Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette February 10th thru February 18th St. Bernadette Parish, Northborough, MA
THE LOURDES HYMN Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing, Who reigns now in splendor With Jesus, our King. Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria! Your name is our power, your virtues our light, your love is our comfort, your pleading our might. In heaven the blessed your glory proclaim; On earth we, your children, invoke your fair name. Immaculate Mary! Our hearts are on fire. That title so wondrous fills all our desire. We pray for our mother, the Church upon earth; and bless, holy Mary, the land of our birth. We pray for all sinners and souls that now stray from Jesus and Mary in heresy=s way. For poor, sick, afflicted your mercy we crave, and comfort the dying, you are light of the grave. There is no need, Mary, not ever has been, which you cannot help with Immaculate Queen. O bless us, dear Lady, with blessings from heaven, and to our petitions let answer be given. In death=s solemn moment Our Mother, be near, as children of Mary O teach us to die.
OPENING PRAYER (All Kneel) Priest: People: Priest: People: Priest: People: Priest: People: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your Love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who did instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. O Mary, conceived without sin. Pray for us who have recourse to you. (3 times) Priest and People: O Lord, Jesus Christ, who have vouchsafed to glorify by numberless miracles/ the Blessed Virgin Mary,/ Immaculate from the first moment of her conception,/ grant that all who devoutly implore her protection on earth,/ may eternally enjoy Your presence in heaven,/ who, with the Father and Holy Spirit,/ live and reign, God, forever and ever. Amen.
MEMORARE Priest and People: Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,/ that never was it known/ that anyone who fled to your protection,/ implored your help,/ or sought your intercession,/ was left unaided./ Inspired by this confidence,/ we fly unto you,/ O Virgin of Virgins, our Mother:/ to you we come:/ before you we kneel/ sinful and sorrowful./ O Mother of the Word Incarnate,/ despise not our petitions,/ but in your mercy hear and answer them. Amen. PRAYER OF PETITION O, Powerful Lady of Lourdes, behold me at your feet, asking your maternal influence./ I come to implore your aid during this Novena,/ with the hope that you will listen favorably to my petition./ I beg you, O Mother of Jesus,/ and my Mother,/ to hear my prayers, and to obtain for me the favors (name them) which I desire. Amen. FIRST DAY Priest & People: O Mary Immaculate,/ Our Lady of Lourdes,/ virgin and mother,/ queen of heaven,/ chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of the Eternal Word/ and in virtue of this title preserved from original sin,/ we kneel before you as did little Bernadette at Lourdes/ and pray with childlike trust in you that as we contemplate your glorious appearance at Lourdes/ you will look with mercy on our present petition/ and secure for us a favorable answer/ to the request for which we are making this Novena. St. Bernadette, strengthen our trust in the Holy Virgin,/ who you have had the good fortune to see here on earth./ Like you, we place ourselves under her protection/ in order to keep our hearts ever pure. Spiritual Offering: O divine Mother of our Savior,/ to praise you, to love you, to sing to you; /this is an apprenticeship for heaven! (St. Bernadette)
SECOND DAY Priest and People: Be blessed, O most pure Virgin,/ for having chosen to manifest yourself shining with light,/ sweetness and beauty in the Grotto of Lourdes,/ saying to the child, St. Bernadette:/ I am the Immaculate Conception!./ O Mary Immaculate,/ inflame our hearts with one ray of the burning love of your pure heart./ Let them be consumed with love for Jesus and for you,/ in order that we may merit one day to enjoy your glorious eternity./ O dispenser of His graces here below,/ take into your keeping and present to your Divine Son/ the petition for which I am making this Novena. Enable us, O Saint Bernadette,/ to love always and deeply our God,/ to whom we owe all things./ May all our actions ever be inspired by this love/ and be its reflection. Spiritual Offering: O Jesus put so much love in my heart,/ that one day it will end itself in reaching you. (St. Bernadette) THIRD DAY Priest and People: You are all fair, O Mary,/ and there is in you no stain of original sin. / O Mary conceived without sin,/ pray for us who have recourse to you./ O brilliant star of sanctity,/ as on that lovely day,/ upon a rough rock in Lourdes/ you spoke to the child, Bernadette,/ and a fountain broke from the plain earth/ and miracles happened and the great shrine of Lourdes began,/ so now I beseech you, grant me the petition I now so earnestly ask in this Novena. O Saint Bernadette,/ who has been chosen by the Mother of God as her confidant/ because the simplicity of your heart was pleasing to her,/ enable us to love and practice Christian humility. Spiritual offering: The more I humble myself,/ the more I will grow in the heart of Jesus. (St. Bernadette)
