Mother of Perpetual Help Mass, Novena

MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP
MASS AND NOVENA

Evening Mass

7 p.m. | Every Wednesday
(in English)

Who is the Mother of Perpetual Help?

Mother of Perpetual Help.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help (or, Our Lady of Perpetual Help) is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, associated with the Byzantine icon of the same name.
The image is very popular among Catholics throughout the world, and has been much copied and reproduced. In the Byzantine faith, this iconography is known as the Theotokos of the Passion.

What is a novena, anyway?

Parishioners light their candles from the holy fire during Holy Saturday services at St. Bernard Church on Saturday, March 30, 2013.

Light.

The Latin word novena means "nine." Novenas are a form of prayer in which a person, individually or with a group, prays for some special intention for nine days. At some point in your life, for example, you may have made a novena to the Holy Spirit on the nine days before Pentecost in preparation for the feast.
Mary and the disciples of Jesus did this in the upper room before God's Spirit came upon them, even though they did not call it a novena (read Luke 24:49; and Acts 1:4).
Novenas began in the early Middle Ages in Spain and France as a nine-day preparation before Christmas.
The number nine also represents the months Jesus lived inside Mary's womb.