Day Eight Novena Invoking Our Lady of Montserrat on the Feast Day and St. Gianna Molla
Blessed are You, Reviled and Persecuted
Reflection
Despite being different from other families, which can leave one ostracized, Gianna did her Catholic duty to help guide her family in the Beatitudes and the Sacraments. She firmly believed that, "When one does one's own duty, one must not be concerned, because God's help will not be lacking."
“Finally, ‘Blessed are YOU when men revile YOU and persecute YOU and utter all kinds of evil against YOU falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for YOUR reward is great in Heaven, for so men persecuted the Prophets before YOU.' The first seven Beatitudes are free will choices on our part; the eighth Beatitude is done to us in consequence of these choices. We are to suffer the eighth Beatitude as we prefect the practice of the first seven.”
- “St. Augustine On the Beatitudes,” by Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg
Intention
Let us ask St. Gianna to help bolster our resolve
to practice the Beatitudes in our daily lives.
Novena Prayer to St. Gianna
(Composed by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke)
Saint Gianna, heroically Christlike wife, mother and physician, I ask the help of your prayers, as I strive to follow your holy example in my physical and spiritual trials.
Help me, by your prayers, to recognize the suffering of the Cross as the way to pure and selfless love of God and my neighbor. May your practice of medicine with priestly care of both body and soul inspire physicians to see the Face of the suffering Christ in their patients.
May your loving acceptance of illness and death help patients to know and do God's will in all things, uniting their sufferings to the Passion and Death of Christ for the salvation of the world.
Saint Gianna, pray for us always that we may have a heart, meek and courageous, like the Heart of Jesus, in Whom we find our healing and strength.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord. AMEN
Invoking the Aid of Our Lady of Montserrat, Feast Day, April 27
O Virgin of Montserrat, through your intercession, countless favors have been granted to those who sought your intercession. Bow down thine ears now, on your glorious feast day and hear all of our petitions we bring to you as we kneel and beg God’s mercy. (Mention your intentions now and especially that many graces be bestowed upon Cardinal Burke.)
Our Lady of Montserrat, pray for us!
St. Gianna Beretta Molla,
pray for us!