Novena For Marriages (November 30 - December 8)

Day 1

“Heavenly Mother, Spotless Bride of the Spotless Lamb,
Your children stand gathered together before you.”

Heavenly Mother, it is your love
and the love of Christ that bids us here.
We gather as husband and wife
in your mantle of love and protection,
knowing you desire our communion with God more than we.
Mother, in your Holy Family, with Saint Joseph and Jesus,
a reflection of the Trinity was made present
for the benefit of all.
We implore you to attain for us the graces we need
to transform our lives and our families,
that we would be a reflection of God's presence in our world.
As you were made spotless by Christ’s Sacrifice,
pray that we daily may lay down our own lives for our spouses
and our children, that they may become purified.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 2

“With Saint Joseph and the Apostle John
we wish to bring you into our home,
so that you may open to us the treasures of your Immaculate Heart.”

Heavenly Mother, John Paul II has asked us
to contemplate the face of Christ
and to contemplate his face with Mary.
We open our homes and our hearts to you, our Mother.
As you entered the home of Elizabeth,
she was filled with the Holy Spirit
and it penetrated her so deeply that the baby in her womb,
John the Baptist, leaped for joy.
Through your presence, the Holy Spirit filled the home
and Jesus sanctified the infant John.
Before John was ever born,
he was sanctified by Christ alive in your womb.
Mother of the Savior, your only desire is to bring your Son to us.
Just as you brought him to the home of Elizabeth and John the Baptist,
please bring him into our homes and our hearts.
As you did for your spouse Saint Joseph and the Apostle John,
open to us the treasures of your Immaculate Heart.
May the Holy Spirit, which overshadowed you
from the moment of your Immaculate Conception, overshadow our home.

O Lord, mystery of life and love,
how sweet the path of those who find you abiding in their homes,
who gaze upon the beauty of your face
and hear the sweet sound of your voice.
Praise to you, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
for you have hidden these things from the wise
and learned and have revealed them to the pure of heart.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 3

“Reveal to us the hidden face of your Son,
present in our midst.”

Heavenly Mother, no one understood and experienced
God’s presence in our midst more than you did.
Each day as you beheld the face of your child,
you beheld the face of God Incarnate.
Teach us to find the Hidden Face of Christ present all day,
every day in our midst.
Teach us especially to find this Hidden Face
in our spouse and our children.
For when we discover Christ’s presence in our homes,
our homes become a true temple where Christ dwells.
Paradise was lost when sin entered the world,
but by the blood and water flowing from the side of Christ
paradise was opened wide once again.
The Holy Family was truly a paradise.
Mother Mary, help us rediscover this paradise of God (Paradisus Dei)
in our homes just as you did.
May we become contemplatives in our homes seeing Christ in each encounter.

O Lord of hosts, how lovely is your dwelling place!
One day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord
than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
forever singing your praises.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...
 

Day 4

“Teach us to trust in the abundance of the Father’s mercy.”

Heavenly Mother, no one trusted the Father more than you did.
Your very existence is the masterpiece of the Father’s mercy.
Teach us to trust as you trusted.
Help us open ourselves daily and expand our hearts
to receive the depths of the Father’s mercy.
The birds of the air neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
yet our Heavenly Father feeds them.
Help us understand our dignity.
Help us enter into this wonderful mystery of the Father’s Mercy.
May we first receive his abundant mercy
and then become an instrument of his mercy to the world,
especially to my spouse and children.
Mother Mary, teach us to say with complete confidence,
“Jesus, I trust in You.”

O merciful Father, what is man that you should be mindful of him,
mortal man that you should care for him?
Yet to ransom a sinner you gave away your only beloved Son.
How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 5

“Make us docile to the voice of the Spirit echoing in our depths.”

Heavenly Mother, you, more than any creature,
were attuned to the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit
echoing within the depths of your Immaculate soul.
The union that you experience with your spouse, the Holy Spirit,
is so profound that together you live but “one sole life”.
Indeed, Saint Maximilian Kolbe said of you that,
“The union between Mary and the Holy Spirit is so inexpressible,
yet so perfect, that the Holy Spirit acts
only by the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Dear Mother, we ask that you will give us the grace
to remove from our lives the noise and distractions
that make it impossible to hear God speak.
We pray that you will help us to grow in love of silence
and make our souls sensitive
and attuned to the voice of the Spirit dwelling within.
Teach us Mother to ponder the events of life
in our hearts as you did (Luke 2:19, 51),
for the ways of God are mysterious
but not incomprehensible to the sensitive soul.
Pray for us, that we may respond with a faithful “yes”
to the promptings of the Spirit.

