Day Eight: In Communion and Solidarity with Others
This Novena includes: Daily Opening Prayer, Readings from The Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe (KW), Prayer Intention, “Grace for Today” and Daily Closing Prayer.
Daily Opening Prayer
You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem,
you are the joy of Israel,
you give honor to our people.
You are the advocate of sinners.
O Mary,
Virgin most prudent,
Mother most merciful,
pray for us, intercede for us,
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son, grant, we pray, that, as you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the death of your Son, which you foresaw, so, through her intercession, we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
A Reading from the Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe
One of the means that greatly enhances the results of a soul’s efforts is the union between souls like these, with the purpose of directing themselves toward a common goal in concerted action. That is why the association of the Militia of the Immaculata was born, whose aim, even in its simplest legal form, which requires no rigorous organization, makes it possible for souls not only to gain the indulgences granted by the Apostolic See, but also to deepen the ideal of the Militia of the Immaculata and to apply it to the normal circumstances of ordinary life. Besides, through the National Center, members can entertain a mutual exchange of points of view and intentions.
To become ever more the property of the Immaculata, to endeavor to belong to her ever more perfectly and in all respects with no exception; to attempt to deepen ever more one’s belonging to her to the point of being able to enlighten, to warm, and to kindle the souls who live around us, and make them like oneself, win them over to the Immaculata, so that they too may belong to her without restrictions, and all that with the aim to win an ever greater number of souls, to conquer the whole world, but conquer it in the shortest possible time, as soon as possible and then imbue with that ideal ever more all the souls who live and shall live in the future, and never allow anyone, not even for a short time, to tear away from any soul the banner of the Immaculata: [that is] the task of the Knight of the Immaculata.
By thus becoming ever more of the Immaculata until, as a knight, one wins over ever more numerous legions of souls and by becoming, through the Immaculata, a property of Jesus, and through Him, ever more perfectly, property of the Heavenly Father, the soul becomes ever more a knight of the Immaculata. One plunges ever more deeply into the essence of the Militia of the Immaculata. (KW 1329)
Prayer Intention
For all young people in their search for truth, beauty and goodness, to be found in Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for all those who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of Holy Church and all those recommended to you.
Grace for Today
Generosity in living out my call as a missionary disciple in the footsteps of Our Lady and St. Maximilian.
Daily Closing Prayer
Immaculate Virgin!
Your spotless spiritual beauty
is for us a living source of
confidence and hope.
To have you as Mother, Holy Virgin,
reassures us on the path of life
as a pledge of eternal salvation.
Because of this, O Mary,
we have recourse to you
with confidence.
Help us to build a world
where human life is always
cherished and defended,
every form of violence banished,
the peace of all tenaciously sought.
Immaculate Virgin!
grant that we may celebrate and adore
with renewed faith and ardent love
the holy mystery of the
Body and Blood of Christ.
At your school,
O Woman of the Eucharist,
teach us to remember the marvels
that God never ceases to work in
human hearts.
With motherly tenderness, Virgin Mary,
guide our steps always on the
path of good. Amen!
– Pope St. John Paul II