Marian Devotion

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Share your favorite Marian devotions, prayers, and art.
Also welcome are your favorite books about Mary, or your
memories, thoughts, and feelings about the Blessed Virgin.❤️
 
Today I started a novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. This is the prayer I’m saying:

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times I congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception.

And now, O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings; deign to cast upon me a look of mercy. By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and already many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. I come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for me, O loving Mother, the granting of my request.

(make your request)

Through gratitude for your favors, I will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that I may one day share your glory. Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your Divine Son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for me; obtain for me from your Divine Son my special request if it be the Divine Will. Amen.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
 
SugarMagnolia said:
Share your favorite Marian devotions, prayers, and art.
Also welcome are your favorite books about Mary, or your
memories, thoughts, and feelings about the Blessed Virgin.❤️
Click to expand...
The icon in my bedroom, that I see when I wake up, and see whan I fall asleep. A print of an Orthodox Icon.

A strange icon. One sees Mary behind the altar, where strictly speaking no woman should be. But there is a chalice before her. Her arms are open wide, like those of a Priest. In the chalice is a baby Jesus standing up, with his arms open wide.

This is an icon for alcoholics who need help. Me, for example.

A link for a picture and more information

rusmonastery.org/eng/chasha.html
 
In 1858, fourteen year old Bernadette Soubirous experienced a series of apparitions at Lourdes. According to Bernadette, her first experience occurred while she was collecting wood at a grotto called Massabeille. She heard a rustling in a hedge and saw something white behind it. The white figure appeared to be a lady. The mysterious lady was wearing a white dress with a blue sash and she was carrying a rosary. There were roses at her feet. Bernadette addressed the lady as Aquero (“That One”). Then Bernadette knelt down and began to pray. When Bernadette finished her prayer, the apparition smiled and disappeared into the grotto. I can only imagine what little Bernadette must have felt on that day. Did the poor frail child know she was gazing at a vision of utter purity? Did she know how blessed she was to be alone in the lovely grotto with the sweet Virgin Mary?

Most people told Bernadette that she had merely seen an illusion, but a woman named Madame Millet believed her and accompanied her back to the grotto. Then Aquero instructed Bernadette to return to the grotto everyday for fifteen days. Bernadette obeyed, returning each morning accompanied by increasingly larger congregations. On one of these mornings, Bernadette got down on her hands and knees, dug in the ground, uncovered some muddy water, and drank. Later, people dug deeper in this spot and discovered a spring whose waters had curative powers. This is an image of such charming innocence that it warms my heart: I see the devout young saint scooping away the earth to reveal the healing waters flowing beneath.

On another occasion Aquero told Bernadette to tell the priests to build a chapel at the apparition site. However, the priests told Bernadette that Aquero must first identify herself and perform a miracle. When Bernadette relayed this message, Aquero only smiled. When Bernadette visited the apparition site on the Feast of the Annunciation, she once again asked Aquero her name. Aquero said simply: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” On this last day of my novena to Our Lady of Lourdes, I picture this sacred scene in my mind and let it fill my heart with the maternal love of the Blessed Virgin and the humble devotion of Saint Bernadette.
 
I love this painting - I have it as a prayer card with the Mysteries of the Rosary on the back as well as a larger print on the wall in our livingroom.
 
I think these paragraphs from St. Montfort’s ‘Preliminary Remarks’ are especially beautiful.
He shows us how, no matter how much we love and praise Mary, we can love and praise
her still more. Everyone in creation honors the Blessed Virgin, from the angels in heaven to
the little child who “lisps the Hail Mary;” even the devils in hell acknowledge her blessedness.

*"Every day, from one end of the earth to the other, in the highest heights of the heavens
and in the profoundest depths of the abysses, everything preaches, everything publishes,
the admirable Mary! The nine choirs of angels, men of all ages, sexes, conditions and religions,
the good and the bad, nay, even the devils themselves, willingly or unwillingly, are compelled
by the force of truth to call her “Blessed.” St. Bonaventure tells us that all the angels in Heaven
cry out incessantly to her: “Holy, holy, holy Mary, Mother of God and Virgin”, and that they
offer to her, millions and millions of times a day, the Angelical Salutation, Ave Maria,
prostrating themselves before her, and begging of her in her graciousness to honour them with
some of her commands. Even St. Michael, as St. Augustine says, although the prince of the
heavenly court, is the most zealous in honouring her and causing her to be honoured, and is
always anxiously awaiting the honour of going at her bidding to render service to some one
of her servants.

The whole earth is full of her glory, especially among Christians, by whom she is taken as the
protectress of many kingdoms, provinces, dioceses and cities. Many cathedrals are consecrated
to God under her name. There is not a church without an altar in her honour, not a country or a
canton where there are not some miraculous images where all sorts of evils are cured and all sorts
of good gifts obtained. Who can count the confraternities and congregations in her honour? How
many religious orders have been founded in her name and under her protection? How many
members in these confraternities, and how many religious men and women in all these orders,
who publish her praises and confess her mercies! There is not a little child who, as it lisps the
Hail Mary, does not praise her. There is scarcely a sinner who, even in his obduracy, has not
some spark of confidence in her. Nay, the very devils in Hell respect her while they fear her.

