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pure heart in the Temple. O mercifully deign, most powerful Virgin, to obtain for me grace to make an early and perfect sacrifice of my heart and whole being to Him, for whose love and service alone I was created. Teach me, by thy early flight from the world, to dread and despise the world, and to profit of the advantage of my present situation, that thereby I may be prepared to meet the temptations and dangers to which I may be exposed. Obtain for me an abundant share in the heavenly dispositions of thy holy Heart, and beseech thy dear Son to impart to me in particular a lively horror of sin; purity of heart and mind; devotion towards thee, a love of retirement, fidelity in discharging the duties of my state, an ardent love for God, and that spirit of angelic modesty, which always distinguished thee, and marked thee out even exteriorly as the Temple of the Divinity. To obtain these great graces, and in thanksgiving for the favours bestowed on thee, my blessed model, I fervently offer the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the thoughts, words, actions, and various duties of this day. I conjure thee, by the maternal tenderness with which thou didst guard the sacred infancy of thy divine Son, to watch over me this day and every moment of my life; to be a mother, a refuge, and guide to me in all the difficulties, temptations, and dangers I may hereafter be exposed to; and when the dreadful hour of my death comes, O holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, support me, defend me, and plead for me so powerfully with God, that Í may die in the friendship of my Creator, and reap for all eternity the happy fruits of having been sincerely devoted to thee. Amen.

Aspiration.-O clement, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary! pray for me now, and at the hour of my death.

On NOVENAS.

By a Novena, is meant a devotion of nine days in honour of some mystery of our Redemption, to obtain a particular request

A NOVENA IN HONOUR OF THE NAME OF JESUS. 34]

or in honour of the Blessed Virgin, or any of the Saints; to beg their intercession in obtaining a favour from God. It may be made of any prayer according to each person's devotion, and is certainly a holy practice, which has often been found successful in obtaining favours from God. Those who perform it with the conditions necessary for prayer; in particular, with a lively hope of having their request granted, and perfect resignation, should the refused, may be assured that Christ, who has said, ask and you shall receive, will grant them some grace or blessing as the ruit of their prayer, though in his infinite wisdom and mercy, he may refuse the particular favour which they implore. "If," says St. Augustine, he seems deaf to their cries, it is only to grant heir main desire, by doing what is more expedient for them." fod alone knows what is good for us: how often is the refusal of our requests a far greater favour than would be the grant o. them.

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A NOVENA in Honour of the Name of Jesus.

OH! merciful Jesus, who didst in thy early infancy commence thy office of Saviour, by shedding thy precious blood, and assuming for us that name which is above all names; we thank thee for such early proofs of thy infinite love; we venerate thy sacred name, in union with the profound respect of the angel who first announced it to the earth, and unite our affections to the sentiments of tender devotion which the adorable name of Jesus has in all ages enkindled in the hearts of thy servants. Animated with a firm faith in thy unerring word, and penetrated with confidence in thy mercy, we now most humbly remind thee of the promise thou hast made, that when two or three should assemble in thy name, thou thyself wouldst be in the midst of them. Come, then, inte the midst of us, most amiable Jesus! for it is in thy sacred name we are here assembled. Come into our hearts, that thy holy Spirit may pray in and by us; and mercifully grant us, through that adorable name, which is the joy of heaven, the terror of hell, the consolation of the afflicted, and the solid ground of our unlimited confidence, all the petitions we make in this Novena.

Oh! blessed Mother of our Redeemer! who didst participate so sensibly in the sufferings of thy dear

Son, when he shed his sacred blood, and assumed for us the name of Jesus; obtain for us, through that adorable name, the favours we petition in this Novena. Beg also, that the most ardent love may imprint on our hearts that sacred name, that it may be always in our minds, and frequently on our lips; that it may be our defence in temptations, and our refuge in danger, during our lives, and our consolation and sup port in the hour of death. Amen.

[To this may be added the Litany of Jesus, p. 66.]

A NOVENA to the SACRED HEART.

