NOVENA OF THE IMMACULATE
Luisa Piccarreta, the Little Daughter of the Divine Will
Introduction
Luisa wrote this novena as a little example of how to thank and requite God for the Most Holy Virgin (e.g. Dec.18, 1920 Volume 12); of how to thank and requite our Celestial Mother Herself (e.g. June 26, 1926 Volume 19), and of how to put into practice the teachings contained in the chapters about the Immaculate Conception (e.g. Dec.8, 1922 Volume 15). More than simply reciting it with words, we should follow it with the will, truly uniting ourselves to the acts that Luisa did. (J.L. Acuña)
“Day”, in God, means the time in which one operates and acts… And when it is a Divine Will that operates and acts, then a “day” becomes an eternity, and the acts or works done in that “day” are infinite and inexhaustible goods placed at everyone’s disposal. The six “days” of Creation are not yet ended, because God continues to operate, in every instant, by preserving all things and maintaining them in existence. The “day” of the creation of man, in which God says, “Let us make man in our Image and Likeness” and infuses His life-giving breath in him, is certainly not ended, because this act of God is eternal and continuously in act, and from this act we receive life and preservation at this very moment! The seventh “day”, then, is the eternal day in which God, far from ceasing to operate, actively enjoys and delights in His works, resting in them because they fulfill the purpose for which He made them. The longed-for seventh day is the Kingdom of His Will reigning on earth as it does in Heaven – the eternal perennial sunny day in which man possesses the Will of God as his own life, and does all that God does together with Him, in perfect Unity and mutual Rest.
With this novena of nine “days”, Luisa is calling us to enter the Divine Will and participate actively – with our acts – in the eternal Day of the Will of God. Every single act of love, of reparation, of thanksgiving that we do in the Divine Will fills Heaven and earth, and all eternity. Therefore, each “day” of this novena can be an eternity of love and glory that we give to God, and of good that we do for all, if we call His very Will to animate and vivify all of our acts. But eternity never ends…! In the same, this novena must never end within us! Indeed Luisa wrote it for us in order to help us to acquire and to exercise, for “ninety times nine days”, the continuous attitude of going around in the Divine Will, to trace all of Its acts and repeat them within us, so as to let Divine Life grow in us, increasing our Likeness to our Creator and Father, and therefore fulfilling the purpose for which we were created!
How infinitely greater and more profound than a simple devotion or pious practice! Thank you Luisa. Guide us in this eternal Day!
Day One
Let us honor Mary with nine acts of love. Let us do these acts in the Divine Will, so as to be able to place a most refulgent Sun over the august head of our Queen, with all the fullness of grace, of light and all the good which the Divine Will contains.
- In the first act we will give to Mary all the love of the Father.
- In the second, the love of the Son.
- In the third, the love of the Holy Spirit.
- In the fourth, the very love of Her Heart of Mother.
- In the fifth, the love of the Angels.
- In the sixth, the love of the Saints,
- In the seventh, the love of all present creatures.
- In the eighth, the love of all the creatures who will come.
- In the ninth, the love of all of Purgatory.
Ejaculatory prayer: O Sacrosanct Trinity, send a flow of your love into my heart, that it may be enflamed completely with love, so as to form, with your own love, a most refulgent Sun over the august head of our Queen.
Day Two
In creating the world, God lavished so many beauties as to leave the mark of His beauty everywhere. He did this first, in order to prepare a sweet dwelling for the Humanity of Jesus who was to come upon earth, and also for the Virgin, the purest, holiest and most beautiful creature after Jesus.
Let us enter into the Divine Will; let us make all this love our own – the love which God transfused into Creation: in the Sun, in the moon, in the stars, in the flowers…, and let us give it to the Virgin, so that She may receive, not a love from nature, but the love of all Three Divine Persons, loving Her within this nature.
Ejaculatory prayer: My God, infuse in my heart all the love which is spread in Creation, so that, as I go to the Virgin, I may give Her all the love and glory that You placed in the Creation.
Day Three
As soon as She was conceived, Mary offered Her first adorations. All Three Divine Persons concurred in the conception of Mary. The Father inundated Her with a sea of Wisdom; the Son, with a sea of Sanctity; the Holy Spirit, with a sea of Love. From the union of these three seas came Mary, the most perfect of all creatures; and, newly conceived, She did Her first act of adoration.
