Day Six - Novena to the Mother of God for Our Nation

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On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. – John 2:1-11

Prayer

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.

Reflection

The first explicit mention of the Mother of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel is at a wedding feast. Mary arrived at the week-long celebration before Jesus. When he arrived Mary immediately brought him a concern:They have no wine. She wanted everyone, especially the newlyweds and their families and friends, to enjoy the Wedding celebration. Certainly Mary felt the embarrassment of the young couple and was confident in bringing their need to Jesus. He responded to her intercession – yes, this is a powerful instance of Mary’s maternal mediation. Changing water into wine, Jesus performed the first great miracle of his public ministry.

St. John notes that Jesus acted to witness to his divinity for the Apostles: This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. Before the miracle the Apostles thought of Jesus as a rabbi, a kind of professor ofTorah. Seeing the water turn into wine before their eyes, the Apostles experienced Jesus’ glory as Messiah and Lord and began to believe in him. By her intercession, Mary obtained saving faith for those chosen to be the first priests of the Church. Mary, even then, understood her right to bring every human and spiritual need into the presence of her Son. Then in Cana, and now in Heaven, the Mother of God desires her Son to reveal his power as Messiah and Lord of all creation and to save his people.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church connects the first miracle of Jesus and the Sacrament of Matrimony: On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign – at his mother’s request – during a wedding feast. The Church attaches great importance to Jesus’ presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence (CCC 1613). Mary in Heaven continues to bring the human and spiritual needs of families into the radius of Christ’s messianic power.

Prayer

Mother Mary, at Cana you showed that you are the mother of many children. You understood the pain felt by the poor and turned to your Son for help. Filled with the Spirit of God, you also wanted Jesus' Apostles to share your faith in him. You understood that the absence of faith is the worst poverty any person ever experiences. You also knew that only God can give the gift of faith. Bringing these needs to Jesus in prayer, rich wine flowed through the small village of Cana and the strong wine of faith flooded the hearts of the Apostles.

Mary, we all have needs, great and small. We are poor in material resources and in spiritual goods. We beg you to bring all of our needs to Jesus. You never ask for anything that will harm your children. Jesus never refuses any request you bring to him. Pray especially for our families that are torn apart by marital infidelity, domestic violence, flaws in parental love, and the pain caused by contraception, sterilization, and abortion. Help all to understand that the Sacrament of Matrimony was instituted by your Son so that man and wife, in loving one another, may encounter his grace and bring forth children for the kingdom. Pray for your sons and daughters who bear the heavy burden of same-sex attraction. Help them discover the freedom chastity imparts and its beauty. Mary, pray that our families may live in harmony and love as you lived with Jesus and Joseph in your home in Nazareth. Mary, we need you to be our mother, the mother of all families. Amen.

Day Six of the Novena

Day Five - Novena to the Mother of God for Our Nation

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Lo, the star which the Wise Men had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. – Matthew 2: 9-11

Prayer

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.

Reflection

James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 to 1921, explained to his flock why Catholics delight to honor Mary with the title Mother of God:

When we call the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God, we assert our belief in two things: First – That her Son, Jesus Christ, is true man, else she were not a mother. Second – That He is true God, else she were not the Mother of God. In other words, we affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of God, who in His divine nature is from all eternity begotten of the Father, consubstantial with Him. He was in the fullness of time again begotten, by being born of the Virgin, thus taking to Himself, from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers.

But it may be said the Blessed Virgin is not the Mother of the Divinity. She had not, and she could not have, any part in the generation of the Word of God, for that generation is eternal; her maternity is temporal. He is her Creator; she is His creature. Style her, if you will, the Mother of the man Jesus or even of the human nature of the Son of God, but not the Mother of God.

I shall answer this objection by putting a question. Did the mother who bore us have any part in the production of our soul? Was not this nobler part of our being the work of God alone? And yet who would for a moment dream of saying “the mother of my body,” and not “my mother?”

The comparison teaches us that the terms parent and child, mother and son, refer to the persons and not to the parts or elements of which the persons are composed. Hence no one says: “The mother of my body,” “the mother of my soul”; but in all propriety “my mother,” the mother of I who live and breathe, think and act, one in my personality, though uniting in it a soul directly created by God, and a material body directly derived from the maternal womb. In like manner, as far as the sublime mystery of the Incarnation can be reflected in the natural order, the Blessed Virgin, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance with her own, is thereby really and truly His Mother.

It is in this sense that the title of Mother of God, denied by Nestorius, was vindicated to her by the General Council of Ephesus, in 431; in this sense, and in no other, has the Church called her by that title.

