Day 15: Mary Hidden in Advent--David the Shepherd

The Annointing of David, Richard Serrin

Day 13:  David the Shepherd
   
     Read The Jesse Tree, pp. 50-53.  Hang ornament (slingshot).
     David is anointed king.  He faces the giant Goliath and defeats him.

     Scripture reference:  1 Samuel 16:1-13,17:1-58

     Comment:  David was "a man after God's own heart".  He was especially loved by God and chosen to be the greatest king Israel would ever have.  Even though he was just a young teen, he trusted in God and utterly defeated the terrifying giant Goliath.  Mary was also a young teen.  She trusted in God; she relied upon God to give her the victory through her Son Jesus over the ancient enemy of mankind, Satan.  Like David, Mary knew that "the battle is the Lord's".  In all of our spiritual and temporal battles, Mary is our constant help.

Related Title:  Our Lady of Perpetual Help

O my sovereign Lady, thou alone art the one whom God has appointed to be my solace here below; thou art the guide of my pilgrimage, the strength of my weakness, the riches of my poverty, the remedy for the healing of my wounds, the soother of my pains, the end of my captivity, the hope of my salvation! Hear my prayers, have pity on my tears, I adjure thee, O thou who art my queen, my refuge, my love, my help, my hope, and my strength. --St. Germanus

Prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help

 

O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on thee, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.

Oh what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fill my soul when I pronounce thy sacred name, or even only think of thee.  I thank God for having given thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name.  But I will not be content with merely pronouncing thy name:  let my love for thee prompt me ever to hail thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.

 

Everything about the icon and its history is detailed here.

Go here to learn more about the novena and how it is prayed.