Novena to Our Lady of the Assumption
Novena to
Our Lady of the Assumption
LEADER: Let us now begin our Novena to Our Lady of the Assumption.
ALL: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
LEADER:
Lord Jesus Christ,
You have destroyed the power of death
and given the hope of eternal life for body and soul.
You granted your Mother a special place in your glory,
and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary,
grant us renewed confidence in the victory of life over death.
ALL: Amen.
Day 1
LEADER:
The Virgin Mary, throughout the course of her earthly pilgrimage, led a life troubled by cares, hardships, and sorrows, and that, moreover, what the holy old man Simeon had foretold actually came to pass, that is, that a terribly sharp sword pierced her heart as she stood under the cross of her divine Son, our Redeemer. In the same way, it was not difficult for them to admit that the great Mother of God, like her only begotten Son, had actually passed from this life. But this in no way prevented them from believing and from professing openly that her sacred body had never been subject to the corruption of the tomb, and that the august tabernacle of the Divine Word had never been reduced to dust and ashes. Actually, enlightened by divine grace and moved by affection for her, God’s Mother and our own dearest Mother, they have contemplated in an ever clearer light the wonderful harmony and order of those privileges which the most provident God has lavished upon this loving associate of our Redeemer, privileges which reach such an exalted plane that, except for her, nothing created by God other than the human nature of Jesus Christ has ever reached this level. (Cfr. Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus)
LET US PRAY
ALL:
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we believe in your triumphant assumption into heaven where the angels and saints acclaim you as Queen of Heaven and earth.
We join them in praising you and bless the Lord who raised you above all creatures. With them we honor you.
We are confident that you watch over our daily lives and we ask that you intercede for us now.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: We are comforted by our faith in the coming Resurrection and we look to you for prayers and comfort.
After this earthly life, show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, O kind, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
LEADER: O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 2
LEADER:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.”
(Lk 1: 46-48)
From antiquity, the celebration of either the feast of the Dormition of Mary or the Assumption of Mary testified to the belief that when the Virgin Mother of God passed from this earthly exile to heaven, what happened to her sacred body was, by the decree of divine Providence, in keeping with the dignity of the Mother of the Word Incarnate, and with the other privileges she had been accorded. For example, it is possible to cite an illustrious example from Pope Adrian I: “Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of death, who has begotten your Son our Lord incarnate from herself.” (Cfr. Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus)
Oh most venerable Virgin, who was always the fount of consolation for the Apostles, console us in our earthly journey until we too finally meet Our Lord and Savior.
LET US PRAY
ALL:
Mary, Assumed into Heaven, we venerate you as the Queen of Heaven and earth.
As you tasted the bitterness of pain and sorrow with your Son on earth, you now enjoy eternal bliss with Him in Heaven.
Loving Queen, intercede for us in our needs.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: We praise Jesus for giving us such a loving mother.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 3
LEADER:
“The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Lk 1, 49)
The fact that the Apostolic See has made the celebration of the feast of the Assumption ever more solemn, has certainly and effectively moved the attentive minds of the faithful to appreciate always more completely the magnitude of the mystery it commemorates. So it was that the Feast of the Assumption was elevated from the rank which it had occupied from the beginning among the other Marian feasts to be classed among the more solemn celebrations of the entire liturgical cycle. When St. Sergius I prescribed the litany, he specified the Feasts of the Nativity, the Annunciation, the Purification, and the Dormition, or the Assumption, of the Virgin Mary. (Cfr. Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus)
Oh Immaculate Virgin, the strength of divine love freed your pure spirit from any earthly ties, obtain for us the grace that at the end of our lives we will cling only to that which unites us to God.
LET US PRAY
ALL:
O Mother, Assumed into Heaven, because you shared in all the mysteries of our Redemption here below, Jesus has crowned you with glory.
With your most glorious and powerful intercession, help us O Loving Mother and present to Jesus our request.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: O Queen assumed into Heaven,
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 4
LEADER:
“Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” (Zep 3:14)
St. John Damascene, an outstanding herald of this traditional truth, spoke out with powerful eloquence when he compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother of God with her other prerogatives and privileges. “It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God.”
Oh dear Virgin, we rejoice with you that the angels took your body, the Arc of the Eternal Word Incarnate, singing songs of praise and glory to heaven. Pray for us during our earthly life that we may one day also enjoy the joy of heaven.
LET US PRAY
ALL: O Dearest Mother Mary, Assumed into Heaven, God placed you at His right hand that you may intercede for his little ones as the Mother of God.
In the midst of all the saints you stand as their Queen and ours — dearer to the Heart of God than any creation. You pray for your children and grant us every grace won by our loving Savior on the Cross.
Please intercede for us in our needs and ask Jesus to grant our request if it be for the good of our souls.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: O Queen Assumed into Heaven,
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 5
LEADER:
Among the scholastic theologians there have not been lacking those who, wishing to inquire more profoundly into divinely revealed truths and desirous of showing the harmony that exists between what is termed the theological demonstration and the Catholic faith, have always considered it worthy of note that this privilege of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption is in wonderful accord with those divine truths given us in Holy Scripture.
To mention only a few of the texts rather frequently cited in this fashion, some have employed the words of the psalmist: “Arise, O Lord, into your resting place: you and the ark, which you have sanctified” (Ps 131: 8); and have looked upon the Ark of the Covenant, built of incorruptible wood and placed in the Lord’s temple, as a type of the most pure body of the Virgin Mary, preserved and exempt from all the corruption of the tomb and raised up to such glory in heaven. Treating of this subject, they also describe her as the Queen entering triumphantly into the royal halls of heaven and sitting at the right hand of the divine Redeemer. Likewise, they mention the Spouse of the Canticles “that goes up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatic spices, of myrrh and frankincense” to be crowned. These are proposed as depicting that heavenly Queen and heavenly Spouse who has been lifted up to the courts of heaven with the divine Bridegroom.
