Prevent our actions, we beseech thee, O Lord, by thy inspiration, and further them by thy continual help: that every prayer and work of ours may begin from thee, and by thee be happily ended, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
PREPARATORY PRAYER.
[To be said every day.]
O most pure Virgin, conceived without sin, and from that very first instant entirely beautiful and without spot, O glorious Mary, full of grace, and Mother of my God, Queen of Angels and of men, I humbly worship thee as Mother of my Saviour, inasmuch as God has taught me by the esteem he has for thee, and by his respect and submission towards thee, what honours and what homage I ought to render thee, deign, I beseech thee, to accept this Novena which I consecrate to thee. Thou art the secure refuge of penitent sinners, and I therefore may rightly have recourse to thee; thou art the Mother of Mercy, and therefore thou canst not but be melted into tenderness by my miseries: thou, after Jesus Christ, art all my hope; thou canst not, then, but be pleased with the tender confidence which I have in thee. Make me worthy to be called thy son, that I may be able to say with confidence, Shew thyself to be a Mother.
Here are to be said nine Hail Marys and a Glory to the Father, and then the following
PRAYER FOR THE FIRST DAY,
The 29th of November.
Behold me at thy most holy feet, O immaculate Virgin. I rejoice with thee exceedingly that from all eternity thou hast been chosen to be the Mother of the eternal Word, and been preserved from original sin. I thank and bless the most holy Trinity for having enriched thee With these privileges in thy conception; and I humbly implore thee to obtain for me grace to overcome those sad effects which original sin has wrought in me. Ah, do thou enable me to conquer them, and never more to cease to love my God.
Here is to be recited the litany of the Blessed Virgin, or the following.
