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Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe

Day 4

10 min
Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe

Opening prayer:

O St. Maximilian Kolbe, knight of the Immaculate and martyr of love, you laid down your life so that a father might return to his family. Kindle in me your fearless charity and your boundless devotion to Mary, that I too may live and die for others. Amen.

Read the meditation and offer the intention of the day.

Day 4: A builder of community

At Niepokalanów he gathered hundreds of friars into a 'City of the Immaculate' devoted to prayer, work, and the printed word, one of the largest religious houses in the world. Yet he insisted that its true engine was holiness, not machinery, and that obedience and charity held it together. He shows that great works for God are built not on talent alone but on humble obedience, shared life, and brothers who pray and labor as one.

O St. Maximilian, who built a city for the Immaculate upon humble obedience and shared labor, obtain for me the grace to build up rather than tear down those around me, and to make of my work and my home a place where God is loved. Amen.

Today's intention:

For the grace to build up rather than tear down those around me.

Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis,

sanctificétur nomen tuum.

Advéniat regnum tuum.

Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie,

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.

Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem,

sed líbera nos a malo.

Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum.

Benedícta tu in muliéribus,

et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta María, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatóribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostræ.

Amen.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.

Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper,

et in sǽcula sæculórum.

Amen.

Closing prayer:

St. Maximilian, who turned a death camp into a place of song and hope, intercede for me before the Immaculate to whom you gave yourself wholly. Win for me the grace I now ask and a love so great that it counts no cost. Amen.

Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

About this prayer

A nine-day novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, the Franciscan friar and martyr of charity who gave his life for a stranger at Auschwitz, founded the Militia of the Immaculate, and lived a total consecration to Mary.

History

Born Raymund Kolbe in Poland in 1894, as a boy he received a vision of the Virgin offering two crowns, white for purity and red for martyrdom, and he chose both. As a friar he founded the Militia Immaculatae and the great evangelizing centers of Niepokalanów and Nagasaki. Arrested by the Nazis, he volunteered to die in place of a married father in the starvation bunker of Auschwitz, and was put to death by lethal injection on August 14, 1941.

How to pray it

Pray once each day for nine consecutive days. Begin with the Sign of the Cross and the opening prayer, prayerfully read the meditation and offer the day's intention, then conclude with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, and the closing prayer.

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