­lar, who brought forth The Son of God, still ever remain­ing a Pure Vir­gin, assist us in our neces­si­ty!  O Star of the Sea, help and pro­tect us! Show us that Thou art our Moth­er! (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Sec­ond Day (July 8th) Most Holy Mary, Our Moth­er, in Thy Great Love for us Thou gavest us the Holy Scapu­lar of Mount Carmel, hav­ing heard the prayers of Thy cho­sen son, Saint Simon of Stock.  Help us now to wear it faith­ful­ly and with devo­tion.  May it be a sign to us of our desire to grow in holi­ness.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)   Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Third Day (July 9th) O Queen of Heav­en, Thou gavest us the Scapu­lar as an out­ward sign by which we might be known as Thy faith­ful chil­dren.  May we always wear it with hon­or by avoid­ing sin and  imi­tat­ing Thy Virtues. Help us to be faith­ful to this desire of ours.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)   Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Fourth Day (July 10th) When Thou gavest us, O Gra­cious Lady, the Scapu­lar as our Habit, Thou calledst us to be not only ser­vants, but also Thine Own Chil­dren.  We ask Thee to gain for us from Thy Son the grace to live as Thy Chil­dren in joy, peace and love.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Fifth Day (July 11th) O Moth­er of Fair Love, through Thy Good­ness, as Thy Chil­dren, we are called to live in the spir­it of Carmel.  Help us to live in char­i­ty with one anoth­er, prayer­ful as Eli­jah of old,  and mind­ful of our call to min­is­ter to God’s Peo­ple.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us. 

Sixth Day (July 12th) With lov­ing prov­i­dent care, O Moth­er Most Ami­able, Thou cov­eredst us with Thy Scapu­lar as a shield of defense against the evil one.  Through Thine Assis­tance, may we brave­ly strug­gle against the pow­ers of evil, always open to Thy Son, Jesus Christ.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us. 

Sev­enth Day (July 13th) O Mary, Help of Chris­tians, Thou assuredst us that wear­ing Thy Scapu­lar worthi­ly would keep us safe from harm.  Pro­tect us in both body and soul with Thy Con­tin­u­al Aid.  May all that we do be pleas­ing to Thy Son and to Thee.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us. 

Eighth Day (July 14th) Thou givest us hope, O Moth­er of Mer­cy, that through Thy Scapu­lar Promise we might quick­ly pass through the fires of Pur­ga­to­ry to The King­dom of Thy Son.  Be our com­fort and our hope.  Grant that our hope may not be in vain but that, ever faith­ful to Thy Son and to Thee, we may speed­i­ly enjoy after death The Blessed Com­pa­ny of Jesus and the Saints.  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us. 

Ninth Day (July 15th) O Most Holy Moth­er of Mount Carmel, when asked by a saint to grant priv­i­leges to the fam­i­ly of Carmel, Thou gavest assur­ance of Thy Moth­er­ly Love and Help to those faith­ful to Thee and to Thy Son.  Behold us, Thy Chil­dren. We glo­ry in wear­ing Thy holy habit, which makes us mem­bers of Thy Fam­i­ly of Carmel, through which we shall have Thy pow­er­ful pro­tec­tion in life, at death and even after death.  Look down with love, O Gate of Heav­en, on all of those now in their last agony!  Look down gra­cious­ly, O Vir­gin, Flower of Carmel, on all of those in need of help!  Look down mer­ci­ful­ly, O Moth­er of our Sav­ior, on all of those, who do not know that they are num­bered among Thy Chil­dren.  Look down ten­der­ly, O Queen of All Saints, on the Poor Souls in Pur­ga­to­ry!  (Pause and men­tion your peti­tions.)  Pray slow­ly & rev­er­ent­ly: one “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary” and “Glo­ry Be”.   Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

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NOVENA TO SAINT MARY MAGDALENE:  Proto-Apostle, Apostle to the Apostles:  7/13–7/22:

