The Presentation of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Day 1 – Monday November 12.

Mary, Mother of God, tradition tells us that when you were three years of age, your parents, Joachim and Anne, took you to the Temple in Jerusalem to fulfill their vow. The holy couple offered you to God by the ministry of the priest in charge, who invoked the blessing of God upon you and your parents. How fervently your mother and father thanked God for having given you to them and begged Him to accept the offering that they were making! They then left a small offering of silver required by the Law of Moses.

What a beautiful example for parents to imitate! Their children also belong to God, for they are His gift. Teach parents to care for their children as God’s sacred trust, to guard them from sin and to lead them in the way of virtue. May they consider it to be the greatest privilege bestowed upon them by God to dedicate their sons and daughters to His holy service. Help them to become worthy of this blessing through their own prayers and good example.

Mary, my Mother, your first presentation to God, made by the hands of your parents, was an offering most acceptable in His sight. Let my consecration of myself to God be made under your patronage and assisted by your intercession and in union with your merits. Amen.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 2 – Tuesday November 13.

Mary, Mother of God, already in your childhood you dedicated yourself to the love and service of God. Led by divine inspiration to His house, you prepared yourself for your sublime dignity of Divine Motherhood in silence and solitude with God. Though the designs of God were unknown to you, you nevertheless detached your heart from the world in order to give all your love to God.

Consecrated to the Lord, you may have remained in the Temple until the age of 12. When you later returned to your home, you were under the loving care of your mother, Saint Anne. With her you loved to sing the psalms and canticles of the inspired authors of your nation. From Anne you heard the touching story of the Chosen People. You learned to read the sacred books by yourself and tried to penetrate their hidden meaning. You often discussed the coming of the Messiah, since you knew He would be of your race and family.

Mary, my Mother, you were laying the foundation of that hidden life in which, by the practice of the highest virtues, you were to reach that sublime degree of holiness to which you were predestined as Mother of the Son of Godand Mother of all the souls for whom He was to die. Attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you diligently gathered up all His lessons, preserving them in your soul with zealous care. Amen.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 3 – Wednesday November 14.

Mary, Mother of God, may the perfect gift of yourself to God through love in your presentation in the temple be an inspiration to me. You loved God with your whole heart and mind and strength. Obtain for me the grace to love God with my whole heart—so that all the love my heart is capable of may be consecrated to Him, and all other affection subordinated to the love I owe God.

Help me to love God with my whole soul—so that all the faculties of my soul may be consecrated to Him, and that I may make use of them only to make Him known, loved and served.

Help me to love God with my whole mind—so that my mind may be habitually occupied with God and that I may value His good pleasure above everything else, above my convenience, above all earthly treasures, above all knowledge and friendship, above health and life.

Help me to love God with my whole strength—so that I may consecrate undividedly, unreservedly and continually to His service, my life, my health and all I am and have.

Mary, my Mother, pray that the love of God above all things and detachment from the world and its false pleasures, may also make my soul the temple of the living God. After your example, I desire to be known to God and unknown to men, to possess God and to be forgotten by creatures. May God dwell in me and may I live to Him alone through frequent Holy Communion and still more frequent prayer so that God may direct my whole life—my thoughts, words and actions—to His greater honor and glory. Amen.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 4 – Thursday November 15

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 5 – Friday November 16.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 6 – Saturday November17.

Help me to love God with my whole soul—so that all the faculties of my soul may be consecrated to Him, and that I may make use of them only to make Him known, loved and served.

Help me to love God with my whole strength—so that I may consecrate undividedly, unreservedly and continually to His service, my life, my health and all I am and have.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 7 – Sunday November 18.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 8 – Monday November 19.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Day 9 – Tuesday November 20.

Help me to love God with my whole soul—so that all the faculties of my soul may be consecrated to Him, and that I may make use of them only to make Him known, loved and served.

Help me to love God with my whole strength—so that I may consecrate undividedly, unreservedly and continually to His service, my life, my health and all I am and have.

Then follows Pater, Ave, Gloria Patri, and the Litany of Loreto, Memorare, and Act of Consecration.

Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of Mercy, pray for me and the departed.

Litany of Loreto

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy. Christ hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us
Mother of Christ, pray for us
Mother of divine grace, pray for us
Mother most pure, pray for us
Mother most chaste, pray for us
Mother inviolate, pray for us
Mother undefiled, pray for us
Mother most amiable, pray for us
Mother most admirable, pray for us
Mother of good Counsel, pray for us
Mother of our Creator, pray for us
Mother of our Savior, pray for us
Virgin most prudent, pray for us
Virgin most venerable, pray for us
Virgin most renowned, pray for us
Virgin most powerful, pray for us
Virgin most merciful, pray for us
Virgin most faithful, pray for us
Mirror of justice, pray for us
Seat of wisdom, pray for us
Cause of our joy, pray for us
Spiritual vessel, pray for us
Vessel of honor, pray for us
Singular vessel of devotion, pray for us
Mystical rose, pray for us
Tower of David, pray for us
Tower of ivory, pray for us
House of gold, pray for us
Ark of the covenant, pray for us
Gate of heaven, pray for us
Morning star, pray for us
Health of the sick, pray for us
Refuge of sinners, pray for us
Comforter of the afflicted, pray for us
Help of Christians, pray for us
Queen of Angels, pray for us
Queen of Patriarchs, pray for us
Queen of Prophets, pray for us
Queen of Apostles, pray for us
Queen of Martyrs, pray for us
Queen of Confessors, pray for us
Queen of Virgins, pray for us
Queen of all Saints, pray for us
Queen conceived without original sin, pray for us
Queen assumed into heaven, pray for us
Queen of the most holy Rosary, pray for us
Queen of families, pray for us
Queen of peace, pray for us

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

℣. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.—Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we thy servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may we be freed from present sorrow, and rejoice in eternal happiness. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, and sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee 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.

Act of Consecration

OMary, my Queen, my Mother! I give myself entirely to thee, and to show my devotion to thee I consecrate to thee this day, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve, Wherefore, good Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession.

O incomparable Virgin, destined from all eternity to become the living temple of the most High! thy devoted clients to remind thee of that entire, fervent, and most perfect oblation, which thou didst offer of thyself on the day of thy Presentation in the Temple.

O sacred model of those who are called to leave all and follow Christ! Thou art that Virgin by excellence, whose innocence and sanctity were never defiled.

To thee, then, it peculiarly belongs, not only to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, but also to lead many virgins in thy train. Oh, receive us into the happy number of those whom thy glorious example has urged to the heroic practice of religious perfection; obtain for us a share in the dispositions of thy heart, when, though a child in years, thou wast already far advanced in eminent holiness, and, forgetting thy people and thy father's house, didst enter the Temple, to live to God, and for Him alone. We beseech thee, by the singular graces bestowed on thee then, to employ thy powerful interest in our behalf, and to obtain for us the intentions of this novena.

Remember, O most holy Virgin! that thine early flight from the world, thy spirit of sacrifice and heroic perfection, even in childhood, were graces which entitle thee not only to our veneration, but to our tender confidence. Listen, then, to the petitions we now make, and obtain for us the true spirit of the interior life, that the Heart of Jesus may be our sanctuary, where we abide secure from all dangers. Teach us to commemorate thy consecration of thyself to God on the day of thy Presentation by a fervent renewal of our vows; that, after thine example, we may leave all in heart and will, and find all in Christ, and thus love Godabove all things most ardently, and all creatures, for His sake; that His adorable will may be ours, and that every exertion of our mind and body may be happily consecrated to the promotion of His greater glory. Amen.