FOURTH DAY Priest and People: O Immaculate Queen of heaven,/ we, your wayward, erring children,/ join our unworthy prayers of praise and thanksgiving/ to those of the angels and saints and your own/ so that the One, Holy and Undivided Trinity/ may be glorified in heaven and on earth./ Our Lady of Lourdes,/ as you looked down with love and mercy on Bernadette/ as she prayed her rosary in the grotto/ look down now, we ask you with love and mercy on us./ From the abundance of graces granted you by your Divine Son,/ sweet Mother of God,/ give to each of us all that your motherly hearts sees we need/ and at this moment look with special favor on the grace we seek in this Novena. Saint Bernadette, you who have so patiently and so confidently been able to support moral suffering and denial when you were reporting your conversations with the Queen of Heaven, and have been able to endure the physical pain of illness, secure for us this same trusting resignation in the troubles of our own lives. Spiritual offering: The Cross can replace all things, and there is nothing that can be replaced by it. (St. Bernadette) FIFTH DAY Priest and People: O Mary Immaculate,/ Mother of God and our mother/ from the heights of your dignity/ look down mercifully upon us while we,/ full of confidence in your unbounded goodness/ and confident that your divine Son/ will look favorably upon any request you make of Him/ in our behalf,/ we ask you to come to our aid/ and secure the favor we seek in this Novena. Teach us, O Saint Bernadette, to pray to God through the intercession of His Divine Mother in all the needs in which we find ourselves, just as the Virgin Mary herself taught you to do at Massabielle. Spiritual offering: O how good you are Lord to those who seek you and who throw themselves into your arms in tears for the troubles of each day. (St. Bernadette)
SIXTH DAY Priest and People: O glorious Mother of God,/ so powerful under your special title of Our Lady of Lourdes,/ to you we raise our hearts and hands/ to implore your powerful intercession/ in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus/ all the help and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare/ and for the special favor we so earnestly seek in this novena./ Our Lady of Bernadette, / with the stars of heaven in your hair/ and the roses of earth at your feet,/ look with compassion upon us today/ as you did so long ago on Bernadette/ in the grotto of Lourdes. St. Bernadette, you who have been such an obedient servant of the Divine will, as expressed by Mary, teach us faithfully to obey God s will and to respond with open hearts to all that He asks of us. Spiritual offering: I am only in this world to serve God and to rescue my soul; I shall accept all that comes from your hand, O my God; persuaded that a Father who is infinitely good cannot be unkind to his children. (St. Bernadette) SEVENTH DAY Priest and People: O Almighty God,/ who by the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary/ did prepare a worthy dwelling for your son,/ we humbly ask you that as we contemplate the apparition of Our Lady in the Grotto at Lourdes/ we may be blessed with health of mind and body,/ And, O most gracious Mother Mary,/ beloved Mother of My Lord and Redeemer/ look with favor upon us as you did that day on Bernadette/ and intercede with Him for us that the favor we now so earnestly ask/ may be granted to us. We wish to be like you, O Saint Bernadette, in your love for God and for His people, and to become like you, the obedient servants of Providence, for the benefit of our neighbor. Spiritual offering: To imitate the goodness of Jesus, to make wounds better instead of inflicting them. Charity is above all other virtues. (St. Bernadette) Pray the Novena Prayer
EIGHTH DAY Priest and People: O Immaculate Mother of God,/ from heaven itself/ you came to appear to Little Bernadette in the rough Grotto of Lourdes./ And as Bernadette knelt at your feet/ and the magic spring burst forth/ and as multitudes have knelt ever since before your shrine,/ O Mother of God,/ I kneel before you today/ to ask that in your mercy you plead with your divine Son/ to grant the special favor I seek in this Novena. Saint Bernadette, make us understand the necessity for mortification for the redemption of our own faults and for the remission of those of our brothers according to the message that you have transmitted to us on behalf of the Queen of Heaven. Spiritual offering: Penitence! Penitence! (Mary s words to St. Bernadette) NINTH DAY Priest and People: O