Check out "How to Pray Mother Teresa’s Famous 'Flying Novena' to Our Lady"
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September 1, 2021Check out How to Pray Mother Teresa’s Famous “Flying Novena” to Our Lady
Joseph Pronechen’s blog of September 5, 2019 reports on St. Mother Teresa’s never-fail quick novena to turn to our Blessed Mother for speedy assistance.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), “The Virgin of the Lilies” (photo: Public Domain / Public Domain)
Msgr. Leo Maasburg, her friend and spiritual advisor, explained in his book Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait that it was “Mother Teresa’s spiritual rapid-fire weapon. It consisted of ten Memorares — not nine, as you might expect from the word novena. Novenas lasting nine days were quite common among the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity. But given the host of problems that were brought to Mother Teresa’s attention, not to mention the pace at which she traveled, it was often just not possible to allow nine days for an answer from Celestial Management. And so she invented the Quick Novena.” For some reason he calls it by this name rather than the “Flying Novena” which her Missionaries of Charity continue to use and pray.
Here are the words of the centuries-old Memorare:
“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your clemency hear and answer me. Amen.”
“Mother Teresa used this prayer constantly: for petitions for the cure of a sick child, before important discussions or when passports went missing, to request heavenly aid when the fuel supply was running short on a night-time mission and the destination was still far away in the darkness. The Quick Novena had one thing in common with nine-day and even nine-month novenas: confident pleading for heavenly assistance, as the apostles did for nine days in the upper room ‘with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the women’ (Acts 1:14) while waiting for the promised help from the Holy Spirit.”
Msgr. Maasburg explains why Mother Teresa always prayed 10 Memorares. “She took the collaboration of Heaven so much for granted that she always added a tenth Memorare immediately, in thanksgiving for the favor received.”
The rest of the article on National Catholic Register give examples of the correct way that St. Teresa of Calcutta and her sisters turned to our Blessed Mother for speedy assistance.
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/how-to-pray-mother-teresa-s-famous-flying-novena-to-our-lady
