Spiritual Resource: Devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help

[Thomas A. Droleskey foreword: Although too late to be used as a Novena in preparation for the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that will is commemorated in some chapels today, Sunday, June 27, 2021, the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and the Commemoration of the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the following traditional devotional prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Help can be used as a novena at any time. Moreover, every family should pray these prayers once a week. We do so on Tuesday evenings following our family Rosary.

[I ask readers to pray three Hail Marys for my self-sacrificing wife, Sharon, who graciously consented to type up these prayers for you nine years ago as I was working on Then, Now And Always: Viva Cristo Rey!, part five, which took a great deal of time to complete. Sharon loves Our Lady with a very pure heart. She gladly and generously devoted her time on Saturday evening, June 23, 2012, after a long day of housework to do so. Please, in your charity, do pray her those three Hail Marys. Thank you.]

Prayer in Spiritual Wants

O Mother of Perpetual Help * With the greatest confidence, I come before thy sacred Picture, * in order to invoke thine aid. * Thou hast seen the wounds which Jesus has been pleased to receive for my sake; * thou hast seen the Blood of Thy Son flowing for my salvation; * thou knowest how thy Son desires to apply to me the fruits of His Redemption. * Behold, I cast myself at thy feet, * and pray thee to obtain for my soul the grace I stand so much in need of. * O Mary, most loving of all mothers, * obtain for me from the heart of Jesus, the source of every good, * this grace * (here mention them). O Mother of Perpetual Help, * thou desirest my salvation far more than I myself; * thy Son has given thee to me for my Mother; * thou hast thyself chosen to be called Mother of Perpetual Help. * Show then that thou lovest me, * show that thou art really my Mother, * show that thou art justly called Mother of Perpetual Help. * I trust in thy goodness; * I trust in thy motherly love, * Mother of Perpetual Help * for the love thou bearest to Jesus, thy Son and our redeemer, * for the love of thy great servant Alphonsus, * for the love of my soul, * obtain for me the grace I ask from thee. * Amen.

Pray Three Hail Marys.

Prayer in Temporal Wants

O Mother of Perpetual Help, * numerous clients continually surround thy holy Picture, * all imploring thy mercy. * All bless thee as the assured help of the miserable; * all feel the benefit of thy motherly protection. * With confidence, then, do I present myself before thee in my misery. * See, dear Mother, the many evils to which I am exposed; * see how numerous are my wants. * Trials and sorrows often depress me; * reverses of fortune and privations, often grievous, bring misery into my life; * everywhere I meet the cross. * Have pity, compassionate Mother, on me and on my family; * and especially in this my necessity * (here mention it), from which I now suffer, * Help me, O my Mother, in my distress; * deliver me from my ills; * or if it be the will of God that I should endure them, * make me suffer with love and patience. * This grace I expect of thee with confidence, * because thou art my Perpetual help. * Amen.

Pray Three Hail Marys.

For Graces of Salvation

O Mother of Perpetual help, * thou art the dispenser of all the goods * which God grants to us miserable sinners, * and for this reason, has He made thee so powerful, so rich, and so bountiful, * that thou mayest help us in our misery. * Thou art the advocate of the most wretched and abandoned sinners who have recourse to thee; * come then, to my help, dearest Mother, for I recommend myself to thee, * In thy hands, I place my eternal salvation * and to thee do I entrust my soul. * Count me among thy most devoted servants; * take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me; * for if thou protect me, dear Mother, I fear nothing; * not from my sins, because thou wilt obtain for me the pardon of them; * nor from the devils, because thou art more powerful than all hell together; nor even from Jesus, my Judge Himself, * because by one prayer from thee, He will be appeased. * But one thing I fear; * that, in the hour of temptation, I may neglect to call on thee, and thus perish miserable. * Obtain for me, then, the pardon of my sins, * love for Jesus, * final perseverance, * and the grace always to have recourse to thee, * O Mother of Perpetual Help.

Pray Three Hail Marys

Priest: Thou hast been made for us, O Lady, a refuge.

People: A helper in need and tribulation.

Priest:: Let us pray: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast given us Thine own Mother Mary, whose glorious image we venerate to be a Mother ever ready to help us; grant, we beseech Thee, that we who constantly implore her help may merit always to experience the fruits of Thy Redemption, Thou Who livest and reignest world without end.

