A Marian Novena of Giveaways, Day 1

Today is Day 1 of our Marian Novena of Giveaways.

Be sure to enter your name in the comments for a chance to win one of today's great prizes!

Let's bring our vocations to God and ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother as we celebrate her birth.

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin;
give me strength against thine enemies,
and against the enemy of the whole human race.
Give me strength humbly to pray to thee.
Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers,
through the merits of thy most sacred nativity,
which for the entire Christian world was
a birth of joy, the hope and solace of its life.

When thou wast born, O most holy Virgin,
then was the world made light.

Happy is thy stock, holy thy root,
and blessed thy fruit, for thou alone as a virgin,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
didst merit to conceive thy God,
as a virgin to bear Thy God,
as a virgin to bring Him forth,
and after His birth to remain a virgin.

Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner,
and give me aid, O Lady, so that just as thy nativity,
glorious from the seed of Abraham,
sprung from the tribe of Juda,
illustrious from the stock of David,
didst announce joy to the entire world,
so may it fill me with true joy and cleanse me from every sin.

(mention your intentions)

Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent, that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity may put a cloak over all my sins.

O holy Mother of God, flowering as the lily,
pray to thy sweet Son for me, a wretched sinner. Amen.

This novena was written by St. Anselm and is usually prayed for the nine days before the Nativity of Mary. [Source: Fish Eaters Forum]

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