SOLEMNITY OF MARY, HEALTH OF THE SICK
PATRONESS OF THE CONGREGATION
MAY 8

NOVENA IN HONOR OF MARY, HEALTH OF THE SICK
April 29- May 7

First Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
is the One Full of Grace

Introduction (to be recited every day)

Reader: Our Mother Foundress reminds us that every gift comes from God, our Father, through the mediation of the Virgin Mary, our Patroness.

R/. Christ went about doing good and curing the sick; Mary is the consolation of those who suffer.

V/. Let us invoke her by saying: Mary, Health of the Sick

R/. Pray for us.

Reading: Commentary

“In the soul of this ‘daughter of Sion’ there is manifested, in a sense, all the ‘glory of grace,’ that grace which ‘the Father… has given us in his beloved Son.’ For the messenger greets Mary as ‘full of grace’; he calls her thus as if it were her real name” (RMat 8).

The angel Gabriel greeted Mary by calling her: “full of grace”. For this messenger speaking in the name of God, Mary is the one “graced”; she is the woman through which all is manifested, so that all might praise “the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved” (Eph 1: 6). Mary’s new name received from God defines who she is for him: her entire life is expressed in this name which God has entrusted to her. She will continue to be the beloved of the Father, and the object of God’s goodness and condescending grace.

God has called us, without any merit on our part, to be holy and immaculate, or in other words, to belong completely to him. To live entirely for God presupposes a plan of holiness. Mary has been the chosen one, the one called “full of grace”, who is holy and immaculate par excellence.

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Rejoice, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you

R/. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Invocations

The Hail Mary is recited three times, alternating with the prayer:

Mary, Health of the Sick: pray for us.

Prayer

Lord, you desired your Son, Jesus, to have compassion and heal the sick. Through the intercession of our Patroness, Mary Health of the Sick, we beseech you for the grace to care for our suffering brothers and sisters, being true to our name as Servants of Mary. Make us instruments of salvation and peace, of consolation and love, imitating our Mother Foundress. May the sick be comforted with your divine grace and united with your Son. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Second Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
is the Attentive Virgin

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: “Marialis Cultus”, 17

Mary is the attentive Virgin, who receives the word of God with faith, that faith which in her case was the gateway and path to divine Motherhood, for asSaint Augustine realized, “Blessed Mary by believing conceived him (Jesus) whom believing she brought forth.” In fact, when she received from the angel the answer to her doubt, “full of faith and conceiving Christ in her mind before conceiving him in her womb, she said, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me’.” It was faith that was for her the cause of blessedness and certainty in the fulfillment of the promise: “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Similarly, it was faith with which she, who played a part in the Incarnation and was a unique witness to it, thinking back on the events of the infancy of Christ, meditated upon these events in her heart. The Church also acts in this way, especially in the liturgy, when with faith she listens, accepts, proclaims and venerates the Word of God, distributes it to the faithful as the bread of life and in light of that word examines the signs of the times and interprets and lives the events of history.

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Happy are you, O Mary, for your firm believing

R/. Because what the Lord has told you will be fulfilled

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Third Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
is the Virgin in Prayer

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: “Marialis Cultus”, 18

Mary is also the Virgin in prayer. She appears as such in the visit to the Mother of the Precursor, when she pours out her soul in expressions glorifying God, and expressions of humility, faith and hope. This prayer is the Magnificat, Mary’s prayer par excellence, the song of the messianic times in which there mingles the joy of the ancient and the newIsrael. As Saint Irenaeus seems to suggest, it is in Mary’s canticle that there was heard once more the rejoicing of Abraham who foresaw the Messiah and there rang out in prophetic anticipation the voice of the Church: “In her exultation Mary prophetically declared in the name of the Church: ‘My soul proclaims the glory of the Lord…’.” And in fact Mary’s hymn has spread far and wide and has become the prayer of the whole Church in all ages.

At Cana, Mary appears once more as the Virgin in prayer: when she tactfully told her Son of a temporal need, she also obtained an effect of grace, namely, that Jesus, in working the first of his “signs”, confirmed his disciples’ faith in him.

Likewise, the last description of Mary’s life presents her praying. The Apostles “joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” We have here the prayerful presence of Mary in the early Church and in the Church throughout all ages, for, having been assumed into heaven, she has not abandoned her mission of intercession and salvation. The title Virgin in prayer also fits the Church, which day by day, presents to the Father the needs of her children, “praises the Lord unceasingly and intercedes for the salvation of the world.”