Lord, we thank You and we praise You.
You are infinitely above all of creation,
yet, in your merciful love you delight
in dwelling within the human soul.
“I dwell in a high and holy place,
but also with the contrite and lowly of spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
to revive the heart of the crushed.” (Isaiah 57:15)
Help us to grow daily in humility
so that our souls may image that of the Blessed Virgin,
and be a worthy dwelling place for You.
Grant us the joy of a life lived in union with You,
and prepare us to enter swiftly into our heavenly home.

Amen.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 6

“Grant that the seeds of grace sown in us would not be lost,
but blossom forth into life everlasting.”

Mary, Conceived without Sin, from your outstretched arms,
mediate to us the living water
that first flowed from the Heart of Christ.
We pray that this water would soften our hearts
that it would be fertile soil to receive these seeds of grace.
Mother, you who knew no sin,
pray that the soil of our hearts and minds
would not be infested by sin.
As we root ourselves in Christ, the Tree of Life,
mother pray that our lives and marriages would bare fruit a hundredfold.
May we one day experience everlasting life together
with each member of our family (name each member).

No eye has seen nor ear has heard,
nor has it entered the human heart
what God has prepared for those who love him.
Father, we fix our eyes to Heaven
trusting that your grace will guide us all the days of our lives.
Help me us that our daily words and actions
may be always be instrument of grace to others,
especially my spouse and my children.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 7

“Dawn of Salvation, Star of the New Evangelization,
Grant that the darkness may not prevail over the light.”

Heavenly Mother, Our Lady of Sorrows,
you understand the darkness of our time
and the pain and tears of your children.
You also understand that where sin abounds, grace abounds.
Help us to have the courage to open our minds and hearts
to God’s grace that we may become the light in the darkness.
You are the Star of the New Evangelization guiding the way.
On a dark night, the stars shine bright.
Intercede on our behalf that we may become stars,
and radiate the light of Christ to each other and to our children.
The world cannot comprehend the light any longer.
Give us wisdom to understand and enter more deeply intune
with the ways of God and his actions in our lives.
Help each member of my family, (call them by name),
enter into the light and be light for others.

Everybody who does wrong hates the light
and avoids it for fear his actions will be exposed.
But the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light
so that it may be plainly see
that what is done is done in God.
Father of Light, every good and perfect gift comes from you.
Son of the Father, in your light we see light.
I come before you at this time as your child, sinful and sorrowful,
asking for protection over my family.
Cast out all darkness.
Cast out the evil one.
May we live as children of the light.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 8

“Together with Pope John Paul II,
we consecrate ourselves to you
in the mystery of your Immaculate Conception, Totus Tuus.”

Dear Mother, your Immaculate Conception is a grace given to you
out of the superabundance of the Father’s mercy.
You were preserved from the stain of original sin
and in your humility you received fully
all of the mercy that God showered upon you.
Without ceasing, praise and thanksgiving
for the gift of God’s mercy rose from your heart.
At a young age Blessed John Paul II consecrated himself to you Mother
– all of his works, merits, joys, and sufferings.
Calling on you as his mother
he listened to the voice of God and said, “Yes,” to God’s call.
Today we take for ourselves the motto of Blessed John Paul:
Totus Tuus, “Totally Yours Mary”.
We prepare to consecrate to you, dear Mother,
our lives, our works, merits, joys, and sufferings.

Heavenly Father, mercy is your greatest attribute.
Help us to know better Your mercy
that is present every day of our lives.
Send your Holy Spirit so that we may know,
in the depths of our hearts,
that no sin of ours is greater than your mercy.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

Day 9

“Send us into the great mission field of the family,
so that among all the nations,
the praise of God may resound on the lips of infants and of babes.”

Heavenly Mother, as we each personally receive a mission
on behalf of the Church and the world,
aid us in discovering and fulfilling our personal calls.
As we recall the teaching of John Paul II
that the future of the Church and society pass by way of the family,
convict our hearts with the even greater call
to rebuild the Domestic Church.
Help us understand that the family
is indeed a great mission field and in great need.
O Emmanuel! How great your love for us!
How near your presence to those who love you!
You dwell with those gathered in your name.
O Emmanuel, be ever near to us!

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

[http://www.ollomaha.com/Websites/OmahaOurLadyofLourdes/images/Marriage%20Novena.pdf]