Each year the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Annunciation on March 25, a day that calls to our memory the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary, it’s exactly nine months before we celebrate his birth on Christmas.
It is a day that is penetrated by a spirit of obedience as the Virgin Mary freely submitted to the will of God and allowed the Messiah to dwell within her. It is indeed a great mystery, one that would inspire us to allow God’s will to create everything that we do.
To help prepare for the feast of Annunciation, below is a popular novena to Our Lady of the Annunciation, basically prayed during some days before March 25 (although it could also be prayed after the feast, or any time of the year).
This novena asks for the Virgin Mary’s heavenly intercession, placing our needs and petitions before her.
“I salute 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 sweet taste and by your tender love, I confidently turn to you, miserable as I am, and I beg of you to obtain for me from your dear Son the favor I ask in this novena:
(Place your petitions here)
Also obtain for me, Queen of heaven, the most lively contrition for my many sins and the grace to imitate those virtues closely which you practiced so faithfully, most especially humility, purity, and obedience. Above all, I ask you to be my Mother and Protectress, to receive me among your devoted children, and to guide me from your high throne of glory.
Dear Mother of Mercy, Do not reject my petitions. Have pity on me, and do not leave me aside during this life or at the moment of my death”. Amen.