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Mary, the Virgin in prayer, is the model of prayer for all the Church

R/. Intercede for us before the Lord

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Fourth Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
is the Virgin Presenting Offerings

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: “Marialis Cultus”, 20

Mary is, finally, the Virgin presenting offerings. In the episode of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the Church, guided by the Spirit, has detected, over and above the fulfillment of the laws regarding the offering of the firstborn and the purification of the Mother, a mystery of salvation related to the history of salvation. That is, she has noted the continuity of the fundamental offering that the Incarnate Word made to the Father when he entered the world. The Church has seen the universal nature of salvation proclaimed, for Simeon, greeting in the Child the light to enlighten the peoples and the glory of the people Israel, recognized in him the Messiah, the Savior of all. The Church has understood the prophetic reference to the Passion of Christ: the fact that Simeon’s words, which linked in one prophecy the Son as “the sign of contradiction” and the Mother, whose soul would be pierced by a sword, came true on Calvary. A mystery of salvation, therefore, that in its various aspects orients the episode of the Presentation in the Temple to the salvific event of the Cross. But the Church herself, in particular from the Middle Ages onwards, has detected in the heart of the Virgin taking her Son to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord a desire to make an offering, a desire that exceeds the ordinary meaning of the rite. A witness to this intuition is found in the loving prayer of Saint Bernard: “Offer your Son, holy Virgin, and present to the Lord the blessed fruit of your womb. Offer for the reconciliation of us all the holy Victim which is pleasing to God.”

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Mary, the Virgin presenting offerings, consecrated herself totally to God

R/. To be our model of consecration

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Fifth Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
Maternal Mediation

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: Commentary

“Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). “In this passage of John’s Gospel we find as it were the first indication of the truth concerning Mary’s maternal care… It is important to note Mary’s maternal role as it relates to the mediation of Christ…Mary’s maternal role towards mankind in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its efficacy” (RMat 22).

The fourth gospel never mentions Mary by name. She will always be designated as “the mother”, “of Jesus”, or “of the beloved disciple”. We never lose sight of her mission as Mother since it truly defines who she is. At the beginning of Jesus’ public life, Mary is present at the wedding feast of Cana as the Mother of Jesus. There she will say, “They have no wine”, and upon seeing the miracle brought about by Mary’s initiative, the disciples will believe. She contributes to the “beginning of the signs” which reveals the messianic power of her Son. This has symbolic value. This coming to the aid of human needs means bringing those needs within the radius of Christ’s messianic mission and salvific power.

Thus there is a mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and mankind in the reality of their wants, needs and sufferings. She places herself “in the middle” and acts as a Mediatrix, not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that as such she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind. Her mediation is thus in the nature of intercession. Mary intercedes for mankind. And that is not all. As a mother she also wishes the messianic power of her Son to be manifested, that salvific power of his which is meant to help man in his misfortunes, to free him from the evil which in various forms and degrees weighs heavily upon his life (cf RMat 21).

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Through the intercession of Mary, Jesus performed his first miracle

R/. And his disciples believed in him.

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Sixth Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
During the Years of Jesus’ Hidden Life

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: Commentary

“Mary, for many years, lived in intimacy with the mystery of her Son, and went forward in her ‘pilgrimage of faith’, while Jesus ‘increased in wisdom… and in favor with God and man’. The first human creature thus permitted to discover Christ was Mary, who lived with Joseph in the same house at Nazareth.” (RMat 17).

It may seem superfluous to try to reflect over the long period of Jesus’ hidden life in Nazareth since we do not have historical dates to follow, but it cannot be denied that this period of his life is characterized by family life. Nazareth is the school where the life of Jesus began. Here one learns to observe, listen in silence and meditate on the simple and humble mystery of the Son of God made man among men. In this school, the first disciple par excellence is Mary. Here in Nazareth, we are offered the opportunity to discover who Jesus is. There all speaks with powerful meaning! One becomes aware of the spiritual discipline necessary in order to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become a disciple of Christ. There, too, the lesson of silence is learned in the middle of noise and agitation in our lives. A lesson of family life is learned and the meaning of communion of love becomes known. There one learns the art and value of work because Nazareth is the home of an Artisan. And finally, there we find Mary, the disciple of Jesus. She is the model to imitate in our life.

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Happy are you, Mary, because you lived in the house of the Lord.

R/. Happy are those who imitate you and are true disciples of Jesus.

