NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP

     O Holy Virgin Mary, who to inspire us with boundless confidence, hast 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 invoke thee with fidelity thou wilt be faithful to come to my assistance.  Obtain for me, then, this grace of graces: the grace to pray to thee without ceasing, and with child-like prayer, that I may ensure thy perpetual help and final perseverance.  Bless me, O loving and ever helpful Mother, and pray for me now and at the hour of my death.  Amen.

MEDITATION:  The title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

     It is our loving Savior who inspired the faithful to give His beloved Mother the sweet name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  Proof of this are the favors and wonders that those who invoke her under this title incessantly obtain.  It was not, therefore, devised by men, but by God Himself.
     The words of God are not vain or empty; they accomplish what they signify, they express the nature of things, and they say what they truly are.  Let us analyze, then, each of the words of this sweet invocation: Our Lady of Perpetual Help; they teach us what Mary Most Holy is for us.  Mary is “Lady,” that is, most worthy Mother of God, Sovereign of heaven and earth, Queen of Angels and Saints, Conqueror of hell; and after Jesus Christ, Redeemer of the world.  Mary is “ours.”  Shortly before Jesus Christ expired on the Cross, He gave her to us, not as a judge, nor even as a queen, but as a Mother.  These words, “Behold thy Mother,” which Jesus then spoke to Saint John, were addressed to all Christians.  Pronounced by God, they instilled in Mary’s heart a deep love for humanity and gave her all the power she needed to fully fulfill her role as Mother.  A father earns his children’s sustenance, but the mother divides it among them.  Thus, Jesus Christ merited for us, by His painful death, all the graces we need to save ourselves.  However, He did not wish to distribute them Himself, but entrusted this pious office to His Most Holy Mother.  Thus, Mary is the “help” of Christians. But to be saved, we must always avoid evil and practice good; we need, therefore, not only momentary help, but “perpetual” help.  Such is Mary for all those who invoke her.  She helps them not only occasionally, but continually, not just for a while, but at all times and in all circumstances, from their birth to their death, and even in Purgatory, until their entry into Heaven.  As she is the Mistress of the infinite merits of Jesus Christ and the inexhaustible treasures of divine goodness, there is no favor she cannot bestow upon her devotees, and because she has unspeakable affection and love for them all, there is no favor that she is not constantly ready to grant.

Prayer:  Our Lady of Perpetual Help, obtain for us the grace to love and serve thee faithfully.

Practice.  Repeat the above prayer frequently.

MEDITATION:  Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the sinner

     In the opinion of a pious writer, there is no more effective or easier means to achieve the conversion of a sinner than to inspire in him a tender and sincere devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  It is no wonder, then, that among the wonders that this compassionate Virgin works daily, thousands of stupendous conversions, due to her intercession, figure in the forefront.
     Mary is called the Mother of Perpetual Help.  Help, therefore, is provided to so many unfortunate people who turn to her; but who is more unfortunate than he who lives in mortal sin?  His soul, stripped of sanctifying grace, is dead, and as such, has become a dwelling place for demons, and is, like them, horrible in the eyes of God.  For that soul, the gates of Heaven are closed, but those of Hell are open, where death can deliver her at the least expected moment.  Could there be a greater misfortune?  That is why the Mother of sinners exhausts, so to speak, all the treasures of her mercy on them; she attracts them with the sweetness of the name of Mother of Perpetual Help, with the fame of her miracles, even with her merciful gaze.  How many unfortunate sinners have been converted simply by laying their eyes on this miraculous Virgin!
     With what kindness does Mary welcome the sinner who comes to her, eager to convert!  She does not reject him, even if he has committed countless sins; and if he continues to invoke her, Mary will continue to support him until she succeeds in removing him from sin through a sincere confession and a complete change of habits.  She does not know how not to, nor can she fail to, pity and help any wretch who turns to her, because God created her to be Queen and Mother of mercy, and as Queen of mercy, she is obliged to care for the wretched.  What pain will the Christian who has damned himself experience in hell, thinking that he could have been saved so easily by constantly resorting to this Mother of mercy, and that now there is no remedy!

