Day Eight
Mary, Mother of the Church, your apparitions at Tepeyac and the miraculous image you left fostered unity between Catholic conquerors and clergy and the millions of Aztec converts. Bring unity, Mother, to the various factions within the Church and the wider public so that all may work to establish a culture of life.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day 5 – St. John of the Cross Contemplative Novena – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcast
St. John of the Cross you have said:
It is clear that the desires weary and fatigue the soul; for they are like restless and discontented children, who are ever demanding this or that from their mother, and are never contented. And even as one that digs because he covets a treasure is wearied and fatigued, even so is the soul wearied and fatigued in order to attain that which its desires demand of it; and although in the end it may attain it, it is still weary, because it is never satisfied
Ascent of Mount Carmel. Trans. E. Allison Peers, Book 1, Chapter 6, Paragraph 6
Prayer for Peace from St. John of the Cross
O Blessed Jesus, grant me stillness of soul in You. Let Your mighty calmness reign in me. Rule me, O King of gentleness, King of peace. Give me control, control over my words, thoughts and actions. From all irritability, want of meekness, want of gentleness, O dear Lord, deliver me. By Your own deep patience give me patience, stillness of soul in You. Make me in this, and in all, more and more like You. Amen.
Lord God, you gave Saint John of the Cross
the grace of complete self-denial
and an ardent love for the cross of Christ.
Grant that by following always in his footsteps
we may come to the eternal vision of your glory.
And through his intercession, if it be in accord with your holy will,
Grant the petition we bring before you in this novena.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Day Seven
Mystical Rose, your miraculous signs of Castilian roses in winter and your image on the tilma of Juan Diego led to the conversion of eight million Aztec people to Catholicism in just seven years. Mary, Mother of the Americas, intercede again for your children in the Americas, and convert the hearts of all who deny the sanctity of every human life.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day 4 – St. John of the Cross Contemplative Novena – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcast
St. John of the Cross you have said:
The road and ascent to God, then, necessarily demands a habitual effort to renounce and mortify the appetites; the sooner this mortification is achieved, the sooner the soul reaches the top. But until the appetites are eliminated, a person will not arrive, no matter how much virtue he practices. For he will fail to acquire perfect virtue, which lies in keeping the soul empty, naked, and purified of every appetite.
… Until slumber comes to the appetites through the mortification of sensuality, and until this very sensuality is stilled in such a way that the appetites do not war against the spirit, the soul will not walk out to genuine freedom, to the enjoyment of union with its Beloved.
The Ascent Of Mount Carmel, I.5.6; Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1973; p. 83
Prayer for Peace from St. John of the Cross
O Blessed Jesus, grant me stillness of soul in You. Let Your mighty calmness reign in me. Rule me, O King of gentleness, King of peace. Give me control, control over my words, thoughts and actions. From all irritability, want of meekness, want of gentleness, O dear Lord, deliver me. By Your own deep patience give me patience, stillness of soul in You. Make me in this, and in all, more and more like You. Amen.
Lord God, you gave Saint John of the Cross
the grace of complete self-denial
and an ardent love for the cross of Christ.
Grant that by following always in his footsteps
we may come to the eternal vision of your glory.
And through his intercession, if it be in accord with your holy will,
Grant the petition we bring before you in this novena.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Day Six
Holy Mary, comfort of the troubled, you sought out Juan Diego when in fear and confusion he took a different route to avoid encountering you. Then you restored his hope and confidence so he could carry out the task you had entrusted to him. Many people today face decisions of life and death filled with fear and confusion. Mother, we ask you to restore their trust and hope in God so that their actions will always affirm the sanctity of human life.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day Five
Virgin gentle in mercy, in Juan Diego’s anxiety, to bring a priest to his dying uncle he failed to keep his appointment with you. Yet, you rewarded his filial love by restoring his uncle to health. Your compassion allowed Juan Diego to fulfill the mission you gave him, returning to the bishop with the proof the bishop sought. Teach us, Mother, to put God’s holy will ahead of all created things, including our loved ones, and help remove the obstacles that prevent us from following God’s will.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Virgin most wise, you chose a humble farmer to announce your motherly concern to the people of Mexico. Although Juan Diego felt unequal to the mission you gave him, you encouraged him to persevere. Faced with powerful anti-life forces today, we also feel unequal to the mission God has given us of building a culture of life and a civilization of love. Help us to persevere always in this great campaign for life, assured of your help and prayers. Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day Three
Mother of God, your ribboned sash identified you as a pregnant woman, a woman who bore the Christ Child to a world in darkness and who through two millennia has borne the light and love of Christ to a world that has largely rejected Him. May the love of your Son awaken a hymn of thanksgiving and praise in all pregnant mothers, as happened long ago in the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day Two
Mary, Mother of divine grace, you appeared to Juan
Diego standing on the moon and robed in a royal mantle adorned with stars, showing that you are the Queen of Heaven and Earth, yet far from a haughty or distant Queen. With hands folded in supplication, eyes cast downward in humility and compassion, you did not ask for a temple where you could be honored, but one where you could attend to the “weeping and sorrows of … all the people of this land, and of the various peoples who love me….” May all who are sorrowing due to abuse, violence, exploitation, neglect, and all sins against the dignity of life, fly to you, Mother, for comfort and hope.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
To prevent his disciples from asking the time of his coming, Christ said: About that hour no one knows, neither the angels nor the Son. It is not for you to know times or moments. He has kept those things hidden so that we may keep watch, each of us thinking that he will come in our own day. If he had revealed the time of his coming, his coming would have lost its savour: it would no longer be an object of yearning for the nations and the age in which it will be revealed. He promised that he would come but did not say when he would come, and so all generations and ages await him eagerly.
Though the Lord has established the signs of his coming, the time of their fulfilment has not been plainly revealed. These signs have come and gone with a multiplicity of change; more than that, they are still present. His final coming is like his first. As holy men and prophets waited for him, thinking that he would reveal himself in their own day, so today each of the faithful longs to welcome him in his own day, because Christ has not made plain the day of his coming.
He has not made it plain for this reason especially, that no one may think that he whose power and dominion rule all numbers and times is ruled by fate and time. He described the signs of his coming; how could what he has himself decided be hidden from him? Therefore, he used these words to increase respect for the signs of his coming, so that from that day forward all generations and ages might think that he would come again in their own day.
Keep watch; when the body is asleep nature takes control of us, and what is done is not done by our will but by force, by the impulse of nature. When deep listlessness takes possession of the soul, for example, faint-heartedness or melancholy, the enemy overpowers it and makes it do what it does not will. The force of nature, the enemy of the soul, is in control.
When the Lord commanded us to be vigilant, he meant vigilance in both parts of man: in the body, against the tendency to sleep; in the soul, against lethargy and timidity. As Scripture says: Wake up, you just, and I have risen, and am still with you; and again, Do not lose heart. Therefore, having this ministry, we do not lose heart.
Day Three