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Seventh Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
is Mother of All Humanity

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: Commentary

“If Mary’s motherhood of the human race had already been outlined, now at the foot of the cross it is clearly stated and established. It emerges from the definitive accomplishment of the Redeemer’s Paschal Mystery. The Mother of Christ, who stands at the very center of this mystery – a mystery which embraces each individual and all humanity – is given as mother to every single individual and all mankind” (RMat 23).

The culminating moment of Jesus Christ is his Paschal Mystery; it is also the culminating moment for Mary. His cross not only ends in death, but leads to the Resurrection. Not only is it the moment in which Jesus gives us the Spirit but also is the moment in which he surrenders his mother to the beloved disciple. The cross is the great symbol of the Paschal Mystery. There, Mary is a unique witness of this event and exercises her maternal mission.

The relationship between Jesus and Mary and her divine motherhood is brought closer to us by a bridge through John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. At Cana we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, watching over her children with maternal care while she tells the servants to listen and do whatever he tells them. In a certain way, she intervened in helping the disciples grow in their faith. For this reason, in the mystery of Christ, it corresponds to Mary to carry out her role as Mother. Mother, not only in relation to Jesus, but in relation to all the disciples of Jesus, as their Mother in faith.

On the cross an exchange of roles takes place. Mary, as the mother of Jesus at the scene of Calvary is later transformed into the “mother of the beloved disciple” and in him, to all humanity.

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Mary at the foot of the cross is transformed into the mother of the beloved                     disciple

R/. And in him, our mother.

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Eighth Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
Jesus’ Associate of Unique Nobility

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: Commentary

“Mary became not only the human mother of the Son of Man but also the ‘associate of unique nobility’ of the Messiah and Redeemer… Along the path of this collaboration with the work of her Son, the Redeemer, Mary’s motherhood itself underwent a singular transformation, becoming ever more imbued with ‘burning charity’ towards all those to whom Christ’s mission was directed. Through this ‘burning charity’, Mary entered, in a way all her own, into the one mediation of the man Christ Jesus” (RMat 39).

Jesus willed to unite his person and associate his work with his disciples. He also wanted to unite himself and his work “in a unique and exceptional way” to Mary, his Mother. From the moment of Jesus’ infancy, Mother and Son form one indissoluble union. By giving birth to Jesus, Mary gives him a body and conveys an attitude of total service which continues to grow in the Body of Christ, which is the Church. Mary discovers the Father’s will and his plan for the Kingdom in the gestures and words of Jesus. She receives and understands this revelation with that intuition which only mothers possess, especially those who live a deep interior life. Mary constantly followed her only Son, not always in a physical sense, but in a spiritually active manner.

The highest point of her association with Jesus came at the moment of the Cross. Mary received her mission from Jesus, to care for his beloved disciples and his brothers with maternal love. She showed the depth of her love to Jesus, a love until the cross, when she received her mission to be mother. Mary is the believer par excellence and the perfect model of accepting the faith and cooperating faithfully and generously.

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. The Lord wanted Mary to be cooperator par excellence of Jesus

R/. And she will care for all mankind with her maternal love.

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day

Ninth Day

Mary, Mother of Our Health,
Is the Virgin-Mother

Introduction and Response as on the first day

Reading: “Marialis Cultus”, 19

Mary is also the Virgin-Mother – she who “believing and obeying… brought forth on earth the Father’s Son. This she did, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.”

This was a miraculous Motherhood, set up by God as the type and exemplar of the fruitfulness of the Virgin-Church, which “becomes herself a mother…For by her preaching and by baptism she brings forth to a new and immortal life children who are conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of God.” The ancient Fathers rightly taught that the Church prolongs in the sacrament of Baptism the virginal Motherhood of Mary. Among such references we like to recall that of our illustrious predecessor, Saint Leo the Great, who in a Christmas homily says: “The origin which (Christ) took in the womb of the Virgin he has given to the baptismal font: he has given to water what he had given to his Mother; the power of the Most High and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 1:35), which was responsible for Mary’s bringing forth the Savior, has the same effect, so that water may regenerate the believer”. If we wished to go to liturgical sources we could quote the beautiful Illatio of the Mozarabic liturgy: “The former (Mary) carried Life in her womb; the latter (the Church) bears Life in the waters of baptism. In Mary’s members Christ was formed; in the waters of the Church Christ is put on.”

Silence to ask for the necessary graces

Verse

V/. Mary, Virgin and Mother, is our Patroness

R/. Intercede always for our Institute

Invocations and Prayer as on the first day