Prayer:  Most Pure Mother, raise me from the mire of sin and obtain for me the grace of reconciliation with God.

Practice:  Pray three Hail Marys to Our Lady of Perpetual Help every day, so that she may free us from all voluntary sin.

MEDITATION:  Mary, help of the desperate

     There are sinners whose salvation seems impossible.  They are those who, although they occasionally perform some religious act, never go to confession.  Content with this false impression, which makes them appear in the eyes of the world as gentlemen and upright men, they disregard their religious duties, not caring that they live far from God.  Others do not go to Mass or pray; they do not attack religion, but they do not practice it either, and perhaps they do not believe in it.  Still others, finally, hate it; they do not allow their families and employees to practice it; they put their greatest effort and joy into perverting and corrupting souls, taking away their faith and filling them with sin.  If you speak to them of the dreadful eternity that awaits them, they laugh or become irritated and blaspheme.  Perhaps they are affiliated with secret societies, so they can wage a more brutal war against God and souls.
     If Mary did not exist, we would have to despair of the salvation of these unfortunates.  Christian soul, who wishes to achieve their conversion, place before their eyes the blessed Image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, whose name alone will tell them that she can save them too.  Her face, covered with profound sadness, will tell them how much she pities them and desires to save them, having hitherto consented to the death of her beloved Son.  The Son Himself will tell them that, having died for them, He is ready to save them as soon as they have recourse to His beloved Mother. If they refuse to turn to her, do it for them with confidence and perseverance, and hopefully, one day, seeing your prayer heard, you will be able to exclaim with St. Bernard: “Through thee, O Mary, Heaven has been opened, hell has been closed, heavenly Jerusalem has been restored, and life has been given to the unfortunate, who awaited nothing but eternal damnation.”

Prayer:  Refuge of sinners, health of the desperate, pray for me.

Practice:  Repeat this prayer frequently.

MEDITATION:  Mary, help in temptation

     There are devotees of Mary who are almost too happy.  They are never or rarely bothered by any sinful display, because this good Mother drives the devil and the corrupting world away from them and makes them almost equal to the Angels.  There are others for whom it is useful to be tempted.  But no matter how violent the attacks of the enemy, do not be troubled or discouraged; call upon Mary, and Mary will help you to resist valiantly.  It is not for nothing that she is called Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and every temptation overcome, far from staining the soul, beautifies it and makes it worthy of greater glory in heaven.  No one refuses to reach out to another when by doing so they can save them from certain death; much less will our most loving Mother Mary refuse to free us from the death of sin if we have recourse to her in temptation, for only then can she help us effectively.  Therefore Saint Alphonsus exclaims: “Oh, my sweetest Lady!  I know well that if I commend myself to thee, thou wilt help me and I will be victorious; but this is my fear, that in time of danger, I may neglect to call on thee and thus fall miserably.  This grace, then, I ask of thee, and this I beg with all the fervor of my soul, that in all attacks of hell I may always have recourse to thee, saying: ‘O Mary, help me.’  My tender Mother, never suffer me to lose my God.”  Following the example of this great Saint, let us ask Our Lady of Perpetual Help every day for the grace to invoke her in the moment of temptation, because in such moments it is sometimes difficult to pray, and so one fails to do so and sins.  Today more than ever it is fitting to ask for her precious grace, because if the devil and the rebellious flesh have always waged cruel war against man, perhaps never has innocence been more persecuted by the sensual, unbelieving, and shameless world.

Prayer:  In the snares of the enemies of our salvation, protect us, kind Mother.

Practice:  Say frequently: “Lord, lead us not into temptation.”

