DAY ONE: NOVENA FOR THE SOLEMN FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Approved by Leo the XIII with the LITANY OF LORETO 16 MARCH TO 24 MARCH
PREFACE — Rules for the Proper Observance of Novenas
By St. Alphonsus Liguori
1. THE soul must be in the state of grace; for the devotion of a sinful heart pleases neither God nor the saints.
2. We must persevere, that is, the prayers for each day of the novena must never be omitted.
3. If possible, we should visit a church every day, and there implore the favor we desire.
4. Every day we ought to perform certain specified acts of exterior self-denial and interior mortification, in order to prepare us thereby for the reception of grace.
5. It is most important that we receive holy communion when making a novena. Therefore prepare yourself well for it.
6. After obtaining the desired grace for which the novena was made, do not omit to return thanks to God and to the saint through whose intercession your prayers were heard.
On the Manner of Reading the Meditations and Observing the Practices
HOLY SCRIPTURE says,
"Before prayer prepare thy soul; and be not as a man that tempteth God" (Eccles. xviii. 23).
Therefore place yourself in the presence of God, invoke the assistance of the Holy Ghost, and make a most sincere act of contrition for your sins. Offer up to God your will, your intellect, and your memory, so that your prayer may be pleasing to God and serve to promote your spiritual welfare.
Then read the meditation slowly, reflecting on each point of the thought or mystery treated, and consider what you can learn from it, and for what grace you ought to implore God. This is the principal object to be attained by mental prayer.
Never rise from your prayer without having formed some special resolution for practical observance. The practices at the end of each consideration in the following novenas will aid you to do so.
Finally, ask for grace to carry out effectively your good purposes, and thank God for enlightening your mind during the meditation.
PREPARATORY PRAYER FOR DAYS 1-9 of this NOVENA
MY QUEEN, my Mother, remember I am thine own. Keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession!
Indulgence. 40 days, every time. (Pius IX, August 5, 1851.)
DAY 1: MEDITATION
AT NAZARETH, a mountain village in Judea, lived poor and in obscurity Mary, the virgin selected by God to become the Mother of His Son.
On March 25th she was in prayer in her chamber, and perhaps sent up to heaven the yearning petition, "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened and bud a Saviour" (Is. xlv. 8).
Behold, suddenly the chamber is suffused by a heavenly light.
The archangel Gabriel stands reverently before her and says,
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when Mary heard the angel's words, she was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be" (Luke i. 28, 29).
PRACTICE:
THE angel's salutation comprises two titles of ineffable greatness. Mary is called "full of grace," because of her innocence and purity; she is called "blessed among women," because she is the elect Mother of God. Never before was a human being thus greeted. It was God Himself who sent the message to Mary. A good angel now repaired the harm once done by a bad angel. For Lucifer, the fallen angel, seduced Eve to sin and thereby caused the ruin of the whole human race; now another angel, Gabriel, was sent to announce the glad tidings to Mary, that she was to conceive the Redeemer from sin, who was to accomplish the salvation of mankind.
Mary was troubled at the angel's words, and reflected on the meaning of the message. St. Ambrose writes:
"Mary was troubled, not because the angel was a heavenly spirit, but because he appeared to her in the form of a youth. Still more was she troubled at the praises spoken to her. She was innocent and humble, and therefore reflected on the meaning of the message. She had always considered herself as a poor and unknown virgin; she deemed herself unworthy of God's grace; therefore she was troubled at the salutation. In that decisive moment she was and remained our model."
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
POUR forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we unto whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of the resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pray the Litany of Loreto: https://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/documents/litanie-lauretane_en.html
See our video here or in the Footnotes:1
Prayer
WITH wonder I revere thee, holiest Virgin Mary; for of all God's creatures thou wast the humblest on the very day of thy annunciation, when God Himself exalted Thee to the sublime dignity of His own Mother. O mightiest Virgin, make me, wretched sinner that I am, know the depths of my own nothingness, and make me humble myself at last with all my heart, beneath the feet of all men.
PRAY THE DECADE ROSARY: THE FIRST JOYFUL MYSTERY
Ejaculation
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me!
Indulgence. 50 days, once a day. (Leo XIII, March 20, 1894.)
FOOTNOTES
