Mary, etc.

Ejaculation (located on the first day of the Novena).

THIRD DAY

Mary, the Victrix of Satan

Preparatory Prayer (located on the first day of the Novena).

MEDITATION

THE immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary inaugurated the
fulfilment of the divine promise made to our first parents in paradise
in the words addressed to the serpent: "I shall put enmities between
thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head"
(_Gen._ iii. 15). Mary is the woman in whom Satan never had a part. Her
intimate connection with God was announced by the angel: "Hail, full of
grace; the Lord is with thee." Now was fulfilled the saying of the
Psalmist, "The Most High hath sanctified His own tabernacle. God is in
the midst thereof, it shall not be moved: God will help it in the
morning early" (_Ps._ xlv. 5-6). Mary was chosen to be the glorious
tabernacle of the Son of God "in the morning early," that is, in the
first moment of her existence. God called her into being that she might
assume the exalted dignity of the Mother of His Son, and therefore
granted her the singular privilege of exemption from original sin. In
her were fulfilled Solomon's prophetic words of praise, "Thou art all
fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee" (_Cant._ iv. 7). It
was in view of her Son's merits applied to her beforehand that God thus
produced in her the image of the new man regenerated in the Holy Ghost.

PRACTICE

THE spirit of darkness holds mankind enslaved, but one human being
escapes him. A destructive fire lays waste the whole earth, but one tree
remains unscathed. A terrible tyrant conquers the whole world, but one
fortified city repels his assaults. This human being retaining liberty,
this tree escaping destruction, this city repelling the enemy's attack
is the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Will the almighty and merciful God, who has accomplished such great
things in Mary, who has selected her for His Mother, not listen to her
prayers when she intercedes for us? St. William of Paris exclaims: "No
other created being can obtain for us so many and so great graces from
God as His Mother. By the all-powerful might of her intercession He
honors her not only as His handmaid, but also as His Mother." Therefore
we ought not be surprised when the holy Fathers maintain that a single
sigh of Mary is more effective with God than the combined intercession
of all the angels and saints. If, then, Mary's powe