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

The Importance of the First Saturday Devotion

Picture source

 There is a tendency nowadays, in some quarters, to downplay the importance of Fatima, perhaps dismissing it as not "intellectual" enough, or even as something of an embarrassment in a modern Church. But the fact that all the popes since Pius XII have given it such strong support is an implicit rejection of such a position. In particular, Pope John Paul II has gone out of his way to affirm the importance of the message of Fatima, having recently beatified, in the Holy Year 2000, two of the three children, Jacinta and Francisco. He also authorized the release of the third part of the secret and directed Cardinal Ratzinger to publish it together with a Theological Commentary.

You can read the above article Fatima and the First Saturday Devotion by Donal Anthony Foley HERE