O SACRED and adorable Heart of Jesus! Furnace of Eternal charity. Ocean of infinite mercy! Consolation of the afflicted! Refuge of sinners! and Hope of the whole world! I most fervently adore thee, and unite my heart, my affections, and supplications, to the perpetual homage thou thyself renderest to the Divinity on our altars. Most amiable Heart! which hast loved us with an eternal love, supply thyself for my insensibility, and receive my desire at least of loving thee with all the ardour and sincerity thou so justly meritest. But remember, O adorable Heart! that thou hast not disclosed thyself to us only as an object of our adorations; thou desirest much more to engage our love, and to become the ground and motive of our tender confidence. For this end, thou wert pierced through with a lance on the cross; and for the same purpose thou remainest a daily victim of thy own love on our altars. infinitely compassionate Heart of Jesus! which was overwhelmed with sorrow in the Garden of Olives, at the view of our spiritual and corporal miseries, I recur to thee now with all the confidence thou desirest I should repose in the extent of thy power and the riches of thy mercy. Convinced that those things which are impossible to human means are infinitely easy to thee, and relying with an humble, steadfast

faith on the sacred words of Truth itself, that whatever we ask the Father in the name of Jesus should be granted, I now most humbly implore in that adorable name, in virtue of that promise, and through the abundant mercies of the sacred Heart of Jesus, the particular favour I petition for in this Novena (Specify it.)

O blessed St. Gertrude and all ye glorious ser vants of Christ! who while on earth were particular ly devoted to the sacred Heart of Jesus, join you prayers with mine, and implore from the divine Object of all your devotion the grant of the petition which I now make, and specially offer up through thy intercession. Beg likewise, from this adorable Heart, which has dominion over all hearts, and could in a moment change the most obdurate, to have compassion on those who are in the dreadful state of mortal sin, and to open to us all the treasures of its mercy at the hour of our death. Amen.

A NOVENA to the BLESSED Virgin.

O MOST Holy Virgin! who wert chosen by the adorable Trinity from all eternity to be the most pure Mother of Jesus, permit me, thy humble and devoted client, to remind thee of the joy thou didst receive in the instant of the most sacred incarnation of our divine Lord, and during the nine months thou didst carry him in thy chaste womb. I wish most sincerely that I could renew, or even increase that joy, by the fervour of my prayers. O tender Mother of the afflicted! grant me, under my present necessities, that peculiar protection thou hast promised to those who devoutly commemorate this ineffable joy. Relying on the infinite mercies of thy Divine Son; trusting in that promise which he has made, that those who ask should receive; and penetrated with confidence in thy powerful prayers; I most humbly entreat thee to intercede for me, and to obtain for me the faFours which I petition for in this Novena, if it be the

holy will of God to grant them; and if not, to ask for me whatever graces I most stand in need of. (Here specify your requests.)

I desire by this Novena, which I now cffer in thy honour, to prove the lively confidence I have in thy intercession. Accept it, I beseech thee, in honour of that supernatural love and joy with which thy sacred heart was replenished during the abode of thy dear Son in thy womb; in veneration of which, I offer thee the sentiments of my heart, and these nine Hail Maries. Repeat the Hail Maries nine times, and then say the following

Prayer.

O MOTHER of God! accept these salutations, in union with the respect and veneration with which the Angel Gabriel first hailed thee full of grace. I wish most sincerely, that they may become so many gems in the crown of thy accidental glory, which will increase in brightness to the end of the world. I beseech thee, O Comfortress of the afflicted! by the joy thou didst receive in the nine months of thy pregnancy, to obtain for me the grant of the favours which I have now implored through thy powerful intercession. For this end, I offer thee all the good works which have ever been performed in thy honour. I most humbly entreat thee, for the love of the amiable heart of Jesus, with which thine was ever so inflamed, to hear my humble prayers, and to obtain my requests.

A NOVENA to ST. JOSEPH.

O GLORIOUS descendant of the Kings of Juda! inheritor of the virtues of all the Patriarchs! just and happy St. Joseph ! listen to my prayer. Thou art my glorious protector, and shalt ever be, after Jesus and Mary, the object of my most profound veneration and tender confidence. Thou art the most hidden, though the greatest saint, and art peculiarly the patron of those who serve God with the greatest purity and fervour. In union with all those who have ever been

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