LITANY:

V.  Lord, have mercy on us.  R.  Christ, have mercy on us.

V.  Lord, have mercy on us. 

V.  Christ, hear us.  R.  Christ, graciously hear us.

V.  Holy Mary, Mother of God,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Saint Mary Magdalene,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Sister of Martha and Lazarus,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who didst enter the Pharisee’s house to anoint The Feet of Jesus,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who didst wash His Feet with thy tears,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who didst dry them with thy hair,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who didst cover them with kisses,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who wast vindicated by Jesus before the proud Pharisee,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who from Jesus received pardon of Thy sins,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who before darkness wast restored to light,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Mirror of penance,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Disciple of Our Lord,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Wounded with The Love of Christ,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Most dear to The Heart of Jesus,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Constant woman,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Last at The Cross of Jesus, first at His Tomb,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Thou who wast the first to see Jesus risen,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Whose forehead was sanctified by The Touch of Thy Risen Master,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Apostle of Apostles, R.  pray for us.

V.  Who didst choose the “better part,”  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who lived for many years in solitude being miraculously fed,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Who wast visited by Angels seven times a day,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Sweet advocate of sinners,  R.  pray for us.

V.  Spouse of the King of Glory,  R.  pray for us.

V. Saint Mary Magdalene, earnestly intercede for us with Thy Divine Master,  R. That we may share Thy happiness in Heaven.

Let us pray. 

May the glorious merits of Blessed Mary Magdalene, we beseech Thee, O Lord, make our offerings acceptable to Thee:  for Thine Only-Begotten Son vouchsafed graciously to accept the humble service she rendered. Who livest and reignest with Thee and the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. R. Amen.

May the prayers of blessed Mary Magdalene help us, O Lord : for it was in answer to them that Thou didst call her brother Lazarus, four days after death, back from the grave to life. Who livest and reignest with The Father and The Holy Ghost, Unity in Trinity, world without end.  R. Amen.

Prayer Source: Kyrie Elei­son — Two Hun­dred Lita­nies by Ben­jamin Fran­cis Muss­er O.F.M., The Mag­ni­fi­cat Press, 1944

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1095 Copy­right © 2012 Trin­i­ty Com­mu­ni­ca­tions. All rights reserved.

NOVENA IN HONOR OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST:  7/28–8/6:

Jesus’ Transfiguration, a historical event, is celebrated twice during the liturgical year, once, during Lent, and also on August 6th.  It is generally taught, that our Lord revealedst Himself in His Glorified Body (not showing all of His Glory, because humans on earth cannot live, if exposed to This — it is too overwhelming — we would die of fright), to His top three Apostles:  Sts. Peter, James, and John, to strengthen them against the scandal of His Most Sacred Passion and Death.  He didst this, so that they would not deny, betray, or leave Him, in His Hour of Need.  He was shown, speaking to Holy Moses, who had been given the Ten Commandments, the Natural Law, as our Lord is The Law-Giver, and to Holy Elias, who was the chief Prophet of the Old Covenant/ Testament, as our Lord is The Prophecy-Giver, and our Lord, as The Messiah, Is The Fulfillment of the Old Testament.  When the end of the world comes, those of us who are in Heaven, or who are going to Heaven, will be given a glorified body, such as Jesus hast, which will not be suceptible to any aging, pain, suffering, will be able to go through walls and other material things, will be able to appear and disappear, etc.  We need to ask The Lord to enlighten us, so that we may transform our lives and imitate Him.

