Novena: Our Lady Of Light

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Novena to Our Lady of Light to Drive Out the Darkness of Covid-19 and End the Quarantine, May 1-9, 2020

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). We need Christ! We need Light!

A holy priest and exorcist once said, “When you go to fight the devil, do not go on your own—you will get smoked. Instead, hide in the light of Our Lady.”

Father Giovanni Antonio Genovesi, SJ was an Italian Jesuit who preached missions in Sicily in the early 18th century with a great love and devotion to the Blessed Mother. He desired to have an image of Our Lady to accompany him, and Our Lady favored him by appearing to a devout lady to give instructions on how the image should appear. The Blessed Mother instructed the lady that the name of the image would be Maria Madre Santissima del Lume (Mary Most Holy Mother of Light—image above). See the link for more information on the origin of this devotion.

Fr. Genovesi, SJ would eventually give his life serving the sick who were afflicted by the plague in Sicily. Like some of the Italian priests who recently died treating those with Covid-19, he contracted the illness of his patients and died of the plague on July 6, 1743.

Our world, especially New York City, has been afflicted with the plague of Covid-19, which has taken many lives, and afflicted millions of others. Today, around the world, people of sincere faith and good will are hoping and praying together for the salvation of the souls of those who have died, for healing for the sick, for a cure, a vaccine, widespread immunity and protection, for a lifting of the quarantine that isolates us, and an end to all the darkness of this pandemic. In a word, we need Light!

Now, I invite you to join us in this prayer mission for nine days. Join us for a Novena to Our Lady of Light to Drive out the Darkness of Covid-19 and End the Quarantine, from May 1-9, 2020. We are praying for Light to drive out the darkness in three specific ways:

  1. Sunlight! We pray that the literal light and heat of the sun will help kill the virus.
  1. The Light of Wisdom of the Holy Spirit to enlighten civil leaders to make wise decisions, and for medical professionals and scientists to be illumined to find a vaccine and a cure, and to treat current and future patients with the best possible measures to bring healing.
  1. The Light of Christ and Our Lady to drive out the darkness of death, sickness, depression, anxiety, fear, grief, isolation, sin, confusion, boredom, and restlessness that have afflicted many people during this time.

Here’s what we will do:

  1. From May 1-9, 2020, we will pray the Luminous Mysteries every night during our live Facebook bilingual rosary at 8PM (EDT), with the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and preaching. At the end of the rosary, we will pray the Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Light to Drive out the Darkness of Covid-19 and End the Quarantine (Join us here: https://www.facebook.com/holycrosschurchbx/. Later, the Holy Hour will be posted on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPyFFJWMr0UYixDlQnmTXPQ).
  1. Each night, during the rosary and Holy Hour, we invite participants to place a candle or white lights in a prominent window of your home or apartment as a sign to the world that Christ is the Light, and Our Lady is His reflection. Children are invited to color pictures of flames of light to tape to their windows.
  1. On the final day of the Novena, May 9, we will host a special Zoom Call event, broadcast simultaneously on our Facebook page. In addition to the nightly rosary and Holy Hour, we will have music of praise and worship; and we will invite all participants to go outside with their phones or electronic devices to follow the event, and to carry with them lit candles or some luminary, in order to bring the Light of Christ and Our Lady to the world. We will invite people to keep safe social distancing, but to go for a walk in their neighborhoods (or at least outside to their balconies, porches or yards) and to raise the candles in the air at the end of each decade of the rosary as we chant “Ave, Ave, Ave Maria,” as at Fatima, as well as during the Benediction at the end of the Holy Hour. With these gestures, we hope to share Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, and Our Lady’s light with our world in such need of their Light.

Here is the Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Light to Drive out the Darkness of Covid-19 and End the Quarantine:

O Mary Most Holy Mother of Light, Sacred Scripture tells us that you are the “Woman Clothed with the Sun” (Rev 12:1), surrounded by light, who bore the Light of World. You radiate light in your apparitions, reflecting the glory in which you live. We implore you in this hour of great need, shower the world with the Light of your Son, for many have experienced the darkness of these days.

O Mary Most Holy Mother of Light, we desperately need Light! We ask for the light and heat of the sun to shine brightly and warmly on our world, our homes, our streets, and our air to kill the virus causing Covid-19.

We ask for the Light of Wisdom of the Holy Spirit to illuminate civil leaders, medical professionals and scientists in their work to manage effectively this crisis, and seek cures, treatments, and a vaccine.

And we ask for the Light and grace of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to shine on sick bodies, afflicted minds and suffering souls to drive out the darkness that has entered from death, sickness, depression, anxiety, fear, grief, isolation, sin, confusion, boredom, and restlessness.

O Mary Most Holy Mother of Light, your son Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12). We, your sons and daughters, ask your intercession that this Light will radiate now throughout the world and into hospitals, homes, hearts and souls, so that we can return to the activities of our lives that make life meaningful, sustain our households, and experience again the joy of communion with one another and with the Eucharistic and Risen Lord in Holy Mass. Please grant us the favor our request, and wrap us all in your mantel of Light. Amen.

(For more information on the origin of the devotion and image of Our Lady of Light, you can go here: https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/o/our-lady-of-light.php).