Prayer

God, our Almighty Father, by becoming a man your Son revealed the goodness and holiness of human conception, pregnancy, and birth. With tender maternal love, the Virgin Mary conceived your eternal Son, carried him beneath her heart, and brought him to birth. No intervention of yours in human history illustrates more clearly the greatness and dignity of woman than the Incarnation. May Mary help all to believe that the man she bore, Jesus Christ, is truly your eternal Son-made-man. May she help all to appreciate the wonder of conception, pregnancy, and birth. Draw all women in our society to her motherly embrace. Help them understand that their children are created by you at the moment of their conception and belong to you in this life and in the next. Father, protect all women from attacks against their maternal fecundity. Guard them from those who war against them and their dignity through the promotion of contraception, sterilization, and abortion. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Day Five of the Novena

Day Four - Novena to the Mother of God for Our Nation

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The Visitation

Airs live Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 at 8 AM ET

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. – Luke 1:39-47

Prayer

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.

Reflection

Mary, carrying the eternal Son of God in her womb, went with hasteto visit her aged relative, Elizabeth, and her husband, Zechariah. The Angel Gabriel had told Mary that Elizabeth was also pregnant:Behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1: 36-37).

St. Luke, it would seem, saw 2 Samuel 6, the Old Testament account of King David’s transfer of the Ark of the Covenant from the from the hill country of Judah to Jerusalem, fulfilled in the Visitation account. St. Luke’s intention was to present Mary, making the journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, as the true Ark of the Covenant – the new dwelling place of God among his people.

Here are some points of comparison: When Jewish people came into the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, they would let out a joyful shout, a certain holy noise reserved exclusively to honor God’s presence in the Ark. When Mary entered her kinswoman’s house and greeted her, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry. Elizabeth used almost the exact words that King David had used when he realized the significance of the Ark coming to his house: And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Finally, whereas David danced and leaped before the old Ark of the Covenant, it was John the Baptist in his mother’s womb who danced and leaped before the presence of God in his new Ark of the Covenant, Mary!

This text casts brilliant light on the meaning of the Annunciation and Mary’s fiat. Through Mary’s assent of faith to the word of the Angel, the eternal Son of God came down from Heaven to dwell in her womb. The Ark of the Covenant constructed at God’s command by Moses and Aaron is only a type – a foreshadowing of Mary, the true dwelling place of God. Elizabeth, Zechariah, and the unborn John the Baptist are blessed by Jesus living in Mary. Elizabeth blessed Son and Mother three times: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Prayer

Almighty and Ever-Living God, the Virgin Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant. During the nine months of her pregnancy, she carried your Son-made-man in her virginal womb. From his Royal Throne, Christ began to bring his people salvation. After his birth, which did not diminish His mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it, he continued to dwell in Mary through grace and charity with an unparalleled intensity. Father, we beg you to send Mary to visit the United States, calling all to faith in Christ's Gospel of Life and conversion from sin. May she help all to understand that her conception of Christ in Nazareth, and her wondrous childbirth in Bethlehem, point to the inviolable sanctity of every conception and birth. May she help those women who have had abortions to find God's forgiveness and healing. Father, turn the hearts of all advocates of contraception and abortion to Christ, the Lord of Life. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Day Four of the Novena

Day Three - Novena to the Mother of God for Our Nation

"The Annunciation" by Antoniazzo Roman, 1485

The Annunciation

Monday, Oct. 1, 2012 at 8 AM ET

And Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid
of the Lord;
Let it be done to me according to your word.
– Luke 1:38

Prayer

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.

Reflection

Scholars speculate that Mary was likely a teenager when Gabriel came from Heaven with God’s message of salvation. That day, God revealed to Mary her vocation, and her role in the salvation of the world. He revealed to her that he had a Son who would come into the world to save all people from sin, death, and the dominion of Satan. God asked Mary, the New Eve, to be the virgin mother of his eternal Son. His plan depended on her “Yes!” God willed to open the floodgates of mercy for the human race through Mary’s consent to be the virgin Mother of God-made-man. God, who needs no one to accomplish his purposes, willed to send his Son to us through Mary’s assent of faith.

Mary stood before God as representative of the People of Israel and, indeed, of the entire human race. At that moment, everything depended upon her fiat; her Yes, let it be done unto to me according to your will. At the Second Vatican Council, the Church stressed Mary’s active participation in the redemption of the world. The Council Fathers recalled the words of St. Irenaeus of Lyon, a bishop of the 2nd century.

Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God’s salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. Rightly therefore the Holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she, “being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert in their preaching, “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith.” Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her “the Mother of the living,” and still more often they say: “death through Eve, life through Mary” (Lumen Gentium 56).

Through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit Mary embraced Christ first in her mind through faith, then in her heart through hope and charity, and finally in her body by a miracle that only God could accomplish. She eagerly consented to her virginal motherhood with the full awareness that her child would be named  Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Through her fiat, Mary gave us Jesus and is, therefore, in God’s plan, the human cause of our salvation. We owe everything good in our lives to Mary, theCause of our Joy.

