Day 1

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your 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 by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O my God, because you are so good, I am very sorry that I have sinned against you, and by the help of your grace, I will not sin again. Amen.

If you can, pray the Chaplet and the Litany of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on each day of the Novena. You can skip this step, or come back to the Novena afterwards.

To be said on each day of the Novena.

O Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help, I salute you with filial devotion. I renew the consecration of myself, and all I have, to you. I thank you for your maternal protection and for the many blessings that I have received through your wondrous mercy and most powerful intercession. In all my necessities I have recourse to you with unbounded confidence, O Help of Christians, O Mother of Mercy. I beseech you now to hear my prayer and to obtain for me of your divine Son the favour that I request in this novena.

Here mention your petition.

Obtain for me, also, dearest Mother, the grace that I may imitate you and become more like you in the practice of the virtues of humility, purity, submission to the will of God, and charity. Be my protectress in life, guard and guide me in dangers, direct me in difficulties, lead me in the way of perfection, and assist me in the hour of my death, that I may come to Jesus, and with thee enjoy Him, bless Him, and love Him eternally in Heaven. Amen.

Blessed forever be our God who made you, O Mary, so powerful, so compassionate and so ready to help. What would become of us, poor sinners, without you? With what face, after having so often deserved disgrace and punishment, could we go before our sovereign Judge, and ask of Him, not only pardon, but favours, and share in eternal glory? Blessed be you, O clement Queen, for having so often interposed between divine justice and me, your most unworthy client, for having turned away God's anger from me, and for having obtained for me so many graces.

These graces are my desires and those I may and ought still to hope for from your Perpetual Help. Hence, for the time to come, whenever I feel more painfully the weight of my unworthiness, when all seems lost, and I am tempted even to despair, then especially, full of confidence will I invoke your blessed name. I will make my misery a claim on your mercy. I believe that if God lets me feel my weakness, it is to force me to cast myself into the arms of His mercy and upon you, my sweet and only hope. Deign to remember this resolution in my time of need, and grant that I may be faithful to it, till my last breath. Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may never cease to have recourse to thee. Amen.

Pray the Hail Mary three times.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help,

pray for us.

The Title Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Among the numerous titles under which Christian piety is pleased to invoke the Blessed Virgin, there are few that are as likely to lift our hearts and fill them with unlimited confidence as the sweet name of Mother of Perpetual Help, a name that pleases Her so.

To convince you of this: consider, on the one hand, what the life of man on earth is, and on the other hand, what the name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help means.

Truthfully, what is life but a chain of miseries, dangers, afflictions and labours? In the temporal order, who is exempt from illness or from poverty? Who is there who does not have to weep? In the spiritual order, who knows how, on every occasion, to be on guard against the great misfortune of sin, against the snares of lukewarmness, against the coaxing of temptations? Who does not weaken from time to time in the service of God, in the practice of virtue, and who does not tire at times in the path of good? Finally, what Christian does not tremble at the thought of the decisive and difficult moment of death, of the purifying fire of purgatory? In view of such miseries and necessities, the soul, overwhelmed, feels itself weakening and would like to burst into tears. But upon hearing the sweet name of Mother of Perpetual Help, it becomes serene; it takes courage and continues joyfully on its path toward eternity. Why? Because it then feels that its lamentations are not lost in a desert but that they find a gracious echo in the Heart of a Mother who desires and can help it. In truth, the Virgin of Perpetual Help means a remedy for all the evils that afflict us - a remedy not just for a day but perpetual, from the cradle to Heaven, help in everything and help at all times. Perpetual Help means consolation in afflictions, poverty, illness, and labour; strength to give up sin, whether mortal or venial, and not to fall into it again. Perpetual Help means fidelity in the service of the Lord and of the Virgin Herself, and therefore, final perseverance. Perpetual Help means courage in the practice of virtue; special protection in the terrible hour of death; prompt and efficacious relief in the dreadful prison where just souls, still indebted to Divine justice, suffer before entering the heavenly homeland. Perpetual Help means: that even when circumstances or situations occur where everything seems hopeless, there is still one certain recourse: the Protection of the Blessed Virgin.

Meditate and ask for what you wish to obtain from Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

O Mother of Perpetual Help, we place before you all the intentions entrusted to you by those who pray with us here: the sick and the suffering, families in need, those seeking work, those carrying burdens known to you alone, and all who give thanks for favours received.

We pray for one another, though we may never meet. Take every petition into your motherly heart and present it to your Son. Obtain for each of us what is for God's glory and our true good, and the grace to accept His holy will in all things.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help,

pray for us. Amen.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defence against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Antiphon

Thou art Perpetual Help benign. Come, therefore, I implore Thee.

The refrain is sung after each verse.

Most Blessed Virgin, Immaculate Queen and my Mother Mary, refuge and consolation of all creatures: I come before your throne with my entire family. I choose you for my Lady, my Mother, and my advocate with God. I dedicate myself to your service with all who are near and dear to me. Receive us as your children, I beg of you, O Mother of God. Keep us under your protection, especially at the hour of our death. O Mother of Mercy, I appoint you the mistress and ruler of my whole household, my family, my interests, my affairs. Please do not refuse this charge. Bless me and all my loved ones, and never allow us to be far from your Son.

Never let the devil glory in enslaving any one of us who is now consecrated to you. Grant that we may all arrive in heaven to thank you, and to praise and love Jesus our Redeemer together with you for all eternity. Amen.