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Novena: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Please join us in praying a special Novena starting December 3 leading up to the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. In December of this year, we will have many pilgrims, along with our President, Milanka Lachman, make a Pilgrimage to Mexico City in her honor, to see the sites where she appeared to St. Juan Diego and to venerate her.

Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe
In this novena, pray the following for nine consecutive days. Be sure to follow this prayer with your specific special intentions, asking that Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for you. Finish by praying “Our Father”, “Hail Mary” and “Glory Be”.

First Prayer

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mystical Rose,
make intercession for the Holy Church,
protect the Sovereign Pontiff,
help all those who invoke thee in their necessities,
and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary,
and Mother of the True God,
obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith,
of sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life,
of burning charity, and the precious gift of final perseverance.

Amen.

Second Prayer

O Virgin of Guadalupe,
Mother of the Americas,
grant to our homes the grace of loving
and respecting life in its beginnings,
with the same love with which
you conceived in your womb
the life of the Son of God.
Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of Fair Love,
protect our families so that
they may always be united
and bless the upbringing of our children.

Our hope, look upon us with pity,
teach is to go continually to Jesus,
and if we fall
help us to rise again and return to Him
through the confession of our faults
and our sins in the Sacrament of penance,
which gives peace to the soul.

We beg you to grant us a great love
of all the holy Sacraments,
which are, as it were,
the signs that your Son left us on earth.
Thus, Most Holy Mother,
with the peace of God in our consciences,
with our hearts free from evil and hatred,
we will be able to bring to all others
true joy and peace,
which come to us from your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
who with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

Third Prayer

O Our Lady of Guadalupe,
mystical rose,
make intercession for Holy Church,
protect the Sovereign Pontiff,
help all those who invoke thee in their necessities,
and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary
and Mother of the true God,
obtain for us from thy most holy Son
the grace of keeping our faith,
sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life,
burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance.

The following may be added.

Dearest Lady,
fruitful Mother of Holiness,
teach me Your ways of gentleness and strength.
Hear my prayer,
offered with deep felt confidence to beg this favor…

(State your prayer request here.)

O Mary,
conceived without sin,
I come to your throne of grace
to share the fervent devotion
of your faithful Mexican children
who call to Thee under the glorious title “Guadalupe” –
the Virgin who crushed the serpent.

Queen of Martyrs,
whose Immaculate Heart was pierced
by seven swords of grief,
help me to walk valiantly
amid the sharp thorns strewn across my path.
Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom
to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that,
thus enlightened and strengthened,
I may prefer God to all creatures
and shun every occasion of sin.

Help me,
as a living branch of the Vine
that is Jesus Christ,
to exemplify His divine charity
always seeking the good of others.
Queen of Apostles,
aid me to win souls
for the Sacred Heart of my Savior.
Keep my apostolate fearless,
dynamic, and articulate,
to proclaim the loving solitude of Our Father in Heaven
so that the wayward may heed His pleading
and obtain pardon,
through the merits of Your Merciful Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

*Prayers Credited to Jesuitresource.org

About Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Shrine at Guadalupe is considered the holiest place in the Western Hemisphere, and is the most visited Catholic Pilgrimage destination and third most-visited religious shrine in the world. Saint John Paul II preached to millions of the faithful from this holy Shrine during his 1979 visit to Mexico. The Basilica commemorates the Virgin Mary’s appearance to a humble Indian and honors her request that a Shrine be built in Her honor. The Shrine was originally built in 1709 and is located in Tepeyac Hill which is where the apparitions occurred in 1531. The old Basilica was consecrated in 1709 – the modern basilica was completed in 1976 and can hold up to 10,000 worshippers. Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Feast Day is December 12th and draws huge crowds for celebrations each year.

Our Lady first appeared to visionary St. Juan Diego on December 9, 1531. She appeared to him four times in total and asked that a church be built in her honor. The Archbishop did not believe Juan Diego the first time he mentioned the apparition and asked for proof. On December 11th, Juan Diego’s uncle, Juan Bernardino fell ill. The next day on December 12th he was cured, and the image of the Virgin Mary again appeared before Juan Diego, at what is now known as the Church of the 5th Appraition where a well of healing water can be drunk from. In effort to fulfill the bishop’s request for proof of Her visitation, the Virgin instructed Juan to gather roses from the frozen, rocky terrain and present them to the bishop. Remarkably for the cool season, he found a great number of roses strewn all around. Gathering the roses in sackcloth, he hurriedly took them to the bishop. When he opened the cloak, or Tilma, to present the roses to the cleric, the bishop was amazed to see a miraculous image of the Virgin on the Tilma! Pilgrims flock to Mexico City to see the miraculous Tilma hanging in all its splendor above the main alta of the Basilica.

For details about how to make a Pilgrimage to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, click here.