White

Dou­ble of the Sec­ond Class

INTROIT ¤ Ps. 76. 19

Illuxerunt cor­us­ca­tiones tuae orbi ter­rae: com­mo­ta est, et con­tremuit ter­ra. — Quam dilec­ta taber­nac­u­la tua, Domine vir­tutem! con­cu­pisc­it, et deficit ani­ma mea in atria Domi­ni. V.: Glo­ria Patri … — Illuxerunt coruscationes …

Thy light­nings enlight­ened the world: the earth shook and trem­bled. — (Ps. 83. 2, 3). How love­ly are Thy taber­na­cles, O Lord of hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. V.: Glo­ry be to the Father … — Thy lightnings …

COLLECT¹.–O God, who in The Glo­ri­ous Trans­fig­u­ra­tion of Thine Only-Begot­ten Son didst con­firm The Mys­ter­ies of The Faith by the wit­ness of the fathers, and in The Voice, which came down from the shin­ing cloud, didst won­drous­ly fore­show the per­fect adop­tion of sons: vouch­safe in Thy Lov­ing Kind­ness, to make us coheirs with this King of Glo­ry, and to grant that we may be made par­tak­ers of that same glo­ry.  Through The Same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in The Uni­ty of The Holy Ghost, One God, world with­out end. Amen.

EPISTLE ¤ II Peter 1. 16–19
Les­son from the sec­ond Epis­tle of Blessed Peter the Apostle.

[The Apostles were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Our Lord at the Transfiguration.]

Dear­ly beloved, we have not fol­lowed cun­ning­ly-devised fables, when we made known to you The Pow­er and Pres­ence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but hav­ing been made eye­wit­ness­es of His Majesty.  For He received from God The Father hon­or and glo­ry; this Voice com­ing down to Him from The Excel­lent Glo­ry, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him.’  And The Voice, we heard, brought from Heav­en, when we were with Him in the holy mount.  And we have the more firm prophet­i­cal word, where­un­to you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.

GRADUAL ¤ Ps. 44. 3, 2

Spe­cio­sus for­ma prae fil­i­is hominum: dif­fusa est gra­tia in labi­is tuis. V.: Eruc­tavit cor meum ver­bum bon­um: dico ego opera mea Regi. Alleluia, alleluia.  V.: Can­dor est lucis aeter­nae, specu­lum sine mac­u­la, et ima­go boni­tatis illius.  Alleluia.

Thou art beau­ti­ful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in Thy lips.  V.: My heart hath uttered a good word.  I speak my works to The King. Alleluia, alleluia. V.(Wisd. 7. 26). He Is The Bright­est of Eter­nal Light, The Unspot­ted Mir­ror, and The Image of His Good­ness.  Alleluia.

GOSPEL ¤ Matthew 17. 1–9
† Con­tin­u­a­tion of the holy Gospel accord­ing to St. Matthew.

[Trans­fig­u­ra­tion of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tha­bor; man­i­fes­ta­tion of the divin­i­ty of Jesus.]

At that time Jesus took Peter and James, and John, his broth­er, and bringeth them up into a high moun­tain apart: and He was trans­fig­ured before them. And His face did shine as the sun: and His gar­ments became white as snow. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elias, talk­ing with Him. And Peter answer­ing, said to Jesus:  ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three taber­na­cles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.’  And as he was yet speak­ing, behold a bright cloud over­shad­owed them.  And lo, a Voice out of the cloud, say­ing:  ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him.’  And the dis­ci­ples hear­ing, fell upon their faces and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them:  ‘Arise, and fear not.’  And they, lift­ing up their eyes, saw no one, but only Jesus.  And, as they came down from the moun­tain, Jesus charged them, say­ing:  ‘Tell the vision to no man, till The Son of Man be risen from the dead.’

OFFERTORY ¤ Ps. 111. 3

Glo­ria, et divi­ti­ae in Domo ejus: et Justi­tia ejus manet in saecu­lum sae­culi.  Alleluia.

Glo­ry and wealth are in His House: and His Jus­tice remaineth for ever and ever. Alleluia.

SECRET.–Hallow, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the offer­ings we offer Thee on The Glo­ri­ous Trans­fig­u­ra­tion of Thine Only-Begot­ten Son, and by The Bright­ness of His Glo­ry, cleanse us from the stains of our sins.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in The uni­ty of the Holy Ghost, One God, world with­out end. Amen.