MEDITATION:  Mary, help in the practice of virtues

     To be saved, in addition to avoiding evil, it is necessary to practice good, because heaven is not acquired for free; it must be purchased with good works.  Good works are those that are done with the intention of pleasing God and that are in conformity with His sovereign will.  It is not enough to practice such works occasionally; they must be done habitually.  Only then can one be said to be virtuous; virtue is the habit of doing good, and this habit can be acquired by everyone.  Virtuous people are seen everywhere: and if others are virtuous, why shouldn’t we be?  God commands us to be so, and He does not command impossible things.  It is true that we cannot be so without His help.  “Without Me, that is, without My help,” Jesus Christ tells us, “You can do nothing good;” and Saint Paul adds, “nor pronounce the Holy Name of Jesus with respect and love.”  Consequently, much less can we habitually do good without God’s help.  But with His help, we easily do what we could never do alone.  Since God is omnipotent, nothing is impossible to whom He helps, and He helps those who ask for help.  He has said: “Ask and you shall receive.”
     Let us, then, ask God for His graces, but let us ask them through Mary, into whose hands He has seen fit to place them.  This august Lady is the treasurer and dispenser of divine graces, and her devotion is one of the indispensable means of obtaining them, so that devotion to Mary is not a mere adornment for Christians; it is an obligation imposed by God, although not by explicit command.
     Do you see this, Christian soul?  Only through Mary can you be virtuous, and through her you can be easily virtuous.  Look at the virtuous people you know.  Aren’t they all very devoted to Mary?  They continually turn to her, and she perpetually helps them, and with Mary’s help, there is no virtue that cannot be easily practiced.  The more virtuous you are, the greater will be your happiness on earth and in heaven, your worth with God; and consequently your contribution to the eternal and temporal happiness of your neighbor.

Prayer:  By thy Pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy.

Practice:  In honor of Mary’s purity, let us do all our works with right intention.

MEDITATION:  Mary, help in sickness

     We have empathy for the ailments of our relatives and relieve them to the best of our ability.  Now, would Mary, the Mother of Perpetual Help, who is all goodness and who disposes of the power of God at her pleasure, be less compassionate and generous toward us?  It cannot be.  She feels our sufferings as if they were her own, and she remedies them, as millions of prodigious deeds prove, and that is why we greet her with the sweet title of “Health of the Sick.”  But – and thus the Lord has ordained it – only Mary can effectively help those who call upon her with complete trust.  If we want her to restore our health, we must ask her without doubting that we will be heard.  But if our health is to be harmful to us, if it is to diminish our eternal happiness, and above all, if it is to cause us to fall into hell, Mary, who above all desires to lead us to Heaven, instead of granting us such a fatal favor, will grant us another, in every sense, most precious.  She will grant us holy patience, she will make us understand that it is God’s will that we suffer, and she will help us to offer our ailments to the Lord with a generous and constant love.  Thus we will find ourselves happy in the midst of our sufferings, and we would not exchange them for all the riches and honors of this earth, knowing that they will be abundantly rewarded to us in heaven.  Mary is the best of mothers, and she never abandons us.  When, then, we find ourselves prostrate on our bed of pain, let us imagine – and this is true – that she looks down on us from the heights of Heaven, tender and compassionate, and offers our ailments to God, in order to obtain for us the grace of suffering in a meritorious way for all eternity.  Just as a sick little child unhesitatingly entrusts itself to the care of its loving mother, let us place ourselves in the hands of our heavenly Mother; let us unite our ailments to those she herself experienced at the foot of the Cross during the agony of her Divine Son, and let us pray that she may present them to God, united with her own, and help us to suffer as she suffered in that agonizing moment, that is, without dejection or complaint, but with serenity, constancy, and complete conformity to the will of God.

Prayer:  Most loving Mother, help me in my illnesses and help me bear them with patience.

Practice:  Pray seven Hail Marys for the seven sorrows of the Most Holy Mary, so that she may obtain for us from her Divine Son the grace to love suffering.

