NOVENA PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP DAY 4

Novena To Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Day 4

ACT OF CONTRITION
My Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, my father and redeemer, behold at Thy feet a poor sinner who has so grievously afflicted Thy loving Heart. O lovable Jesus

Novena To Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Day 4

 

ACT OF CONTRITION

My Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, my father and redeemer, behold at Thy feet a poor sinner who has so grievously afflicted Thy loving Heart. O lovable Jesus, how could i have offended thee and filled with bitterness that Heart that love me so and that has spared no effort to attain my love? How great has been my in gratitude! But, O my saviour, be consoled, be consoled, I say to thee; now i find myself repentant, such grief i feel for the afflictions i have caused thee, that i would like to die of poor sorrow and contrition. O my Jesus! who could have make me weep for sin as Thou hast wept for them in Thy mortal life! My soul is oppressed for having offended Thee. Eternal father, in satisfaction for my offences I offer Thee the affliction and sorrow the Heart of Thy Divine Son has felt for them. And Thou, O Loving Jesus! give me such a horror for sin that from now on it may make me avoid even the most trifling of faults. Depart from my heart, earthly affections; I do not want to love anything now but my most bountiful Redeemer. O my Jesus, help me, strengthen me, and pardon me.

My Mother of perpetual help, intercede for me and obtain for me the pardon of my sins.

 

PREPARATORY PRAYER

(To be said everyday)

O Most Blessed Virgin Mary! Who to inspire us with boundless confidence has been pleased to take the sweet name of Mother of Perpetual help, I implore Thee to come to my aid always and everywhere, in my temptations, after my falls, in my difficulties, in all the miseries of life, and above all, at the hour of my death. Give me, O loving Mother, the desire, nay more, the habit always to have recourse to Thee, for i feel assured that if i am faithful in invoking Thee, Thou will be faithful in coming to my assistance. Obtain for me, then, this grace of graces, the grace to pray to Thee without ceasing, and with childlike trust, that, by means of my constant plea, I may ensure Thy Perpetual Help and final perseverance. Bless me, O tender and solicitous Mother, pray for me now and at the hour of my death. Amen

 

FOURTH DAY MEDITATION

Our Lady of Perpetual Help defends her devotees in temptations.

Consider that one of the major difficulties in which man needs the perpetual help of Mary in a special way, is in temptation, that perpetual and provoking struggle in which we are engaged against the enemies of our salvation. All of us, the just and the sinners, feel ourselves inclined to evil. St. Paul himself, after having been carried up to the third heaven, exclaimed saying: “Unhappy man that I am. I see another Law in my members, fighting against the laws of my mind and captivating me in the law of sin. There was given a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me.” Perhaps, my friend, you could use the same language; you too, feel this dismal law of sin that wants to dominate the spirit, those vehement impulses of passions hungering for pleasure; Satan and a deceiving world hold out chains to you too, and at times you find yourself in great danger of succumbing to the very violence of temptation. O then, what constraints, what straits are those to the soul who wants to be saved; it finds itself surrounded by so many and such powerful enemies; it feels its own weakness and frailty, and with all that, it has to defeat all its enemies together, under pain of being lost, perhaps for eternity! How critical a position!

Christians, what will you do in this struggles so terrible with the world, the flesh and the devil? Will you surrender your arms declaring yourself defeated? No; that would be great and criminal cowardice. Ah! let that not be your conduct! Rather, let us have recourse to Our Lady and Her Perpetual Help will attain victory for us. It is related that the Emperor Constantine, having to face a decisive battle against Maxentius, an enemy of the Christians, lifted his eyes to Heaven and saw in the sky a brilliant cross with this inscription: ” In this sign shalt thou conquer.” And it was verified by the complete routing of Maxentius. Christian soul, you who are continually at war with so many enemies, Heaven presents you with the same banner in the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Look at the veil that covers the virginal forehead of the Heavenly Queen; on it you will also see a cross that promises you the most powerful help of the merciful Mother of God.

Mary is terrible against the power of Hell, Like an army in battle array. She is the tower of David, constructed with ramparts from which hang a thousand shields. Against this tower the sharp arrows of the enemy will break. She is the one Who crushes the head of the infernal serpent, and the powers of hell flee, simply on hearing Her most holy Name pronounced.