Blessed are you, Oh Holy Virgin, by the glorification of your body you were redressed in celestial beauty. O Dear Mother, help us to willingly offer our trials and sufferings for the love of Jesus so that we will also merit the joy of the Resurrection.
LET US PRAY
ALL: O merciful and loving Mother, may your glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven.
May your merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears.
Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here, and with immortality and glory in Heaven.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 6
LEADER:
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Rev 12:1)
The scholastic Doctors have recognized the Assumption of the Virgin Mother of God as something signified, not only in various figures of the Old Testament, but also in that woman clothed with the sun whom John the Apostle contemplated on the Island of Patmos. (cfr. Rev 12:1) Similarly they have given special attention to these words of the New Testament: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women,” (Lk 1:28) since they saw, in the mystery of the Assumption, the fulfillment of that most perfect grace granted to the Blessed Virgin and the special blessing that countered the curse of Eve.
Oh great Mother of God, we venerate your glorious Assumption into heaven, accompanied by the choirs of the Angels and your Only Son. Help us to be humble in this life on earth so that one day we may be exalted in heaven.
LET US PRAY
ALL: Mary, our dear Mother and mighty Queen, take and receive our poor hearts with all their freedom and desires, all the love and all the virtues and graces with which they may be adorned.
All we are and all we might be, all we have and hold in the order of nature as well as of grace, we have received from God through your loving intercession.
Help us dear Mother to surrender to God all that we have, including our petitions.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: Our Lady and Queen, into your gentle hands, we entrust all, that it may be returned to its noble origin.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 7
LEADER:
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.” (Lk 1:68)
When, during the Middle Ages, scholastic theology was especially flourishing, St. Albert the Great who, to establish this teaching, had gathered together many proofs from Sacred Scripture, from the statements of older writers, and finally from the liturgy and from what is known as theological reasoning, concluded in this way: “From these proofs and authorities and from many others, it is manifest that the most blessed Mother of God has been assumed above the choirs of angels. And this we believe in every way to be true.” And, in a sermon which he delivered on the sacred day of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s annunciation, explained the words “Hail, full of grace”-words used by the angel who addressed her-the Universal Doctor, comparing the Blessed Virgin with Eve, stated clearly and incisively that she was exempted from the fourfold curse that had been laid upon Eve.
Following the footsteps of his distinguished teacher, St Thomas Aquinas, despite the fact that he never dealt directly with this question, nevertheless, whenever he touched upon it, always held together with the Catholic Church, that Mary’s body had been assumed into heaven along with her soul. (Cfr. Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus)
O great Daughter of the Eternal Father, Mary, to whom was entrusted the Word of Life, protect the Church against her enemies so that faith in your Son, Jesus will triumph.
LET US PRAY
ALL: Mary, Queen of every heart, accept all that we are and bind us to Jesus with the bonds of love so that we may be yours forever and may be able to say in all truth: "I belong to Jesus through Mary".
Our Mother, Assumed into Heaven and Queen of the Universe, ever-Virgin Mother of God, obtain for us what we ask, if it be for the glory of God and the good of our souls.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: Our Mother, assumed into Heaven, we love you. Give us a greater love for Jesus and for you.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 8
LEADER:
“Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?” (Song 8, 5)
Saint Bonaventure was entirely certain that, as God had preserved the most holy Virgin Mary from the violation of her virginal purity and integrity in conceiving and in childbirth, he would never have permitted her body to have been resolved into dust and ashes. Explaining these words of Sacred Scripture: “Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?” and applying them in a kind of accommodated sense to the Blessed Virgin, he reasons thus: “From this we can see that she is there bodily…her blessedness would not have been complete unless she were there as a person. The soul is not a person, but the soul, joined to the body, is a person. It is manifest that she is there in soul and in body. Otherwise she would not possess her complete beatitude.
Oh great Mother of God, by that celestial wisdom with which you were taken into the triumph of your Divine Son, intercede for us so that we will be illuminated with the truth of the Gospel and then the grace to follow it in our lives.
LET US PRAY
ALL: Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, we rejoice that you are the Queen of Heaven and Earth. You have given your holy fiat to God and became the Mother of our Savior.
Obtain peace and salvation for us through your prayers, for you have given birth to Christ our Lord, the Savior of all mankind.
Intercede for us and bring our petitions before the Throne of God.
(Mention your request)
LEADER: Through your prayers, may our souls be filled with an intense desire to be like you, a humble vessel of the Holy Spirit and a servant of the Almighty God.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us. Amen
Day 9
LEADER:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”… (1 Cor 15:54-55)
After we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. (Cfr. Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus)
We greet you, O most pure Spouse of the Holy Spirit! Wise Virgin who sees all our difficulties; powerful Queen who responds to our cries; loving Mother who pours her love upon us calling us to imitate her virtue of charity. Intercede for us so that one day we may also participate in your immortal glory.
LET US PRAY
ALL: O Blessed Mother Assumed into Heaven, after years of heroic martyrdom on earth, we rejoice that you have at last been taken to the throne prepared for you in Heaven by the Holy Trinity.
Lift our hearts with you in the glory of your Assumption above the dreadful touch of sin and impurity.
Teach us how small earth becomes when viewed from heaven. Make us realize that death is the triumphant gate through which we shall pass to your Son and that someday our bodies shall rejoin our souls in the unending bliss of heaven.
From this earth, which we tread as pilgrims, we look to you for help.
In honor of your Assumption into Heaven, we ask for this favor....
(Mention your request)
LEADER: At the hour of our death, lead us safely to the presence of Jesus to enjoy the vision of God for all eternity together with you.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven
ALL: Pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen