Nov. 29 - Dec. 7: NOVENA TO THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Nov. 29 - Dec. 7: NOVENA TO THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

“And the Lord God said to the serpent:… I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”
(Gen, iii. 14, 15)

“And Mary said: ...behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name.”
(St. Luke, i. 48, 49)

The Definition of Immaculate Conception.
(Dogma of the Immaculate Conception - INEFFABILIS DEUS. Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the eighth day of December, 1854, Pius IX)

Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that He would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

Hence, if anyone shall dare -- which God forbid! -- to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing or by any other outward means the errors he think in his heart.

Feast of Immaculate Conception: December 8th (Holy Day of Obligation).

Novena to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

O most pure and Immaculate Virgin! who wert dignified by Thy beloved Son with the most precious of all privileges, an exemption from every stain of sin! We commemorate with joy and gratitude that happy moment when thou didst begin to live to Grace. We return most fervent thanks to Him, who, in the instant of Thy Immaculate Conception, began to do great things for thee. O incorruptible Ark! sacred sanctuary prepared to enclose the “True Manna”— the Eternal, Incarnate Word, let us, thy devoted clients and children, find a refuge in thee. Thou art the only privileged One, amongst the descendants of Adam, who wert never for a moment the enemy of thy Creator! O most perfect image of the holiness of God! remember, we conjure thee, the ends for which thou wert enriched with graces, which no mortal before nor since has ever enjoyed. Remember, that thou wert miraculously preserved from a shadow of imperfection, not only that thou mightest become the Mother of God, but also the Mother, the Refuge, the Advocate of Man. Penetrated, therefore, with the most lively confidence in thy never-failing mediation, we most humbly implore thy intercession in behalf of our present urgent requests. N. N.

Thou art, O Mother of God, the parent of virgins, and thereby the great model of that sanctity which should adorn the spouses of Christ. To thee, then, we confidently recur, beseeching thee to obtain for us grace to walk in thy footsteps. Thou knowest how often our hearts are the sanctuaries of a God who abhors iniquity: obtain for us then, that angelic purity which was thy earliest and favourite virtue; that purity of heart, which will attach us to God alone; and that purity of intention, which will consecrate every thought, word, and action of our lives to His greater glory. Teach us to atone for our habitual imperfections, by a fervent habitual exercise of Divine Love, and to endeavour by fidelity to grace, to resist those sinful inclinations which never disturbed thy pure soul. Obtain for us chiefly, a constant spirit of silence, prayer, and self-denial, that we may recover by penance that innocence which we lost by sin, and at length attain safely to that blessed abode of saints, where nothing defiled can enter.

The Memorare.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to 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. Amen.

Antiphon, Versicle, & Prayer in honour of the Immaculate Conception.

Ant. This is the rod in which was neither knot of original sin nor rind of actual guilt.

℣. In thy Conception, O Virgin, thou wast immaculate.

℟. Pray for us to the Father, whose Son Jesus Christ conceived of the Holy Ghost, thou didst bring forth.

Let us pray.

O God, who, by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst prepare a worthy habitation for thy Son: we beseech Thee that, as in view of the death of that Son Thou didst preserve her from all stain of sin, so Thou wouldst enable us, being made pure by her intercession, to come unto Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Taken from: The Fervent Adorer, 1867, Permissu Superiorum.

November 29, 2022: St. Saturninus, Martyr.

O Mary Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.