Day 2: Mary's Perpetual Care

The second day of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Novena turns to the central Catholic conviction at the heart of the devotion: that Mary's care for the Catholic faithful is perpetual, uninterrupted, never withdrawn. Today we deepen our trust in this perpetual care by considering its theological foundation and the testimony of Catholic tradition.

Today's invocation

O Mother of Perpetual Help, behold us prostrate at thy feet... (the full opening prayer)

Today's meditation

The Catholic doctrine of Mary's perpetual intercession is articulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 963 to 975. The decisive paragraph is 969: "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation." The word uninterruptedly (in the Latin original, sine intermissione) is the doctrinal foundation of the Perpetual Help title.

The Catholic faithful sometimes assume that Mary's intercession is occasional, called upon in particular crises, set aside in ordinary times. The doctrine is more precise. Mary's intercession is perpetual: she is constantly turned toward her children on earth, constantly offering their petitions before her Son, constantly receiving the prayers of the Catholic faithful and weaving them into the eternal liturgy of heaven. Our role is not to summon her attention (she has it always); our role is to open ourselves to receive what she is constantly offering.

Today's intention

Today, bring to Our Lady of Perpetual Help your principal intention with the renewed awareness that her care is perpetual. Mother of Perpetual Help, I do not ask you to begin caring for this matter today, because I know you have been caring for it without interruption since I first became aware of it. I ask only that I would receive your perpetual care more attentively, and that I would entrust this matter to you fully.

Reflection

The Catholic experience of Mary's perpetual care has shaped the entire Marian devotional tradition for two millennia. The Sub Tuum Praesidium, the oldest Marian prayer of the Catholic Church (preserved on a third-century papyrus fragment from Egypt), already addresses Mary as the perpetual refuge of the faithful: "We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin." The conviction is older than the iconographic title of Perpetual Help; it is the substantive Marian conviction of the Catholic Church from the apostolic age.

The practical effect of the doctrine of Mary's perpetual care is the gradual transformation of the Catholic soul's prayer. Many of the Catholic faithful spend their early years of practice praying to Mary in moments of crisis only. As the spiritual life deepens, the soul learns to pray to Mary in the small moments as well: in moments of small thanksgiving, of small temptation, of small joy. The brief invocation Mary, my Mother spoken many times each day is the daily form of perpetual care reciprocated.

Closing prayers

Pray three Hail Marys, the Memorare, and the closing invocation:

Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.