A novena is nine days or weeks of prayer. It is modeled on the nine days of prayer that the Blessed Virgin Mary and the apostles kept from the Ascension to Pentecost (Acts 1:14). The word novena comes from the Latin word novem, meaning “nine.” Those who make this novena are praying for special intentions and needs in their lives, asking Mary to pray with them for nine days.
Let us pray as a community of faith.
Mary, all generations have called you blessed, and the Almighty has done great things for you.
Mother of Perpetual Help, we call upon your most powerful name. Your very name inspires confidence and hope. May it always be on our lips, especially in times of temptation and at the hour of our death. Blessed Lady, help us whenever we call on you. Let us not be content with merely pronouncing your name. May our daily lives proclaim that you are Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
Let us pray for our temporal wants.
Mother of Perpetual Help, with the greatest confidence we kneel before you. We implore your help in the problems of our daily lives. Trials and sorrows often depress us; misfortunes and privations bring misery into our lives: everywhere we meet the cross. Comforter of the afflicted, beg your son, Jesus, to strengthen us as we bear our burdens and to free us from our sufferings. Or if it be the will of God that we should suffer still longer, help us endure all with love and patience. May we follow the example of your Son, and through Him, with Him and in Him commend ourselves to the care of our Heavenly Father.
Let us now pray for the sick.
Lord, look upon your servants laboring under bodily weakness. Cherish and revive the souls which you have created so that, purified by their sufferings, they may soon find themselves healed by your mercy.
Let us renew our confidence in Mary as a perpetual help.
Mother of Perpetual Help, you have been blessed and favored by God. You became not only the Mother of the Redeemer but the Mother of the redeemed as well. We come to you today as your loving children. Watch over us and take care of us. As you held the child Jesus in your loving arms, so take us in your arms. Be a Mother ready at every moment to help us. For God, who is mighty, has done great things for you, and His mercy is from age to age on those who love Him. Our greatest fear is that in time of temptation, we may fail to call out to you, and become lost children. Intercede for us, dear Mother, in obtaining pardon for our sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace always to call upon you, Mother of Perpetual Help.
Let us unite with the Christians of all ages in praising Mary and in committing ourselves to her powerful protection.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are 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.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may become worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us Your Mother Mary, whose image we venerate, as a mother ready at every moment to help us; grant, we beg You, that we who call on her help may always enjoy the fruit of Your redemption, You who live and reign forever.
Amen.
Prayer to the Mother of Perpetual Help
Most pure Mother of God, Immaculate Virgin, Queen of the World, Intercessor of Christians, refuge and hope of sinners, I, the most miserable of all, kneel before your icon. I humbly bow to you, O my ever-praised Queen, I wholeheartedly thank you for all the graces which you have so abundantly bestowed on me. But most of all, I thank you for saving me from the infernal tortures which I have so many times deserved.
I love you, O my Queen, and for the sake of this love I promise to serve, honor, and love you. O Merciful Mother, after God you are my hope and cause of my salvation. Accept me, your servant, under your mighty Protection. You can obtain everything from God. Pray to Him to deliver me from all temptations and dangers, or at least help me to overcome them. Obtain also for me the virtues of a strong faith, firm hope, and true non-hypocritical love. Be with me especially at the last moment of my earthly life.
My gracious Lady, it is not through my prayers but rather through your love for God that I implore you. Do not forsake me until you see me in heaven, where I will forever praise and thank you in the Kingdom of Your Son, to whom, together with His Eternal Father, and the Holy, Good, and Life-creating Spirit, belong all glory, honor, and adoration, now and always and forever.
Amen.
This Prayer was taken from Embracing the Icon of Love by Br. Daniel Korn, C.Ss.R., Liguori Press, 2015, and is sold in the National Shrine of St. John Neumann Gift Shop.
Prayer to Our Mother of Perpetual Help
O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke Thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying.
O Purest Mary, O sweetest Mary, let Thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on Thee, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on Thee, ever repeating Thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.
O what consolation, what Sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fill my soul when I pronounce Thy sacred name, or even only think of Thee.
I thank God for having given Thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely pronouncing Thy name: let my love for Thee prompt me ever to hail Thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.
Recite Nine Hail Marys.
This prayer was taken from holy card #G50-208, which is sold in the National Shrine of St. John Neumann Gift Shop.