Novena for the Annunciation

NOVENAS IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY.

FOR THE ANNUNCIATION.

1. O immaculate Mary, who obtained by your profound humility and perfect chastity to be preferred, before the most renowned women of all ages, for the Mother of your Creator, obtain for us the grace to live like you in the practice of these two beautiful virtues, that we may at length attain with you to the joy of our Lord. Ave.

2. O immaculate Mary, who were troubled when you heard the angel’s praises, obtain for us the grace to have, like you, a lowly esteem of ourselves, that, shrinking from the praises of men, we may solely endeavour to deserve the approbation of our Lord. Ave.

3. O immaculate Mary, who valued the privilege of virginity not less than the glory of being the Mother of God, obtain for us the grace that we may willingly sacrifice all things rather than sully the purity of our souls. Ave.

4. O immaculate Mary, who called yourself the Handmaid of the Lord, with an extraordinary humility, after the archangel Gabriel had announced that you were to be his Mother, obtain from the Lord that we may never be elated by any gifts with which God may favour us, but that they may advance us in virtue, and unite us more and more with the true source of all happiness. Ave.

5. O immaculate Mary, who did not refuse to become the Mother of the Redeemer for the salvation of men, though you knew the great sacrifice which you must one day make of him on the cross, and the bitter passion which you would have to endure with him, obtain for us, I pray you, that we may never refuse to make any sacrifice which may be required of us for his glory or for the salvation of our neighbour. Ave.

6. O immaculate Mary, who by that fiat which you pronounced when you consented to become the Mother of the Word, rejoiced heaven, consoled earth, and affrighted hell, obtain for us a perfect confidence in your holy protection, by which we may obtain the copious benefits of your Son’s redemption, to which you, O great Virgin, lent your desired aid. Ave.

7. O immaculate Mary, who, by a miracle till then unheard of, became the Mother of the incarnate Word without the smallest stain on your spotless purity, obtain, we pray you, that we may be reserved and modest in our looks, words, and actions, and never sully, by any stain, that purity which is suited to our profession. Ave.

8. O immaculate Mary, who contracted so intimate a relation with the most holy Trinity that you became at the same time the Daughter of the holy Father, the Mother of the holy Son, and the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, obtain for us that we may so preserve the purity of our souls that we may be worthy to be the temples of the Father who created us, of the Son who redeemed us, and of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us. Ave.

9. O immaculate Mary, who had the especial privilege of bearing in your virginal womb Him whom heaven and earth cannot contain, obtain for us that we may so exercise ourselves in continual humility, penitence, charity, and prayer, that we may worthily receive your divine Son when he vouchsafes to visit us in the blessed sacrament, and may also be blessed by this gracious presence at the moment of our death, and that, at length, we may contemplate and possess him, together with you and with the angels and saints in heaven. Ave.