Visionem quam vidis­tis, nem­i­ni dixeri­tis, donec a mor­tu­is resur­gat Fil­ius hominis.

Tell the vision, you have seen, to no man, till The Son of Man be risen from the dead.

POSTCOMMUNION.–Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we may appre­hend with puri­fied minds, The Most Holy Mys­tery of The Trans­fig­u­ra­tion of Thy Son, which we keep with solemn wor­ship.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in The Uni­ty of The Holy Ghost, One God, world with­out end. Amen.

(Tak­en from: http://missale.heliohost.org/aug06.html)

NOVENA IN HONOR OF THE GLORIOUS ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, BODY & SOUL INTO HEAVEN:  8/6–8/15:

NOVENA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY (traditional calendar):  8/13–8/22:

AN ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY:

“O Heart of Mary, I offer, I consecrate to Thee my heart; Thou shalt ever be the object of my veneration, love, and confidence; I will pay Thee my devotions every day; I will celebrate Thy Feasts with joy; I will proclaim Thy greatness and Thy goodness without ceasing; I will neglect no means of obtaining Thee the honor and the homage, which are due unto Thee; I will bring all of the thoughts and affections of my heart into conformity with Thine; and I will make it my duty to imitate Thy Virtues, especially Thy Purity and Thy Humility.  Vouchsafe, O Mary, to open to me Thy Heart, and to receive me therein, in union with all of Thy dear and faithful children.  Obtain for me [my family & intentions] the grace I need to imitate Thee, as Thou hast imitated Jesus Christ; succor me in all dangers, console me in all afflictions, and teach me how to make a holy use of all of the goods and ills of life.  Amen.  May The Divine Heart of Jesus, The Immaculate Heart of Mary [& The Compassionate Heart of Joseph] be always, and in all places, acknowledged, praised, blessed, loved, and faithfully honored and glorified.  Amen.”

NOVENA IN HONOR OF THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY (new calendar):  8/13/-8/22:

NOVENA TO THE HOLY CHILD MARY / MARIA BAMBINA’S BIRTHDAY:  September 8th:  8/30–9/8

Those, who wish to become preg­nant or are expect­ing, should pray to Maria Bambina.

NOVENA TO MARIA BAMBINA

O Holy Child Mary of the Roy­al House of David, Queen of the Angels, Moth­er of Grace and Love, I greet Thee with all of my heart.  Obtain for me the grace to love The Lord faith­ful­ly dur­ing all of the days of my life.  Obtain for me, too, a great devo­tion to Thee, who art the First Crea­ture of God’s Love.      Hail, Mary, Full of grace; The Lord Is with Thee.  Blessed art Thou among women, and Blessed Is The Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus.  /  Holy Mary, Moth­er of God, pray for us sin­ners, now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

O Heav­en­ly Child Mary, who like a Pure Dove was born Immac­u­late and              Beau­ti­ful, True Prodi­gy of The Wis­dom of God, my soul rejoic­es in Thee.  Oh!  Do help me to pre­serve the angel­ic Virtue of Puri­ty at the cost of any                     sac­ri­fice.     Hail, Mary, Full of grace…

Hail, Love­ly and Holy Child, Spir­i­tu­al Gar­den of Delight, where, on the day of The Incar­na­tion, The Tree of Life was plant­ed, assist me to avoid the                   poi­so­nous fruit of van­i­ty and plea­sures of the world.  Help me to engraft into my soul The Thoughts, Feel­ings, and Virtues of Thy Divine Son.     Hail, Mary, Full of grace…

Hail, Admirable Child Mary, Mys­ti­cal Rose, Closed Gar­den, open only to Thy Heav­en­ly Spouse.  O Lily of Par­adise, make me love the hum­ble and hid­den life; let Thy Heav­en­ly Spouse find the gate of my heart always open to The Lov­ing Calls of His Graces and Inspi­ra­tion.     Hail, Mary, Full of grace…