People: Amen

Prayer of Saint Alphonsus

Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin and my Mother, Mary, * to thee Who art the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the world, * the Advocate, the Hope, and the Refuge of sinners, * I have recourse today, * I who am the most miserable of all. * I render thee my most humble homage, O Great Queen, * and I thank thee for all the graces * thou hast obtained for me until now, * and in particular for having saved me from hell which I have so often deserved. * I love thee, O most Amiable Lady; and for the love which I bear thee, * I promise to serve thee always * and to do all in my power to make others also love thee. * I place in thee all my hopes * and I confide my salvation to thy care. * O Mother of Mercy. * And since thou art so powerful with God, * deliver me from all temptations, * or, rather, obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until death. * Of thee I ask a perfect love for Jesus Christ; * through thee I hope to die a good death. * O my Mother, * by the love which thou bearest to God, * I beseech thee to help me at all times * but especially at the last moment of my life. * Leave me not, I beseech thee, * until thou seest me safe in heaven, * blessing thee and singing thy mercies for all eternity. So I hope, so may it be. * Amen. 

Act of Consecration 
(to be said once each month)

Desiring to consecrate myself entirely * to the service of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, * from whom after God, * I expect all help and assistance * in life and in death, * I unit myself with the members * of this pious confraternity, * which has been erected * in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

As my special patron * I choose the glorious St. Alphonsus, * that he may obtain for me * a true and lasting devotion * to the ever Blessed Virgin, * who is honored by so sweet a name.

I promise, moreover, * to renew my consecration * to the Mother of God and to St. Alphonsus * once a moth, * and frequently to receive the holy sacraments.

O Mother of Perpetual Help, * receive me as thy servant, * and grant that I may ever experience * thy constant motherly protection. * I promise to have recourse to thee * in all my spiritual and temporal necessities. * My holy patron, St. Alphonsus, * obtain for me * the grace of an ardent love for Jesus Christ, * and the grace of ever invoking * the Mother of Perpetual Help.

Litany of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. 
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Response: pray for us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin, conceived without sin, pray for us.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.

Response: O Mother ever help us.

We sinners call to thee, O Mother ever help us.
That we may love God with our whole hearts, O Mother ever help us.
That we may be conformable in all things to thy Divine Son, O Mother ever help us.
That we may have a tender and heartfelt devotion to thee, most holy Virgin, O Mother ever help us.
That we may hate with all our strength sin, the only evil, O Mother ever help us.

That we may frequently remember our last end, O Mother ever help us. 
That we may often and worthily receive the Most Holy Sacrament, O Mother ever help us.
that we may avoid with all our strength proximate occasions of sin, O Mother ever help us.
That we may not neglect prayer a single day of our lives, O Mother ever help us.
That we may have recourse to prayer in the hour of temptation, O Mother ever help us.

That we may generously forgive our enemies, and wish well to all men, O Mother ever help us.
That we may not defer our conversion from day to day, O Mother ever help us.
That we may zealously labor to overcome our bad habits, O Mother ever help us.
That we may live and die in the grace of God, O Mother ever help us.
In all concerns of soul and body, O Mother ever help us.

In sickness and pain, O Mother ever help us.
In struggles against the inclination of corrupt nature, O Mother ever help us.
In assaults of evil spirits, O Mother ever help us.
In temptations against the holy virtue of purity, O Mother ever help us.
In all danger of sinning, O Mother ever help us.

When we have reached the end of our earthly course, O Mother ever help us.
When lying on our deathbed, and the thought of approaching dissolution shall fill us with fear and horror, O Mother ever help us.
When in the hour of final separation from all, evil spirits shall try to drive us to despair, O Mother ever help us.
When the priest of the Lord shall give us the last absolution and blessing, O Mother ever help us.
When our relatives and friends surround our bed, weeping and praying for us, O Mother ever help us.

When our eyes grow dim, and our hearts cease to beat, O Mother ever help us.
When we breath forth our spirit into the hands of our Creator,O Mother ever help us.
When out poor soul appears before our Divine Judge, O Mother ever help us.
When the terrible judgement is about to be passed, O Mother ever help us.
When suffering in the flames of Purgatory, and longing for the vision of God, O Mother ever help us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O Most Holy Mother of God

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

O God, Who has willed that the Mother of Thy only begotten Son should be the perpetual help of Christians on earth, grant us the grace to call on her with confidence in all our necessities of soul and body, so that saved through her protection and assistance, we may be brought to the everlasting vision of Thy glory in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?

Vivat Christus Rex! Viva Cristo Rey

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint William the Abbot, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.