Together with the sweet Mama, let us do a round in the Will of God: let us take all the adorations of all creatures, animate and inanimate, and in the flight of each thought, of each gaze, of each word, of each ray of the Sun, in the twinkling of the stars and in the murmuring of the waters, let us give to the Father a continuous and complete act of adoration.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, for the sake of that first act of adoration which You did for God, let it be that my mind, my heart, my affections, my desires and all of my being, may, from now on, be but one continuous act of adoration.
Day Four
After the act of adoration, on seeing Herself enriched with all the gifts of the Sacrosanct Trinity which competed with Itself in filling Her with graces – confused, the Virgin prostrated Herself before the Supreme Majesty and offered all of Herself as an act of sacrifice, keeping nothing for Herself – not even one thought, one gaze, one word, one affection or one heartbeat. Then She looked at the world, and on seeing the ruin of so many souls, She offered all of Herself for the salvation of these souls.
And we – in obsequy, beginning from the morning, let us do a round in the Divine Will together with our Mama, offering all of our thoughts, our gazes, our words, etc. in a spirit of sacrifice and for the salvation of souls.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, I come to your feet, I throw myself into your arms; and You, pour all of your love into my heart, so as to infuse in me the love of sacrifice of the mind, of the heart, of the will and of all my being.
Day Five
After the act of sacrifice, the Virgin turned Her gaze to the world, and upon seeing the immense number of souls that were lost and all the evil committed, from the first father Adam up to the last creature, having before Her all generations, past, present and future, She did Her first act of reparation – the most complete act, because it embraced all, and each thought, gaze, word, step and affection of all creatures!
And we – together with our Mama, always fused in the Divine Will, we will do our acts of reparation for all creatures, for each gaze, for each word etc.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, take my heart in your hands, and hold it very tightly, so as to infuse in me the true spirit of reparation.
Day six
Upon seeing the many offenses that are given, the Virgin felt Her Heart catch with sorrow, and from that moment She began Her continuous, uninterrupted prayer for the good of all.
And we – let us unite with our Mama to do what She did together with Her, so as to bind Heaven and earth once again, which sin had disunited.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, press me to your maternal Heart, and with your heartbeats infuse in me the spirit of true prayer, so as to impetrate from God that His Will reign in all hearts.
Day Seven
From the very first instant of Her conception, the Virgin, the greatest of all Saints, never let one thought, one gaze, one word, one sigh escape Her – She did everything in the Divine Will.
And we – today let us unite our thought to the Divine thought, our gaze, our word, our actions to the Divine; in this way we will form another Sun ray which will shine over the august head of our Queen.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, I unite myself with You; let all of my being live always in the Divine Will.
Day Eight
In order to fill the void which was produced, before the Divine Majesty, by the lack of thanksgiving for having given us a Mother so great, preserving Her from original sin, we will do nine acts of thanksgiving in the Supreme Volition in the name of all creatures, from Adam up to the last creature which will exist on earth. And then, nine acts of thanksgiving to the Virgin, for having accepted us as Her children, though ungrateful and inconsiderate of such a great favor.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, You who are the fullness of grace, reserve it in my heart, that I may thank God for having preserved You from original sin.
Day Nine
We will honor the first tears that Our Lady shed before the Divinity.
It was then that God, on seeing in Her the littleness crying – She, who is little and great, little and strong, little and bright, on whom everything depends – touched and softened, was moved to let His Son descend upon earth.
And we – today we will do a round in the Divine Will and, for nine times, we will gather all the human tears that have been shed, are shed and will be shed on earth until the end of the world, and we will bring them all onto the lap of our Mama, that She may take them before the Divine Majesty and change them all into tears of conversion and of love.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, let your tears descend into my heart, that it may be softened, and if it is bad it may be converted, if it is good it may be sanctified. And then, let them descend into the hearts of creatures, so that all may be converted.
Feast Day
Today, for nine times, let us honor Mary by thanking the Divine Will for having given Her to us as our Queen, as our Mother and as our Intercessor. Then we will recite nine ‘Glory Be’s’ for the nine choirs of Angels, praying them to unite with us in giving to Mary all that ever increasing glory which the Divine Will contains. And submerging all Angels and all Saints in this Divine Will, we will give Mary all the glory which befits Her, and which is due to Her.
Ejaculatory prayer: My Mama, Queen of all, reign and take dominion over all, and let all recognize You for who You are.