of thy dear Son Jesus, and in the company of the apostles
and angels; pray for us, that at that awful moment we, too, may be
comforted by receiving Jesus in the most holy Eucharist, and may feel
thee nigh when we breathe forth our soul.

Hail Mary, etc.

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

THIRD DAY

The Empty Tomb

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

MEDITATION

ST. JOHN DAMASCENE writes: "St. Thomas was not with the other apostles
when the Blessed Virgin died, but arrived in Jerusalem on the third day
after that event. Ardently desiring to see once more and to venerate the
sacred body which had given flesh and blood to his beloved Master, the
grave was opened for this purpose. The body could nowhere be seen, and a
delicious perfume filled the empty tomb. The apostles then became
convinced that as God had preserved the body of Mary free from sin
before, in, and after the birth of His Son, He was pleased likewise,
after her death, to preserve that same body from corruption, and to
glorify it in heaven."

A council held in Jerusalem in the year 1672 declared: "It is beyond all
doubt that the Blessed Virgin is not only a great and miraculous sign on
earth, because she bore God in the flesh and yet remained a virgin, but
she is also a great and miraculous sign in heaven, because she was taken
up thither with soul and body. For although her sinless body was
enclosed in the tomb, yet, like the body of Our Lord, it arose on the
third day and was carried up to heaven."

Although the doctrine of the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven was
not defined by the Church as an article of faith in the strict sense,
yet the learned Pope Benedict XIV remarks, "It would be presumptuous and
blameworthy in any one to call into doubt or to question this beautiful
and consoling belief of ages."

PRACTICE

LET us rejoice at the thought of the glorious resurrection of our dear
Mother. Let us unite ourselves in spirit with the apostles in heaven and
with Holy Church to congratulate her on this extraordinary privilege.
But let us also rejoice at the thought of our own resurrection. True, it
shall not take place immediately after death, but it is therefore not
the less certain, and it depends on us to make it glorious and blessed.

Prayer of the Church (located on the first day of the novena).

Litany of Loreto (located in the list of approved litanies).

_Prayer_

O GLORIOUS V