We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Day 4 - Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for a New Culture of Life

Day 4 Novena Reflection

An early Church Father, Gregory of Nyssa (fourth century) wrote:

"What came about in bodily form in Mary, the fullness of the Godhead shining through Christ in the Blessed Virgin, takes place in a similar way in every soul that has been made pure.

The Lord does not come in bodily form, for we no longer know Christ according to the flesh, but he dwells in us spiritually and the Father takes up his abode with him, the Gospel tells us. In this way, the child Jesus is born in each one of us". (Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity)

The Catholic Catechism teaches:

The Virgin Mary is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer.

She is clearly the mother of the members of Christ since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head. Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church (CCC 963).

Saint John Paul II called Our Lady of Guadalupe the Mother of Hope. He also called her the Mother and Evangelizer of America. He used these phrases at the historic First Synod of all the Bishops of America in Rome in December 1998 that closed on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Free Catholic Knowledge Assessment from Catholic Online School

He also announced a mission "to undertake the New Evangelization of the American continent".

John Paul viewed America as one continent, in his words, "from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from the Pacific to the Atlantic..., a continent called in its various sectors to integration and solidarity."

He proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe the Mother of All America.

"Now is the time", the Pope said, "of the New Evangelization to lead the People of God in America to cross the threshold of the third millennium with renewed hope."

He entrusted to her, as the Star of the New Evangelization, the "future path of the Church on the great continent of America."

He referred to America in the singular to emphasize the call to all Americans to unity and solidarity.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, pray for us.

Novena Prayer Asking the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Beloved Father, through the life, death and resurrection of your only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, we have become your adopted sons and daughters.

Through Baptism we are now members of His Body, the Church, which is Your family.

Before your Son and our Savior gave up the last drop of His Sacred blood - and breathed his last breath - to set us free from sin and death -

He turned to His Beloved Mother at the foot of the Cross.

And said
'Woman, behold your son.'
Then he said to the disciple whom he loved with a special affection, John, and said,
'Behold your mother'" (John 19: 26-27).

The Mother of Jesus is the Mother of His Church - and our Mother.

And Now Dear Father, in the name of Jesus, and under the maternal care of Mary, His Mother, under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we ask for the end of the culture of death.

We ask for the spread of a new culture of life in the Americas.

We pray for the new evangelization of the Church and the conversion of the Americas to Jesus Christ and His Church.

And here, I present my own personal intention:

PAUSE FOR YOUR PRAYER INTENTION