MEDITATION:  Mary, help in poverty

     Jesus Christ was poor, and so was his Most Holy Mother.  No doubt Jesus could have made her immensely rich, but He judged it better for her to experience the privations of poverty.  He arranged it this way so that, following the example of Mary Most Holy, the rich would esteem the poor and the latter would resign themselves to their lot.  Poverty frees from many sins, is an opportunity to practice many virtues, and is an excellent way to do penance; now, Jesus Christ said: “If you do not do penance, you will all perish.”
     Are you rich?  Ask Mary for holy detachment, so that if God wants to take your possessions from you, you may say sincerely with the holy man Job: “God gave them to me; He has taken them away; blessed be He!”  Ask her also for love for the poor.  Almsgiving is not a work of supererogation for the rich, but an obligation imposed by God upon them.  He says, “Woe to those who close their ears to the cry of the poor, for they will cry out and not be heard!”  Almsgiving is a loan.  Whoever gives to the poor gives to God, and God returns it a hundredfold.  Almsgiving is an honor.  Our Divine Savior says: “Whatever you do to the least of these brothers, you have done to Me.”  Those lesser brothers of His that Jesus Christ speaks of are the poor whose unfortunate fate their older brothers, the rich, must remedy.
     Are you poor?  Ask Mary to help you understand these words of Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the poor!  Theirs is the kingdom of heaven!”  Ask her to help you bear your sorrows without complaint, with resignation and even with joy.  How beautiful your crown will then be in heaven!  How complete your happiness!
     And if you reach the point of lacking the necessities of life, do not despair.  In such a distressing situation, lift your tearful eyes to Our Lady of Perpetual Help; cry out to Her; she has a special affection for the poor, and she will make some charitable soul, like an Angel sent by Her, fly to your aid.  If no one has ever heard of anyone being abandoned by Mary, none of those who have taken refuge in her protection, could She abandon her beloved children, the poor, when they cry out to Her in their anguish?

Prayer:  Mother of Perpetual Help, protect me in my needs and make poverty the means for me to attain the eternal riches of heaven.

Practice:  For love of the Blessed Virgin, give alms or some service to one’s neighbor.

MEDITATION:  Mary, help in life’s sorrows

     Our life is but a long chain of sorrows.  An unborn child endangers its mother’s existence and perhaps later tears her heart apart with its vices and disorders; painful suspicions torment many spouses; sudden reversals of fortune plunge many families into misery; death precipitates tender children into orphanhood and their mothers into sad widowhood.  “What will become of our father?” many children cry out in pain, seeing him about to descend into the grave, burdened with sins, yet laughing at the filial fears and warnings of his family.  Pious souls also have their sorrows, sometimes crueler than death: such are the constant fear of sinning, a violent inclination toward evil, and the terrible anguish of believing themselves abandoned by the Lord.  “Who can console us in such afflictions but she who is called the ‘Comforter of the Afflicted,’ the Mother of Perpetual Help?”  “O Mary,” Saint Germanus says to her, “who is as solicitous for our well-being as Thee?  Who consoles us in our sorrows like Thee?”  “No one,” Saint Antoninus replies, “for there is no one among the Saints who has such compassion for our miseries as this most pious Lady.  We need only lay before her our sorrows, and she will immediately help and console us.”  Mary knows from experience what it is to suffer; all her life she was immersed in an ocean of bitterness, thinking of the sorrowful Passion of her beloved Son.  Do not be disconsolate, then, afflicted soul; turn to her; she is so good, so compassionate, that she cannot help casting upon you a look of merciful tenderness; she will not allow those souls for whom you implore her to be eternally lost; she will help you offer your sufferings to the Lord with a heart submissive and resigned to the adorable designs of His Providence; even more: she will make you bear them with a certain consolation and joy, thinking that with them you can merit heaven and that they make you similar to her, the Queen of Martyrs, and to Jesus Crucified, Leader and Model of the predestined.

Prayer:  Jesus and Mary, be always my love and hope.

Practice:  Let us promise to always render special veneration to Mary under the title of Mother of Perpetual Help and to spread her devotion.