Prayer

God, Almighty Father, when Mary surrendered herself to your Word, she conceived Christ first in her mind through faith, in her heart through hope and love, and finally in her body through the marvelous operation of your Holy Spirit. By her eagerness to be the mother of your Son, she opened the floodgates of your merciful love for all men and women. May she help all people to live by faith, hope, love, and obedience to your will. May she remind us always that you want to bring salvation to our brothers and sisters through our faith and good works. Help us to accept fully our responsibility to combat the culture of death and foster the culture of life in our American society. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Day Three Novena for Religious Liberties

Day Two - Novena to the Mother of God for Our Natiron

Mary's Desire for Virginity

Airs live Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at 8 AM ET

And Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I have no husband? – Luke 1:34

Prayer

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.

Reflection

Long before the Angel Gabriel brought Mary the message that God had chosen her to be the mother of his Son, she had resolved to give herself entirely and exclusively – in the gift of perpetual virginity. Mary knew that God had entered into a Covenant – a family bond – with the People of Israel on Mount Sinai. Although the Lord had remained faithful to the Covenant promises, Israel had not. By repeatedly breaking the Commandments of God, her people had shown herself to be an adulterous spouse. Mary, painfully aware of the history of Israel as told by the Prophets, yearned to make reparation for the sins of her people by loving God as his faithful bride.

Here is Pope John Paul II's description of Mary's desire to remain a virgin throughout her life:

Mary herself wanted to be the personal image of that absolutely faithful bride, totally devoted to the divine Bridegroom, and therefore she became the beginning of the new Israel in her spousal heart.... She confirms and strengthens a consecration already in effect, which becomes the abiding condition of her life. She in fact replies to the Angel of the Annunciation: "How will this come about, since I am a virgin?" (Lk. 1:34); as if to say: I am a virgin devoted to God, and I do not intend to leave my spouse, because I do not think that God wills it – He who is so jealous of Israel, so severe with anyone who betrays him, so persistent in his merciful call to reconciliation! Mary is well aware of her people's infidelity, and she wants personally to be a bride who is faithful to her most beloved divine Spouse.

God sent the Angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth to tell Mary that he had accepted her desire to belong exclusively to him and, in fact, was the source of that desire. Mary's longing for a life of virginity was, in fact, a response to God's faithful love. The Angel tells Mary that she would conceive God's son as a virgin through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. She is to be simultaneously a virgin, bride, and mother. Her freely chosen virginity allowed Mary to belong totally to Christ as his mother and totally to each of us as our loving mother. The Blessed Virgin Mary witnesses that the beautiful value of virginity is always for the sake of spousal love and motherhood!

Prayer

Almighty and Ever-Living God, Mary gave herself to you unreservedly through the gift of her virginity. As she loved Jesus with an undivided heart, she continues to love and serve all of her children on earth. Through her example, instill in all the members of your Church a deeper appreciation of the value of virginity. Help all to understand that virginity is the perfect gift that spouses give to each other on their wedding day. Inspire many young men and women to embrace a life of consecrated celibacy or virginity in the priesthood and consecrated life. Teach us all the meaning of your Son's words:Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Mt. 5:8). We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Day Two Novena

Day One - Novena to the Mother of God for Our Nation

The Immaculate Conception of  the Mother of God

You are wholly beautiful, my beloved, and without a 

blemish. – Song of Songs 4:7

Prayer

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.

Reflection

Since God creates an immortal soul through the conjugal union of man and woman, the conception of
every human person is sacred. God loves every person into being – even when the conception is an act of lust or violence.

When the Virgin Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother, God created her immortal soul and filled
her with his divine life. In the Immaculate Conception, God uniquely redeemed Mary by preserving her from
Original Sin through the foreseen merits of Christ, the Savior. From the first moment of her life, Mary was
wholly beautiful, full of grace (Lk. 1:28), without any trace of self-centeredness, any inclination to sin and
with unparalleled freedom to love God and all other people. In her conception, God armed Mary to destroy
the kingdom of Satan (Gen. 3:15). The charity of Christ filled Mary from the first moment of her existence – in the safety of her mother’s womb.


Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in these words: 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.

The good news of the Immaculate Conception is that 14 15 there is more love in Mary’s sinless soul than there is evil in the world. In her  Immaculate Conception, God empowered Mary to say  yes freely to his plan of salvation in Christ and to help us, her sons and daughters, to say yes too.

Prayer

God, Almighty Father, at the moment of our 

conception you loved each of us into life. You 

loved Mary wondrously in her  Immaculate 

Conception, preserving her from inheriting the sin 

of Adam through the foreseen merits of the Savior. 

You prepared Mary in her conception to be the Mother 

and partner of your Son and our loving mother. Give 

all people an ever deeper reverence for your presence 

and creative action in human conception. Help all to 

recognize the evil of abortion and contraception, and all 

sins which offend our Creator God. In Mary’s maternal 

embrace, may every American foster reverence for 

human life in our nation. We ask this through Jesus 

Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Novena Source

Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima located in former Gulag area of Kazakhstan