After that, we must cry out with the saints:* “De Maria numquam satis” – “Of Mary there
is never enough.” We have not yet praised, exalted, honoured, loved and served Mary as we
ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service"
(St. Montfort, True Devotion to Mary,* 8-10).*
 
SugarMagnolia said:
I think these paragraphs from St. Montfort’s ‘Preliminary Remarks’ are especially beautiful.
He shows us how, no matter how much we love and praise Mary, we can love and praise
her still more. Everyone in creation honors the Blessed Virgin, from the angels in heaven to
the little child who “lisps the Hail Mary;” even the devils in hell acknowledge her blessedness.

*"Every day, from one end of the earth to the other, in the highest heights of the heavens
and in the profoundest depths of the abysses, everything preaches, everything publishes,
the admirable Mary! The nine choirs of angels, men of all ages, sexes, conditions and religions,
the good and the bad, nay, even the devils themselves, willingly or unwillingly, are compelled
by the force of truth to call her “Blessed.” St. Bonaventure tells us that all the angels in Heaven
cry out incessantly to her: “Holy, holy, holy Mary, Mother of God and Virgin”, and that they
offer to her, millions and millions of times a day, the Angelical Salutation, Ave Maria,
prostrating themselves before her, and begging of her in her graciousness to honour them with
some of her commands. Even St. Michael, as St. Augustine says, although the prince of the
heavenly court, is the most zealous in honouring her and causing her to be honoured, and is
always anxiously awaiting the honour of going at her bidding to render service to some one
of her servants.

The whole earth is full of her glory, especially among Christians, by whom she is taken as the
protectress of many kingdoms, provinces, dioceses and cities. Many cathedrals are consecrated
to God under her name. There is not a church without an altar in her honour, not a country or a
canton where there are not some miraculous images where all sorts of evils are cured and all sorts
of good gifts obtained. Who can count the confraternities and congregations in her honour? How
many religious orders have been founded in her name and under her protection? How many
members in these confraternities, and how many religious men and women in all these orders,
who publish her praises and confess her mercies! There is not a little child who, as it lisps the
Hail Mary, does not praise her. There is scarcely a sinner who, even in his obduracy, has not
some spark of confidence in her. Nay, the very devils in Hell respect her while they fear her.

After that, we must cry out with the saints:* “De Maria numquam satis” – “Of Mary there
is never enough.” We have not yet praised, exalted, honoured, loved and served Mary as we
ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service"
(St. Montfort, True Devotion to Mary,* 8-10).*
Click to expand...
that is incredible 🙂
 
SugarMagnolia said:
Share your favorite Marian devotions, prayers, and art.
Also welcome are your favorite books about Mary, or your
memories, thoughts, and feelings about the Blessed Virgin.❤️
Click to expand...
I was recently involved in a thread discussing the prayer to Mary at the end of each Rosary. I’m sorry - I don’t know the name of the prayer, but I’m sure everyone here knows it well. There was some disagreement about the words: “Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope” - whether we should actually refer to Mary in those terms.

A few days ago I remembered some of the words to an old Catholic hymn.

Oh holy Queen, enthroned above, oh Maria!
Oh Mother of Mercy and of love, oh Maria!
Triumph all ye cherubim!
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
heaven and earth resound the hymn!
Salve, salve, salve Regina!!

I hadn’t thought of that hymn for years and years and years. After remembering those words, I looked up the hymn to find all the words and this is part of what I found:

Our life, our sweetness here below, oh Maria!
Our hope in sorrow and in woe, oh Maria!
Triumph all ye cherubim!
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
Heaven and earth resound the hymn!
Salve, salve, salve, Regina!!

And when our last breath leaves us, oh Maria!
Show us thy son Christ Jesus, oh Maria!
Triumph all ye cherubim!
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
Heaven and earth resound the hymn!
Salve, salve, salve, Regina!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salve_Regina

The Latin lyrics can be found on this site. It’s weird that this popped into my head after posting in the thread, because this hymn is actually very similar to that last prayer of the Rosary.

Oh clement, oh loving, oh sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us, oh most Holy Mother of God, that
we may become worthy of the promises of Christ!

Ave Maria! Ora pro nobis.
 
SugarMagnolia said:
Today I started a novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. This is the prayer I’m saying:

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times I congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception.

And now, O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings; deign to cast upon me a look of mercy. By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and already many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. I come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for me, O loving Mother, the granting of my request.

