Day 7 - Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for a New Culture of Life

Day 7 Novena Reflection

Let us choose today to take our irreplaceable role in the ongoing struggle to end the culture of death and build a new culture of life.

In the conclusion of his exhortation to the Church in America, Saint John Paul wrote:

"In America, the mestiza face of the Virgin of Guadalupe was, from the start, a symbol of the inculturation of the Gospel, of which she has been the lodestar and the guide.

Through her powerful intercession, the Gospel will penetrate the hearts of the men and women of America and permeate their cultures, transforming them from within.

He invited, in his words, "all the Catholics of America to take an active part in the evangelizing initiatives which the Holy Spirit is stirring in every part of this immense continent, so full of resources and hopes for the future...Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America, pray for us!"

The day after he signed that Apostolic exhortation he celebrated Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe with five hundred Bishops and five thousand priests.

This Pope who wrote the manifesto for the Pro-Life Movement, his encyclical letter called "The Gospel of Life", boldly proclaimed in his holily:

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"The Church must proclaim the Gospel of Life and speak out with prophetic force against the Culture of Death. This is our cry: life with dignity for all...

The time has come to banish once and for all from the Continent every attack against life. As a matter of urgency, we must stir up a new springtime of holiness on the Continent so that action and contemplation will go hand in hand."

He ended his powerful homily with this prayer:

"Oh, Sweet Lady of Tepeyac, Mother of Guadalupe! We present to you this countless multitude of faithful who pray to God in America. You who have come into their hearts visit and comfort all homes, parishes and dioceses of all the Continent."

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