From Mary we learn to surrender to God’s Will in all things. From Mary we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary we learn to love Christ her Son and the Son of God!
Pope St John Paul II
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast: 21st November
Today’s saint is written by Fr Nicholas Schofield in Saints of the Roman Calendar.
The Presentation of Mary in the Temple as a young girl is based not on the New Testament but on an account in the apocryphal Gospel of James. In being presented in this way, the Blessed Virgin dedicated herself to the service of God and kept herself open to God’s will. The feast prepares us for Advent and Christmas, when we celebrate the coming of her Divine Son into the world.
Collect for the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
As we venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Collecta
Sanctissimæ venerantibus Virginis Mariæ memoriam gloriosam, ipsius nobis, quæsumus, Domine, intercessione concede, ut de plenitudine gratiæ tuæ nos quoque mereamur accipere. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum.
Perpetual Novena Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Perpetual Help
This prayer is extracted from our book Marian Prayer Book.
Pope Pius IX gave the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, (Our Lady of Perpetual Succour), to the Blessed Virgin, and it is associated with a 15th century Byzantine icon in a church dedicated to St Alphonsus Liguori, in Rome.
O Blessed Virgin Mary,
who, to inspire within us an unbounded confidence,
have desired to assume the most sweet name of Mother of Perpetual Help,
I beseech you,
assist me at all times and in every place;
in my temptations; after my failures;
in my difficulties; in all the woes of life,
and above all, at the moment of my death.
Grant me, O charitable Mother,
the conviction and habit of seeking recourse always in you;
for I am certain that, if I invoke you faithfully,
you shall be loyal in assisting me.
Obtain for me, then, that grace of graces,
the grace of praying to you incessantly
and with the confidence of a child,
so that, by virtue of that steadfast petition,
I may obtain your perpetual help and ultimate perseverance.
Bless me, O tender and benevolent Mother,
and pray for me, now and at the hour of my death. Amen.
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