O Holy Child Mary, Mys­ti­cal Dawn, Gate of Heav­en, Thou art my Trust and my Hope.  O Pow­er­ful Advo­cate, from Thy Cra­dle, stretch out Thy Hand, sup­port me on the path of life.  Make me serve God with ardor and con­stan­cy until death and so reach an eter­ni­ty with Thee.     Hail, Mary, Full of grace…

O Blessed Child Mary, des­tined to be The Moth­er of God and our Lov­ing Moth­er, by the heav­en­ly graces, which Thou lav­ish upon us, mer­ci­ful­ly lis­ten to my sup­pli­ca­tions.  In the needs, which press upon me from every side and espe­cial­ly in my present tribu­la­tion, I place all of my trust in Thee (men­tion your petition(s)).  O Holy Child, by the priv­i­leges grant­ed to Thee alone and by the mer­its, which Thou hast acquired, show that the source of spir­i­tu­al favors and the con­tin­u­ous Ben­e­fits, which Thou dis­pense, are inex­haustible, because Thy Pow­er with The Heart of God is unlim­it­ed.  Deign, through the immense pro­fu­sion of graces with which The Most High hath enriched Thee from the first moment of Thine Immac­u­late Con­cep­tion, grant me, O                   Celes­tial Child, my peti­tion, and I shall eter­nal­ly praise the Good­ness of Thine Immac­u­late Heart.  Amen.

Impri­matur:  In Curia Archiep. Medi­olani, 31 August 1931, Can. Cavez­za­li, Pro Vic. Gen.

SALUTATION

Hail, Infant Mary, Full of Grace; The Lord Is with Thee.  Blessed art Thou forever, and Blessed are Thy Holy Parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, of whom Thou wert miraculously born.  O Mother of God, intercede for us. Amen.

ANTHEM

We fly to Thy Patron­age, O Holy and Ami­able Child Mary, despise not our prayers in our neces­si­ties, but deliv­er us from all dan­gers, O Glo­ri­ous and Blessed Virgin.

V.  Pray for us, O Holy Child Mary,     R.  That we may be made wor­thy of The Promis­es of Christ.

Let us pray.

O Almighty and Mer­ci­ful God, Who through The Coop­er­a­tion of The Holy Ghost, didst pre­pare The Body and Soul of The Immac­u­late Infant Mary, that She might be The Wor­thy Moth­er of Thy Son, and didst pre­serve Her from all stain, grant that we, who ven­er­ate with all of our hearts Her Most Holy Child­hood, may be freed, through Her Mer­its and Inter­ces­sion, from all unclean­ness of mind and body and be able to imi­tate Her per­fect Humil­i­ty, Obe­di­ence, and Char­i­ty.  Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER TO THE HOLY CHILD MARY

O Blessed Child Mary, des­tined to be The Moth­er of God and our Lov­ing Moth­er, by the heav­en­ly graces, which Thou lav­ish upon us, mer­ci­ful­ly lis­ten to my sup­pli­ca­tions.  In the needs, which press upon me from every side and espe­cial­ly in my present tribu­la­tion, I place all of my trust in Thee (men­tion your petition(s)).  O Holy Child, by the priv­i­leges grant­ed to Thee alone and by the mer­its, which Thou hast acquired, show that the source of spir­i­tu­al favors and the con­tin­u­ous Ben­e­fits, which Thou dis­pense, are inex­haustible, because Thy Pow­er with The Heart of God is unlim­it­ed.  Deign, through the immense pro­fu­sion of graces with which The Most High hath enriched Thee from the first moment of Thine Immac­u­late Con­cep­tion, grant me, O                   Celes­tial Child, my peti­tion, and I shall eter­nal­ly praise the Good­ness of Thine Immac­u­late Heart.  Amen.

Impri­matur:  In Curia Archiep. Medi­olani, 31 August 1931, Can. Cavez­za­li, Pro Vic. Gen.

