NOVENA IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (FROM ST. ALPHONSUS’ PRAYER-BOOK)

PRAYER FOR ALL NINE DAYS OF THE NOVENA:
     Ah! my Immaculate Lady! I rejoice with thee on seeing thee enriched with so great purity. I thank our common Creator for having preserved thee from every stain of sin, and will always thank Him. I would that the whole world knew thee and acknowledged thee as being that beautiful “Dawn” which was always illumined with divine light; as that chosen ” Ark” of salvation, free from the common shipwreck of sin; that perfect and immaculate “Dove” which thy divine Spouse declared thee to be; that “enclosed Garden” which was the delight of God; that “sealed Fountain” whose waters were never troubled by an enemy; and, finally, as that “white Lily” which was born in the midst of the thorns of the children of Adam. His children are conceived in sin, and are the enemies of God; but thou alone wast conceived pure and spotless, and in all things agreeable to thy Creator. Permit me, then, to praise thee also as thy God Himself has praised thee: “Thou art all fair, and there is not a spot in thee.” O most pure Dove, all fair, all beautiful, always the friend of God. “Oh, how beautiful art thou, my beloved! how beautiful art thou!” Ah, most sweet, most amiable, immaculate Mary, thou who art so beautiful in the eyes of thy Lord, – ah, disdain not to cast thy compassionate eyes on the wounds of my soul, loathsome though they be. Behold me, pity me, heal me. O beautiful Loadstone of hearts, draw my miserable heart to thyself. O thou who from the first moment of thy life didst appear pure and beautiful before God, pity me, who not only was born in sin, but since baptism has again stained my soul with sin. What grace will God ever refuse thee, Who chose thee for His Daughter, His Mother, and His Spouse, and therefore preserved thee from every stain, and in His love preferred thee to all other creatures? “Immaculate Virgin, thou hast to save me.” Grant that I may always remember thee; and thou, do thou never forget me. The happy day when I shall go to behold thy beauty in paradise seems a thousand years off; so much do I long to praise and love thee more than I can now do, my Mother, my Queen, my beloved, most beautiful, most sweet, most pure, immaculate Mary. Amen.

AVE MARIA (IX)

*Ant . Haec est virga in qua nec nodus originalis, nec cortex actualis culpae fuit.

V. In conceptione tua, O Virgo, immaculata fuisti.
R. Ora pro nobis Patrem, cuius Filium peperisti.

OREMUS
     DEUS, qui per immaculatam Virginis Conceptionem dignum Filio tuo habitaculum praeparasti, quaesumus, ut qui ex morte eiusdem Filii tui praevisa eam ab omni labe praeservasti, nos quoque mundos, eius intercessione, ad te pervenire concedas. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.