ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY NOVENA – DAY 9

OPENING PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION

O Most Holy Mary, as we celebrate your Assumption in body and soul to the glory of Heaven, we implore you to help us to live with faith and hope in this world, seeking always and in all things the Kingdom of God.

O Lady assumed to Heaven, help us to open ourselves to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that creates and renews, capable of transforming our hearts.

O Lady of the Assumption, enlighten our minds about the destiny that awaits us – the eternal joy in the heavenly homeland – of the dignity of each one of us and the nobility of our bodies and of our souls, who may one day be with you in the glory of Heaven.

O Blessed Virgin Mary, raised to Heaven, show yourself to us all as Mother of faith, hope, and love!

FROM THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION OF POPE PIOUS XII ON THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

(Your body is holy and glorious)

“In their sermons and speeches on the feast day of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the holy fathers and the great doctors of the church were speaking of something that the faithful already knew and accepted: all they did was to bring it out into the open, to explain its meaning and substance in other terms. Above all, they made it most clear that this feast commemorated not merely the fact that the blessed Virgin Mary did not experience bodily decay, but also her triumph over death and her heavenly glory, following the example of her only Son, Jesus Christ.

Thus, St John Damascene, who is the greatest exponent of this tradition, compares the bodily Assumption of the revered Mother of God with her other gifts and privileges: “It was right that she who had kept her virginity unimpaired through the process of giving birth should have kept her body without decay through death. It was right that she who had given her Creator, as a child, a place at her breast should be given a place in the dwelling-place of her God. It was right that the bride espoused by the Father should dwell in the heavenly bridal chamber. It was right that she who had gazed on her Son on the cross, her heart pierced at that moment by the sword of sorrow that she had escaped at his birth, should now gaze on him seated with his Father. It was right that the Mother of God should possess what belongs to her Son and to be honoured by every creature as the God’s Mother and handmaid.”

St Germanus of Constantinople considered that the preservation from decay of the body of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and its elevation to heaven as being not only appropriate to her Motherhood but also to the peculiar sanctity of its virgin state: “It is written, that you appear in beauty, and your virginal body is altogether holy, altogether chaste, altogether the dwelling-place of God; from which it follows that it is not in its nature to decay into dust, but that it is transformed, being human, into a glorious and incorruptible life, the same body, living and glorious, unharmed, sharing in perfect life.”

Another very ancient author asserts: “Being the most glorious Mother of Christ our Saviour and our God, the giver of life and immortality, she is given life by him and shares bodily incorruptibility for all eternity with him who raised her from the grave and drew her up to him in a way that only he can understand.”

All that the holy fathers say refers ultimately to Scripture as a foundation, which gives us the vivid image of the great Mother of God as being closely attached to her divine Son and always sharing his lot.

It is important to remember that from the second century onwards the holy fathers have been talking of the Virgin Mary as the new Eve for the new Adam: not equal to him, of course, but closely joined with him in the battle against the enemy, which ended in the triumph over sin and death that had been promised even in Paradise. The glorious resurrection of Christ is essential to this victory and its final prize, but the blessed Virgin’s share in that fight must also have ended in the glorification of her body. For as the Apostle says: “When this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the scripture will be fulfilled that says “Death is swallowed up in victory”.”

So then, the great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, immaculately conceived, an intact virgin throughout her divine motherhood, a noble associate of our Redeemer as he defeated sin and its consequences, received, as it were, the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following her Son in his victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at the right hand of that same Son, the immortal King of Ages.” (~Culled from the Divine Office – Office of the Readings for Assumption).

Silent Prayer and Reflection…

DAY 9 PRAYER

Recite 3 Hail Marys for the favour you seek to obtain.
O Queen assumed into heaven, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF OUR LADY OF ASSUMPTION (SHORT INVOCATIONS)

Great Mary (Pray for us)
Greatest of Marys
Greatest of Women
Mother of Eternal Glory
Mother of the Golden Light
Honour of the Sky
Temple of the Divinity
Fountain of the Gardens
Serene as the Moon
Bright as the Sun
Garden Enclosed
Temple of the Living God
Light of Nazareth
Beauty of the World
Queen of Life
Ladder of Heaven
Mother of God