Day Two: Who Are You, O Immaculata?
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
Who is she? She is nothing in herself, like all other creatures, but thanks to God’s work she is the most perfect among creatures. The most perfect semblance of the Divine Being in a purely human creature.
She derives, therefore, from the Father through the Son and the Spirit, as the Creator who from nothing, in the image of Himself, in the image of the Most Holy Trinity, calls finite beings into existence, out of love for His own finite likenesses, which they reproduce.
Beings endowed with free will and reason know and acknowledge their provenance and are aware of having received from God all they are, all they can do, and all they possess at every instant.
They reciprocate with love, both for what they have received, and for the fact that He, as infinite perfection, is worthy of infinite love. Consequently, as limited beings, unable to render unto Him infinite love, at least they overcome the constraints and efforts of such love.
The Immaculata never had any stain of sin, which means that her love was always full, without flaws. She loved God with all her being, and love united Her with God in this perfect fashion from the first instant of her life, such that on the day of the Annunciation, the Angel could address her saying: “Full of grace, the Lord is with thee” [Lk 1:28]. (KW 1320)
Prayer Intention
For world peace and for all government leaders.
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
Appreciation for the gift of Divine life received at Baptism and nourished by the Sacraments.
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