(make your request)

Through gratitude for your favors, I will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that I may one day share your glory. Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your Divine Son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for me; obtain for me from your Divine Son my special request if it be the Divine Will. Amen.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
Click to expand...
How I wish I knew how to pray a Novena! I have never learned how too but hopfully with time, I will. I would love to learn this one, since i LOVE Our Lady of Lourdes.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C4FJDEwtp...D_jS56-o/S1600-R/our+lady+of+guadalupe.jpgAnd as well as Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This one will always have a special place in my heart.❤️
 
Several years ago while cleaning the basement, my grandma and I found an odd picture. it was a rough texture on thick cardstock, worn away and brittle on the edges. It’s a dull, sepia tone picture of Mary. I liked it, and took it back up to my room and propped it up on my desk.

Well, that night, I got ready for bed, turned off my light, turned around, and nearly scared myself to death; turns out my portrait of Mary glows in the dark! XD

I love this picture. I have it framed and it’s hung above the very center over my closet.

I’m finding myself becoming very close to Mary. I don’t have a mother, she isn’t around, and never has been, but once I began reading the Catholic teachings of Mary, and realized I had a mom waiting for me in Heaven, one who loved me and wanted to see me again, I literally cried.
 
shondrea said:
Several years ago while cleaning the basement, my grandma and I found an odd picture. it was a rough texture on thick cardstock, worn away and brittle on the edges. It’s a dull, sepia tone picture of Mary. I liked it, and took it back up to my room and propped it up on my desk.

Well, that night, I got ready for bed, turned off my light, turned around, and nearly scared myself to death; turns out my portrait of Mary glows in the dark! XD

I love this picture. I have it framed and it’s hung above the very center over my closet.

I’m finding myself becoming very close to Mary. I don’t have a mother, she isn’t around, and never has been, but once I began reading the Catholic teachings of Mary, and realized I had a mom waiting for me in Heaven, one who loved me and wanted to see me again, I literally cried.
Click to expand...
This is Beautiful!!! I’m glad you found true peace and love with Our Blessed Mother! Oohh… Come here! Big hug!:hug3:
 
LittleSoldier said:
I was recently involved in a thread discussing the prayer to Mary at the end of each Rosary. I’m sorry - I don’t know the name of the prayer, but I’m sure everyone here knows it well. There was some disagreement about the words: “Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope” - whether we should actually refer to Mary in those terms.

A few days ago I remembered some of the words to an old Catholic hymn.

Oh holy Queen, enthroned above, oh Maria!
Oh Mother of Mercy and of love, oh Maria!
Triumph all ye cherubim!
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
heaven and earth resound the hymn!
Salve, salve, salve Regina!!

I hadn’t thought of that hymn for years and years and years. After remembering those words, I looked up the hymn to find all the words and this is part of what I found:

Our life, our sweetness here below, oh Maria!
Our hope in sorrow and in woe, oh Maria!
Triumph all ye cherubim!
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
Heaven and earth resound the hymn!
Salve, salve, salve, Regina!!

And when our last breath leaves us, oh Maria!
Show us thy son Christ Jesus, oh Maria!
Triumph all ye cherubim!
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
Heaven and earth resound the hymn!
Salve, salve, salve, Regina!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salve_Regina

The Latin lyrics can be found on this site. It’s weird that this popped into my head after posting in the thread, because this hymn is actually very similar to that last prayer of the Rosary.

Oh clement, oh loving, oh sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us, oh most Holy Mother of God, that
we may become worthy of the promises of Christ!

Ave Maria! Ora pro nobis.
Click to expand...
Thank you LittleSoldier. I have always loved that hymn. I remember the choir singing it during High Mass
when I was a child. The prayer at the end of the rosary is also called “Salve Regina,” or “Hail Holy Queen.”
The hymn is based on the prayer.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy towards us.
And after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

St. Alphonsus Liguori explains the meaning of each line of the prayer in The Glories of Mary.
books.google.com/books?id=tWcXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
 
Art321 said:
How I wish I knew how to pray a Novena! I have never learned how too but hopfully with time, I will. I would love to learn this one, since i LOVE Our Lady of Lourdes.

And as well as Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This one will always have a special place in my heart.❤️
Click to expand...
A novena is a nine day prayer. You say the prayer every day for nine days before the feast day.
I like to light a candle when I say my novena. If you would like to say a novena, the feast of the
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin is on March 25. That means the novena begins on March 16.
Here is a prayer you can say.

Novena for the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

I greet you, Ever-blessed Virgin,
Mother of God, Throne of Grace,
miracle of Almighty Power!
I greet you, Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity
and Queen of the Universe,
Mother of Mercy and refuge of sinners!

Most loving Mother,
attracted by your beauty and sweetness,
and by your tender compassion,
I confidently turn to you, miserable as I am,
and beg of you to obtain for me
from your dear Son the favor I request in this novena:

(make your request)

Obtain for me also, Queen of heaven,
the most lively contrition for my many sins
and the grace to imitate closely those virtues
which you practiced so faithfully,
especially humility, purity and obedience.
Above all, I beg you to be my Mother and Protectress,
to receive me into the number of your devoted children,
and to guide me from your high throne of glory.

Do not reject my petitions, Mother of Mercy!
Have pity on me, and do not abandon me during life
or at the moment of my death. Amen.
 
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