FAMILY PRAYER TO MARIA BAMBINA

O Maria [Bam­bi­na], giv­en to us by God, in the sweet­ness of the face of a child, look upon this fam­i­ly, as Thy Very Own, and in Thy Moth­er­li­ness, grant peren­ni­al youth to our hearts.  May there arise in us a renewed com­mit­ment in our voca­tion to fol­low Jesus, and may our char­i­ty be more joy­ful this day.  Teach us that love can stand with stead­fast­ness at the foot of The Cross.  Amen. 

A BEAUTIFUL LITANY CAN BE FOUND ON “THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, OUR MOTHER” WEB PAGE. 

A SPECIAL THANKS TO MARIABAMBINA.ORG FROM WHENCE THESE PRAYERS CAME — TAKE A LOOK AT THEIR SITE — THE PICTURES OF THE HOLY CHILD MARY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Novena in honor of The Most Holy Name of The Blessed Virgin Mary:  September 12th; Novena begins on September 3rd:

Any of the above prayers to The Blessed Virgin Mary in honor of Her Most Blessed Nativity could be used for the Feast of Her Most Holy Name, as well.

On the 4th day after The Most Holy Child Mary’s Most Blessed Nativity, She was taken to the Temple and was given Her Most Holy Name: MARY. 

NOVENA TO HONOR OUR LORD’S FEAST OF THE EXALTATION OF THE CROSS:  September 14th:  Novena begins September 5th:

The Feast of the Exaltation/Triumph of The Cross honors our Lord’s Most Sacred Death and Passion on The Cross and shows that what seemed to be the biggest failure ever turned out to be the greatest success ever — God opened Heaven when His Son died on The Cross to pay for the sins of disobedience and pride of Adam.  Since God brought good out of the biggest evil, which has ever taken place — God’s Most Sacred Body being murdered by His Own creatures — He can bring good out of any evil.  Our Lord also shows us that we can only reach Heaven:  “…If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  (St. Luke 9:23).  St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, the Hebrews, and the Colossians:

“For the word of The Cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is The Power of God.”  (1 Corinthians:  1:18)  “Looking on Jesus, The Author and Finisher of faith, Who, having joy set before Him, endured The Cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on The Right Hand of The Throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:2)  “And through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, making peace through The Blood of His Cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in Heaven.”  (Colossians 1:20)   Suffering has to have meaning and value, otherwise God Himself would not have suffered so much to gain our salvation and would not have demanded that we imitate Him.  ONLY when we offer up our suffering with Jesus’ Passion does our suffering mean anything — when we do this, we gain strength and grace to become more and more like Jesus and closer and closer to Him, and, thus, to Heaven.  See more on the page:  “The Cross”.

Here are some prayers, which can be prayed for this novena: 

Pray the Apostles’ Creed and then:  “We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise/bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.” /  “Adoramus Te, Christe, et benedicimus Tibi, quia per Sanctam Crucem Tuam, redemisti mundum.”  (Raccolta #191)

Lord, I give Thee thanks for that Thou didst die upon The Cross for my sins. (St. Paul of The Cross, Raccolta #192)

The Cross is my sure salvation.  The Cross it is that I worship evermore.  The Cross of our Lord is with me.  The Cross is my refuge.  /  Crux mihi certa salus.  Curx est quam semper adoro.  Crux Domini mecum.  Crux mihi Refugium. (St. Thomas Aquinas, Raccolta #186)

Hail, O Cross, our only Hope.   /   O Crux, ave, Spes unica. (Raccolta #187)

By The Sign of The Holy Cross, deliver us from our enemies, O our God.   /   Per Signum Crucis de inimicis nostris libera nos, Deus noster. (Roman Missal, Raccolta #188)

Of course, the greatest way to honor our Lord’s Triumph of The Cross is to make the Stations or Way of The Cross in a church or where it has been canonically erected.  As long as you meditate on each station for a few seconds or a minute or so, and you move from station to station (unless you are unable to do so), you can gain a partial or plenary indulgence for doing so.  You also gain strength and grace to endure gracefully the sufferings in your life and to offer them up to Jesus with His Passion and Death for your sins and the sins of the whole world. 