Christian, have you looked for some time with reflection upon the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help? Does not Her sight remind you of the prodigies worked in other times by the ark of the lord? Truly, the ark of the Covenant was coved with pure gold, it contained the manna that feel from Heaven; and two angels covered it with their white wings. By means of the ark of the lord, the people of God attained their victories; the walls of Jericho crumbled; the philistines were defeated; because the holy ark was with Israel. Well then, do you not see the gold of divine charity glow in the same way in the loving Heart of that kindest of mother? Do you not see Jesus, the sweet manna of our souls, in Her maternal arms? Do you not see the angels in the background of that picture with their wings extended? is it not by means of Her most powerful help that so many Christians have attained victory over their enemies? How many souls adorned with the grace of the lord would be sunk in sin if they had not invoked Our Lady of Perpetual Help at the moment of temptation!

Thus, O Christian soul, make a firm resolution never to enter into combat with the enemies of your salvation alone, but rather accompanied by Most Holy Mary; Her Perpetual Help will serve as your shield and thus you will attain innumerable other victories in as many battles as you must endure. O Mother of Perpetual Help! for us Thou art the holy Ark of the Lord; with Thee we will win victories; before Thee the enemies of our salvation will flee terrified; in every temptation we will invoke Thy Perpetual Help and Thou will help us perpetually.

Meditate and ask for what you wish to obtain from Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

 

JOYS

AT THE END OF EACH PARAGRAPH SAY

“Come hasten to assist me, O Mother sweet and kind!”

 

Thou art Perpetual Help benign;
Come, therefore, I implore Thee:
Come hasten to assist me.
O Mother sweet and kind!

 

Hear, O Virgin pure,
Our fervent prayers of love
That fly to Thee above
On Thine exalted Throne.

 

Stained by guilt and sin
I bow my head and cry;
And at Thy feet I sigh
for clemency and love.

 

Free the careless soul
From it tepid ways,
And set the soul ablaze
with fervour in devotion

 

Wretched in this vale
Of pain and tribulation,
For heavenly consolation
I humbly beg of Thee.

 

If my virtue wanes
When tempests howl and roar,
My energies restore
Beloved Morning Star.

 

To Thy faithful child
Encouragement provide,
And toward virtue guide
His weak unsteady step.

 

Free my fickle heart
from all its lassitude,
And grant it fortitude
To lead a sinless life.

 

In the final clash
With death in all its fright,
How great my soul’s delight
If then i can exclaim:

 

In purgatory’s fire,
Dear Mother, please be sweet;
Great Lady, I entreat,
Alleviate my pains.

 

Grant me, Mother dear,
As fond farewell to Thee,
To sing eternally
With love and praise to Thee:

 

Come hasten to assist me
O Mother sweet and kind!

 

EJACULATORY PRAYER

O Mother of Perpetual Help! Do not let me fall into temptation, but deliver us from all evil. Amen

 

EXERCISE

Accustom yourself not to argue with temptation and to crying immediately to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

 

PRAYER

O my Mother of Perpetual Help! I bless and thank my God for having inspired me with such confidence in Thee, because I know this confidence is for me a pledge of salvation. Oh! how unfortunate for me! If in the past I have fallen into sin, it is for not having recourse to Thee. I hope that I have been pardoned through the merits of Jesus and through Thy powerful intercession. But I can again lose the grace of God; the danger has not ceased; the enemy does not sleep. O, how many new temptations remain for me to overcome. O most sweet sovereign! Protect me, receive me under Thy mantle, do not let me fall. Grant me Thy Perpetual Help, and obtain for me the grace that, in all the assault of Hell, I will not forget to invoke Thee, repeating without ceasing: “Mother of  Perpetual Help, do not let me lose my God.” Amen.

 

EXAMPLE

In Rome, two brothers, sons of good parents, on a certain day had a dispute, in which they became inflamed to such a degree that one of them took a stiletto (a type of short three-edged sword) to wound the other. A sister of the unfortunate youths who witnessed the scene, gave a cry of fear and exclaimed in a tone of unspeakable sorrow: “My Mother of Perpetual Help, have mercy on us!” Scarcely had the young men heard this invocation, and in spite of the fury that carried him away, he threw down the fratricidal weapon and with the meekness of a lamb embraced his brother, saying to him calmly: “Let us make peace! I beg you!” The pious sister picked up the stiletto and took it to the altar of Our Lady, as a trophy of the victory that powerful Queen had just won over one of the most terrible passion of the human heart.

May the virgin of Perpetual Help be loved, praised, invoked and eternally blessed! May she be my hope, my love, my Mother, My refuge and my life. Amen.

NOVENA PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP DAY Five

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