MEDITATION:  Mary, help in the hour of death

     If Mary helps her devotees in all dangers, how could she abandon them at the hour of death, a moment on which eternity depends?  “I am a faithful mother,” she said to Saint Bridget, “and I want to be present at the death of all those who have served me; I want to assist them, protect them, and console them.”  Mary, being the most innocent of creatures, was not to suffer the penalty of sin, that is, death.  But she submitted to it voluntarily in imitation of her Divine Son, who wished to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of men with His Passion and Death.  God rewarded her for this sacrifice by placing under her special protection all His servants who invoke her at that moment.  “I,” the Blessed Virgin said to the Venerable Sister Maria de Jesus, “will defend them against the devil, I will assist and protect them, I will finally present them to the tribunal of infinite mercy and intercede for them.”
     How holy, sweet, and blessed must be the death of the servants of Mary!  Protected by such a kind Mother, they bear their sufferings with unwavering patience and offer them to God, along with the sacrifice of their lives, in atonement for their sins.  They know that as soon as they have breathed their last, Jesus Christ will come to take them to account; but they are not troubled by this; they remember that Mary will be there interceding for them, and could Jesus then fail to give them a favorable sentence?  Nor does Purgatory frighten them. They are consoled by the knowledge that Mary will soften and shorten those tremendous sufferings and that one day she will take them out and bring them with her to Paradise.

Prayer:  Virgin Mary, you who are my perpetual help in life and my hope, be my protection in the hour of death.

Practice:  Filled with trust in Mary’s protection, let us invoke her patronage for the last moments of our lives.

     O Mary, most powerful Mother!  Grant that from now on and forever I may invoke thee with the glorious title of Mother of Perpetual Help.  How much consolation, how much confidence is inspired by that exalted title, with which thou thyself hast taught us to invoke thee!  In this sweet name are contained all the wonders of thy mercy.  Sinners come to thee and thou dost obtain forgiveness for their sins; the sick come to thee and thou dost relieve their ills; the sad and disconsolate come to thee and become content; the poor and indigent come to thee and leave healed or provided with patience, a treasure superior to all riches; the dying come to thee and, breathing out their souls in thy arms, fly to eternal glory.
     My most loving Mother, I place myself in thy hands.  Tell me what I must do to recover the favor of my Lord, and I will immediately do it.  He sends me to thee that thou mayst help me; and He wills that I should have recourse to thy mercy, that not only the merits of thy Son, but also that thy intercession may help me to save my soul.  To thee, then, I have recourse; do thou, who prayest for so many others, pray also to Jesus for me.  Ask Him to pardon me and He will forgive me; tell Him that thou desirest my salvation, and He will save me; ask Him to grant me the favor that is the object of this novena (state your request), and He will grant it to me; show how thou canst enrich those who trust in thee.  Amen.  Thus I hope, thus may it be. 

V.  O Mother of Perpetual Help, thou whose very name inspires confidence.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  That I may be victorious in the trying time of temptation.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  That I may quickly rise again should I have the misfortune to fall into sin.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  That I may break asunder any bonds of Satan in which I may become entangled.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  Against the seductions of the world, evil companions, and bad books.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  That I may soon return to my former fervor should I ever become lukewarm.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  In my preparation for the Sacraments and the performance of my Christian duties.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  In all the trials and troubles of life.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  Against my own inconstancy that I may persevere to the end.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  That I may ever love Thee and serve Thee and invoke Thy assistance.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  That I may be able to induce others to love, serve and pray to thee.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

V.  O Mother, to my last hour, to my last breath, do thou ever watch over me.
R.  Help me, O loving Mother.

     O Mother of Perpetual Help, protect also the Supreme Pontiff, the Church, my country, my family, my friends and enemies, all the unfortunate, my deceased relatives, and all the blessed souls in Purgatory: Come to their aid.  Amen.

Be loved, be praised, be invoked, be eternally blessed,
O Virgin of Perpetual Help,
my hope, my love, my Mother, my refuge, and my life!  
Amen.