Another wonderful prayer/set of prayers for this novena would be The Chaplet of Divine Mercy — see the page “DIVINE MERCY NOW!”  Also, on THE CROSS page, you could use the “Introit”, the “Collect”, the “Gradual”, etc., as novenas prayers.

NOVENA TO HONOR THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS, September 15th:  Novena begins September 6th:

There are Sev­en (Major) Sor­rows, which our Most Blessed Lady endured dur­ing Her Life­time, and they should be remem­bered fre­quent­ly as well as on Good Fri­day from 3:00 p.m. on.  Those, who med­i­tate often on Her Sor­rows are reward­ed gen­er­ous­ly by our Lord.  Look the Sor­rows up in the Bible — it will help. The Sev­en Sor­rows are: 1. The Presentation/Purification in the Tem­ple (Feb. 2); 2. The Flight into  Egypt for 7 years; 3. Los­ing Jesus in the Tem­ple when He wast 12 years old; 4. Meet­ing Jesus Suf­fer­ing along The Way of The Cross; 5. Our Lord’s Most Sacred Death on The Cross; 6.  Hold­ing our Lord’s Most Sacred, Blood­ied Body after He wast tak­en down from The Cross; 7. Watch­ing our Lord’s Most Sacred, Blood­ied Body be buried. 

Pray an “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary”, and a “Glo­ry Be” for each one of the  Sev­en Sorrows.

Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows

“O Most Holy Vir­gin, Moth­er of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the over­whelm­ing grief Thou expe­ri­encedst when Thou wit­nessedst The Mar­tyr­dom, The Cru­ci­fix­ion, and The Death of Thy Divine Son, look upon me with eyes of com­pas­sion and awak­en in my heart a ten­der com­pas­sion for those suf­fer­ing, as well as a sin­cere detes­ta­tion of my sins, in order that, being dis­en­gaged from all undue affec­tions for the pass­ing joys of this earth, I may long for the Eter­nal Jerusalem, and that hence­forth all of my thoughts and all of my actions may be direct­ed toward this one most desir­able object.

Hon­or, Glo­ry, and Love to our Divine Lord Jesus, and to The Holy and Immac­u­late Moth­er of God. Amen.” 

tak­en from:  http://www.marypages.com/PrayerstoMary.htm

NOVENA TO HONOR THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF RANSOM/MERCY:  September 24th; Novena begins September 15th:

THE MEMORARE:

Memorare, O Piisima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquem ad Tua currentem praesidia, Tua implorantem Auxilia, Tua petentem suffragia esse derelictum.  Ego tali animatus confidentia ad Te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro; ad Te venio; coram Te gemens peccator assisto.  Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere, sed audi propitia et exaudi.  Amen.

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone, who fled to Thy Protection, implored Thy Help, or sought Thine Intercession, was left unaided.  Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to Thee do I come, before Thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful;  O Mother of The Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in Thy Mercy hear and answer me.  (Raccolta #339)

SALVE, REGINA / HAIL, HOLY QUEEN

Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae, Vita, Dulcedo, et Spes nostra, salve.  Ad Te clamamus exsules filii Hevae; ad Te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrymarum valle.  Eia ergo, Advocata nostra, illos Tuos Misericordes Oculos ad nos converte.  Et Jesum, Benedictum Fructum Ventris Tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende, O Clemens, O Pia, O Dulcis Virgo Maria! 

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail, our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope.  To Thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve:  to Thee do we sigh, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.  Ah, then, our Advocate, turn Thine Eyes of Mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us The Blessed Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus, O Merciful, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary! (ex. Brevarium Romano & Raccolta #332)

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