The video series of the World Novena of the Salesian Family to Mary Help of Christians continues with day five, “Being Children – Trust and Prayer,” featuring Little Catherine Labouré.
Accompany many consecrated and lay people of the Salesian Family on the spiritual journey towards the Feast of Mary Help of Christians, an anniversary so dear to Don Bosco.
Children trust, children rely on others. And a mother is close by, always.
You see her even if she is not there.
As for us, are we able to see her?
Blessed are those who see with their heart.
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Transcript from the video:
Catherine’s Medal
Little Catherine Labouré
On the night of July 18, 1830, around 11:30, she heard herself called by name. It was a child who told her, “Get up and come with me.” Catherine followed the child. All the lights were on. The chapel door opened as soon as the child touched it with his fingertips. Catherine knelt down. At midnight Our Lady came and sat in the armchair next to the altar. “Then I jumped up near her, at her feet, on the steps of the altar, and I placed my hands on her knees,” Catherine said. “I stayed like this, I don’t know how long. I thought it was the sweetest moment of my life…”
“God wants to entrust you with a mission,” the Virgin said to Catherine.
Catherine, who lost her mother at 9 years of age, was not resigned to living without her mother. And she approached the Mother of Heaven. Our Lady, who was already looking at her from afar, would never abandon her. In fact, she had big plans for her. She, her caring and loving daughter, would have a great mission: to live an authentic Christian life, a personal relationship with God that was strong and firm. Mary believed in the potential of her child and entrusted her with the Miraculous Medal, capable of interceding and working graces and miracles. An important mission, a difficult message. Yet Catherine was not discouraged. She trusted her Heavenly Mother and knew that she would never abandon her.
Mary, the Mother who gives confidence
You, who are trusting and entrust missions and messages to each of your children, have accompanied them on their journey as a discreet presence, remaining close to all, but especially to those who have experienced great suffering. You drew close to them and revealed yourself to them.
Trust: A mother will always entrust you only with tasks that you can complete and will be by your side all the way.
The Rector Major’s words
The Virgin Mary, trust and prayer.
The Virgin Mary presents herself to us as a woman of unshakeable trust, a powerful intercessor through prayer. Contemplating these two aspects, trust and prayer, we see two fundamental dimensions of Mary’s relationship with God.
We can say that Mary’s trust in God is a golden thread that runs through her entire existence, from beginning to end. That ‘yes’ pronounced with awareness of the consequences is an act of total
abandonment to the divine will. Mary entrusts herself, Mary lives her trust in God with a heart firmly fixed on divine providence, knowing that God would never abandon her.
So, for us, in our daily lives, looking to Mary, this abandonment, which is not passive but active and trusting, is an invitation not to forget our anxieties and fears, but in some way to look at everything in the light of God’s love, which in Mary’s case never failed, and neither will it fail in our lives. This trust leads to prayer, which we can say is almost the breath of Mary’s soul, the privileged channel of her intimate communion with God. Trust leads to communion. Her life of abandonment was a continuous dialogue of love with the Father, a constant offering of herself, of her concerns, but also of her decisions.
The visit to Elizabeth is an example of prayer that becomes service. We see Mary accompanying Jesus to the cross, after the Ascension we see her in the Upper Room united with the Apostles in fervent expectation. Mary teaches us the value of constant prayer as a consequence of total and complete trust, abandoning oneself into God’s hands, precisely to encounter God and live with God.
Trust and prayer and Mary Most Holy are closely interconnected. A deep trust in God gives birth to and brings forth persevering prayer. Let us ask Mary to be our example so that we may feel urged to make prayer a daily habit because we want to feel continually abandoned in God’s merciful hands.
Let us turn to her with filial trust so that, imitating her, imitating her trust and perseverance in prayer, we may experience the peace that only when we abandon ourselves to God can we receive the graces necessary for our journey of faith.
The voice of the boys
As for us, are we able to trust unconditionally like children?
The prayer for the mistrustful child:
Mary, you who show yourself to those who are able to see…
make my heart capable of praying.
I am unable to hear you, open my ears.
I am unable to follow you, guide my steps.
I am unable to keep faith with what you wish to entrust to me; make
my soul steadfast.
The temptations are many, let me not give in.
The difficulties seem insurmountable, let me not fall.
The contradictions of the world shout loudly, let me not follow them.
I, your worthless child, am here for you to use.
Making me an obedient child.
Hail Mary…
Blessed are those who see with their heart.
When people asked for some special grace, Don Bosco used to say:
“If you wish to obtain graces from the Blessed Virgin, make a Novena” (MB IX, 289).
- This novena, according to him, had to take place, if possible, “in church, with lively faith” as an act of fervent homage to the Eucharist. According to Don Bosco, for the novena to be efficacious, the dispositions of the soul should be as follows:
- Do not put your hope in human forces, but have faith in God.
- The request should be made to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, fount of grace, kindness, and blessing, and with trust in the power of Mary whom God wishes to be honored on earth in this temple.
- Always add the intention “Thy will be done” and the condition “if it is for the good of the soul of the person being prayed for.”
Three times: Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be… to the Holy Eucharist, followed each time by the short prayer:
Blessed and praised every moment be the Most Holy and Divine Sacrament.
Three times: Hail Holy Queen… followed each time by the short prayer:
María Auxiliadora, ruega por nosotros.
Remember, O most loving Virgin Mary, that it is a thing unheard of, that anyone ever had recourse to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, and was left forsaken. Filled therefore with confidence in your goodness, I fly to you, O Mother, Virgin of Virgins. To you I come, before you I stand, a sorrowful sinner. Despise not my poor words, O Mother of the Word of God, but graciously hear and grant my prayer. Amen.
Personal Conditions Required:
- Approach the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.
- Give an offering or do some work to support the apostolate, preferably on behalf of youth.
- Renew your faith in Jesus in the Eucharist and devotion to Mary Help of Christians.
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In addition, the videos of the World Novena will be available on the various language channels of ANS YouTube channel, which will be uploaded day by day until the eve of the feast.