glorious Mother of God,/ to you do we raise our hearts and hands/ to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign heart of Jesus/ all the graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare,/ particularly the grace of a happy death./ O Mother of our divine Lord,/ as we conclude this Novena for the special favor we seek at this time,/ we feel animated with confidence that your prayers in our behalf will be graciously heard./ O Mother of my Lord/ through the love you bear to Jesus Christ and for the glory of His name,/ hear our prayers and obtain our petitions. We wish St. Bernadette, like you to live in the sight of God and of the Virgin Mary. Grant us the grace to be like you, especially in this matter. Spiritual offering: The interior soul sees God in everything and learns from everything - so that she may unite herself with Him; she speaks little, her actions and her virtues speak for her.. (St. Bernadette)
NOVENA PRAYER Priest and People: O Ever Immaculate Virgin,/ Mother of mercy,/ health of the sick,/ refuge of sinners,/ comfort of the afflicted,/ you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings;/ deign to cast upon me a look of mercy./ By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes to Bernadette,/ you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary,/ from where you dispense your favors,/ and already many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities,/ both spiritual and corporal,/ I come, therefore, with confidence,/ to implore your maternal intercession./ Obtain, O loving Mother, the grant of my requests. I will endeavor to imitate your virtues that I may one day share your glory,/ and bless you in eternity. Amen. PRAYER FOR EACH DAY O brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen. Our Lady of Lourdes,/ pray for us. St. Bernadette,/ pray for us. CLOSING PRAYER Our Lady of Lourdes, so fruitful in miracles, protect, with your hand which nothing can resist, our Holy Father, the Pope. Infuse into us the spirit of faith, hope and charity. We all believe the truth of your apparitions, and in the unlimited power your Divine Son has given you. Therefore, we have recourse to you. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN HAIL, HOLY QUEEN Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above, O Maria. Hail, Mother of mercy and of love, O Maria. Chorus: Triumph, all ye Cherubim, Sing with us ye Seraphim Heav n and earth resound the hymn: Salve, Salve, Salve Regina. Our life, our sweetness here below, O Maria. Our hope in sorrow and in woe, O Maria. And when our life-breath Leave us, O Maria. Show us thy Son Christ Jesus, O Maria.
EUCHARISTIC EXPOSITION AND BENEDICTION EXPOSITION 1. O saving Victim, open wide 1. O salutaris Hostia The gate of heav n to us below Quae caeli pandis ostium: Our foes press on from ev ry side; Bella premunt hostilia, Your aid supply, your strength bestow. Dar robur, fer auxilium. 2. To your great name be endless praise, 2. Uni trinoque Domino Immortal Godhead, One in Three; Sit sempiterna gloria, O grand us endless length of days Qui vitam sine termino In our true native land with thee. Amen. Nobis donet in patria. Amen. ADORATION 1. Down in adoration falling, 1. Tantum ergo Sacramentum This great Sacrament we hail; Veneremur cernui, Over ancient forms of worship Et antiquum documentum Newer rites of grace prevail; Novo cedat ritui; Faith will tell us Christ is present, Praestet fides supplementum, When our human senses fail. Sensuum defectui. 2. To the everlasting Father, 2. Genitori Genitoque And the Son who made us free Laus et jubilatio, And the Spirit, God proceeding Salus, honor, virtus quoque From them Each eternally, Sit et benedictio: Be salvation, honor, blessing, Procedenti ab utroque Might and endless majesty. Amen. Compar sit laudatio. Amen. BENEDICTION SONG - You have given them Bread from heaven Having within it all Sweetness EUCHARISTIC BLESSING Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ACCLAMATION SONG Blessed be God. Blessed be his Holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Blessed be the Name of Jesus. Blessed be his most Sacred Heart. Blessed be his most Precious Blood. Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy. Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception. Blessed be her glorious Assumption. Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother. Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse. Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.
HOLY GOD, WE PRAISE THY NAME Holy God, we praise thy name; Lord of all, we bow before thee; All on earth thy scepter claim, All in heaven above adore thee. Infinite thy vast domain, Everlasting is thy reign! Hark, the loud celestial hymn; Angel choirs above are raising; Cherubim and Seraphim, In unceasing chorus praising, Fill the heavens with sweet accord: Holy, holy, holy, Lord!