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