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Today Catholics honor Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Succour). The original images of her are painted in the Byzantine style and illustrates our Blessed Mother of God holding her Divine Child, Jesus. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel are presenting Jesus, Our Lord with the instruments of His Passion. In Greek, are the names Mother of God, Jesus Christ, Archangel Michael, and Archangel Gabriel.
Today Catholics honor Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Succour). The original images of her are painted in the Byzantine style and illustrates our Blessed Mother of God holding her Divine Child, Jesus. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel are presenting Jesus, Our Lord with the instruments of His Passion. In Greek, are the names Mother of God, Jesus Christ, Archangel Michael, and Archangel Gabriel.
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Mother of Perpetual Help, you have been blessed and favored by God.
You became not only the Mother of the Redeemer but the Mother of the redeemed as well.
We come to you today as your loving children.
Watch over us and take care of us.
As you held the child Jesus in your loving arms, so take us in your arms.
Be a mother ready at every moment to help us.
For God who is mighty has done great things for you, and His mercy is from age to age on those who love Him.
Our greatest fear is that in time of temptation, we may fail to call out to you, and become lost children. Intercede for us, dear Mother, in obtaining pardon for our sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace always to call upon you, Mother of Perpetual Help
~ ~ From the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help
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You became not only the Mother of the Redeemer but the Mother of the redeemed as well.
We come to you today as your loving children.
Watch over us and take care of us.
As you held the child Jesus in your loving arms, so take us in your arms.
Be a mother ready at every moment to help us.
For God who is mighty has done great things for you, and His mercy is from age to age on those who love Him.
Our greatest fear is that in time of temptation, we may fail to call out to you, and become lost children. Intercede for us, dear Mother, in obtaining pardon for our sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace always to call upon you, Mother of Perpetual Help
~ ~ From the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help
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The Message of the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
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The child Jesus has just seen the angels who have shown him the instruments of his passion. St. Michael the Archangel holds the lance and gall-sop. St. Gabriel the Archangel holds the Cross and the nails. Frightened by the sight, Jesus has run to his mother’s arms so quickly that he almost lost one of His tiny sandals. It dangles from his foot. Mary holds Him lovingly but her eyes look at us - pleading with us to avoid sin and love Her Son. His hands are in hers to show that, as a child, Jesus placed Himself in Mary’s hands for protection and to remind us that He now has placed into Her hands all graces, to be given to those who turn to His mother and ask. The star on Mary’s veil shows her to be the one who brought the light of Christ to the darkened world - the beacon that leads the way to Heaven. The falling sandal symbolizes a soul clinging to Christ by one last thread--devotion to Mary. The golden background is symbolic of Heaven and shines to show the heavenly joy Jesus and His mother can bring to tired human hearts.
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Front of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Scottsdale, Arizona
When I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona in the late '80s, I was so fortunate to be able to send my daughter to Kindergarten at this wonderful Catholic school. She had the most incredible education with a Catholic foundation. Sadly, I could not send her to OLPH after her first year enrolled as my husband left me and abandoned my two children. Without the funds and far too much pride to take charity from the Church, my daughter left the halls of OLPH to attend first grade in public school where both of my children completed their pre-university years. Both my daughter and I were heart-broken over the move to a different school, but the Lord and Our Lady continued to help and take care of us and her little brother. We never once felt alone or abandoned. We always felt safe and protected and watched over. I feel the same today! Our beautiful Catholic faith, the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Mother, and all of the angels and saints were (and are) with us each and every day that we were a broken family. The Lord sent me a most loving man who raised my children as if they were his own. Never lose the faith my friends!
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.
O 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.
Amen.
