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Our Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
A Novena is a period of nine days of special and intense prayer, asking Almighty
God to hear and answer our special intentions. Many Novenas invoke Our Lady and
the Saints to intercede before the Throne of God on behalf of the petitioner. The
Novena comes from the nine days spent in prayer by the Apostles and Our Lady in the
Upper Room as they prayed for the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Our Novena will be prayed at all the daily Masses, beginning June 19th , with special devotions during our
Tuesday June 24th 6 pm Benediction. All will be live streamed. Your Intentions for the Novena are welcome.
There will be a basket at the Altar rail for written petitions.
Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Dear Mother of Perpetual Help, from the cross Jesus gave you to us for our Mother. You are
the kindest, the most loving of all Mothers. Look tenderly on us your children, as we now ask
you to help us in all our needs especially this one … (pause to recall your petition).
While you were on earth, dear Mother, you willingly shared in the sufferings of your Son.
Strengthened by your faith and confidence in the fatherly love of God, you accepted the mysterious designs of his will.
We too, have our crosses and trials. Sometimes they almost crush us to the ground. Dearest
Mother share with us your abundant faith and confidence in God. Make us aware that God never ceases to love us; that He answers all our prayers in the way that is best for us. Strengthen our hearts to carry the cross in the footsteps of your Divine Son. Help us to realize that He who shares the cross of Christ will certainly share His Resurrection.
Dearest Mother, as we worry about our own problems let us not forget the needs of others. You always loved others so much; help us to do the same. While praying for our own intentions and for the intentions of all here present at this novena we earnestly ask you, our Mother to help us comfort the sick and the dying, give hope to the poor and the unemployed,
heal the broken-hearted, lighten the burden of the oppressed, teach justice to their oppressors, and bring back to God all those who have offended Him. Dearest Mother, help us to avoid sin which separates us from our heavenly Father and from one another. Full of trust in you, we place ourselves under the mantle of your maternal protection and confidently hope for your powerful help. Amen.
Thanksgiving Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, truly present in the Most Blessed Eucharist, we
adore You. It has pleased the Father that in You all His fullness should dwell and that through
You He should reconcile all things to Himself, grant us the grace to be truly grateful for all that
our Father has done for us. Grant that we may be truly sorry for our sins and do penance for
them. Through You, we thank the eternal Father for the gift of life. He has created all the
wonderful things of this world for us. may we learn to use them well so that through them we
may grow in love for Him. Above all, we thank our Father for sending You to us as the greatest
expression of His love to save us and all creation by your death and resurrection. We thank
you Lord for giving us your own Mother to be our Mother of Perpetual Help. May the
countless favors we have received through her intercession inspire us to greater confidence in
God's loving mercy and her perpetual help. Grant that we may always do the holy will of God
and persevere in His love. To the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, be honor,
glory and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the
fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour
of our death. Amen
Explanation of the Icon and It’s History
The image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an
icon, painted on wood, and seems to have originated around the thirteenth century. The
icon depicts our Blessed Mother Mary, under the title “Mother of God,” holding the Child
Jesus. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel, hovering in the upper corners, hold the
instruments of the Passion– St. Michael (in the left corner) holds the spear, the wine-soaked
sponge, and the crown of thorns, and St. Gabriel (in the right corner) holds the cross and the
nails. The intent of the artist was to portray the Child Jesus contemplating the vision of His
future Passion. The anguish He feels is shown by the loss of one of His sandals.
Nevertheless, the icon also conveys the triumph of Christ over sin and death, symbolized by
the golden background (a sign of the glory of the resurrection) and the manner in which the
angels hold the instruments, i.e. like trophies gathered up from Calvary on Easter morning.
In a very beautiful way, the Child Jesus grasps the hand of the Blessed Mother. He seeks
comfort from His mother, as He sees the instruments of His passion. The position of Mary’s
hands– both holding the Child Jesus (who seems like a small adult) and presenting Him to
us– convey the reality of our Lord’s incarnation, that He is true God who became also true
man. In iconography, Mary here is represented as the one who guides us to the Redeemer.
She also is our Help, who intercedes on our behalf with her Son. The star painted on Mary’s
veil, centered on her forehead, highlights her role in the plan of salvation as both the Mother
of God and our Mother
According to popular tradition, a merchant acquired the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
from the island of Crete and had it shipped to Rome towards the end of the fifteenth century.
During the voyage, a terrible storm arose, threatening the lives of all on ship. The passengers
and crew prayed to our Blessed Mother, and were saved.
Once in Rome, the merchant, dying, ordered that the image should be displayed for public
veneration. His friend, who retained the image, received further instructions: in a dream to
his little daughter, the Blessed Mother appeared and expressed the desire for the image to be
venerated in a Church between the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran in Rome.
The image, consequently, was housed at the Church of St. Matthew, and great graces were
bestowed upon the faithful.
After Napoleon’s troops destroyed the Church of St. Matthew in 1812, the image was
transferred to the Church of St. Mary in Posterula, and remained there for nearly forty years.
There, the image was neglected and forgotten.
By Divine Providence, the forgotten image was rediscovered. In 1866, Blessed Pope Pius IX
entrusted the image to the Redemptorists, who had just built the Church of St. Alphonsus. He
ordered the public display and veneration of the image, In 1867, when the image was being
carried in a solemn procession through the streets, a young child was cured, the first of many
recorded miracles attributed to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
To this day, the Church of St. Alphonsus displays the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and
welcome pilgrims for prayer. May each of us never hesitate to invoke the prayers and
intercession of Our Blessed Mother in time of need.
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