Charles V. Lacey - Rosary Novenas to Our Lady (Mysteries of Light)

Rosary Novenas to Our Lady
Including the Mysteries of Light

by Charles V. Lacey
revised by Gregory F. Augustine Pierce
drawings by Mary Southard, CSJ

Original edition 1926, 1954 by Benziger Brothers, Inc.

2003 by ACTA Publications, 4848 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640 (800) 397-2282,

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-87946-245-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-0-87946-605-3

Printed in the United States of America

Year: 15 14 13 12 11

Printing: 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Contents

Introduction

Rosary Novenas to Our Lady was written by Charles V. Lacy and first published in 1924. This little blue book, as it has become known, has provided comfort and hope to many people who have turned to Our Lady for help and solace in their times of trouble.

Pope John Paul II, a great practitioner and proponent of the Rosary, suggested that we add five new mysteries, which he called the Mysteries of Light, to the traditional Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries.

This has led to this new edition of this book. It incorporates the five new mysteries of the Rosary into the Rosary Novenas, without losing any of the power and charm of the original devotion. We have left the cadence, structure and basic prayers of the novenas intact, merely adding the five Mysteries of Light and updating some of the language used in the prayers.

GREGORY F. AUGUSTINE PIERCE

How to Pray the Rosary

Refer to numbers
on illustration
on next page.

1. Make the Sign of the Cross and say the Apostles Creed. 2. Say the Our Father. 3. Say three Hail Marys. 4. Say the Glory Be. 5. Announce each mystery and say the Our Father. 6. Say ten Hail Marys. 7. Say the Glory Be. (Repeat steps 5-7 for each decade.) 8. Say the Hail, Holy Queen.

The complete Rosary now includes twenty decades, divided into four sets of mysteries: the Joyful Mysteries, the Mysteries of Light, the Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries. Pope John Paul II recommended that they be prayed in that order. Many people say one set of mysteries each day. In that case, the Pope suggested reciting the Joyful on Mondays and Saturdays, the Sorrowful on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Glorious on Wednesdays and Sundays, and the Mysteries of Light on Thursdays.

Praying the mysteries either in the order presented in this book or in the order based on the days of the week is acceptable when making the Rosary Novenas to Our Lady.

How to Pray the Rosary Novenas to Our Lady

The Rosary Novenas require a substantial commitment. The idea is to pray five decades of the Rosary each day for twenty-seven days in petition for a particular request, followed by five decades each day for twenty-seven days in thanksgivingwhether or not the petition was granted. As Charles Lacey wrote in his original introduction You will not have prayed in vain. No prayer ever went unheard, and Our Blessed Lady has never been known to fail.

This is not to say that every request we make will be granted in the exact way we wish. Many times, Gods grace comes to us through people and events we never imagined. Often our prayers are answered, but not as we expected them to be.

The intent of the Rosary Novenas is to enlist Marys help in presenting our needs to God. As her son Jesus promised, Ask and you shall receive.

The practice of making a novena (which comes from the Latin word for nine) has a long tradition in the Church. In the Rosary Novenas to Our Lady, we are actually asked to make six novenasthree in petition and three in thanksgivingover fifty-four consecutive days. It does not matter on what day of the week the Rosary Novenas are begun.

A simple checklist is given on the following page to keep track of each day of the Rosary Novenas. Remember, say one set of mysteries (five decades of the Rosary) each day in petition for twenty-seven straight days, then do the same in thanksgiving (whether you feel your request has been answered in the manner you expected or not) for twenty-seven more days in a row. If you miss a day because of an emergency or forgetfulness, make it up by saying an extra five decades the next day.

Novena Checklist

In Petition
(check each day after Rosary prayed)

In Thanksgiving
(check each day after Rosary prayed)

The Rosary Novenas
to Our Lady

THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

Prayer before the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries:

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Say one Hail Mary

Prayer for the 27 days of petition:

Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At your feet I humbly kneel to offer you a crown of rosessnow-white buds to remind you of your joyseach bud recalling a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace.

O Holy Queen, dispenser of Gods graces and Mother of all who invoke you! You cannot look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As you receive my gift, so will you receive my petition; from your bounty you will give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek.

I despair of nothing that I ask of you. Show yourself my Mother!

Prayer for 27 days of thanksgiving:

Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At your feet I humbly kneel to offer you a crown of rosessnow-white buds to remind you of your joyseach bud recalling a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace.

O Holy Queen, dispenser of Gods graces and Mother of all who invoke you! You cannot look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As you receive my gift, so will you receive my thanks; from your bounty you have given me the help I so earnestly and trustingly sought, even if I do not yet fully comprehend your wisdom.

I despaired not of what I asked of you, and you have truly shown yourself my Mother.

Say the Apostles Creed, one Our Father,
three Hail Marys, one Glory Be to the Father

The First Joyful Mystery

THE ANNUNCIATION

Sweet Mother Mary, meditating on the Mystery of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to you with the tidings that you were to become the Mother of God, greeting you with that sublime salutation, Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you! and you humbly submitted yourself to the will of the Father, responding, Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word, I humbly pray:

Say one Our Father, ten Hail Marys,
one Glory Be to the Father

I bind these snow-white buds with a petition for the virtue of humility and humbly lay this bouquet at your feet.