pirit
the endless chain of centuries following each other there in reward or
in punishment. Does this thought not banish all the difficulties of
perseverance?

_Prayer_

O GOD, whose mercies are infinite and whose goodness is without limit, I
beseech Thee through the merits and intercession of the Holy Helpers,
grant me the grace of perseverance in Thy love and service to the end.
Thou, who dost dispense so many favors through the Holy Helpers, despise
not my prayer, but graciously hear and grant it. Amen.

Litany and Prayers (located on the first day of the novena).

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O FAITHFUL servants of God and powerful protectors of man, Holy Helpers!
Since Our Lord appointed you the heavenly advocates for our needs on
earth, I confidently turn to you for help in my distress. Countless
numbers praise you for aiding them with counsel in doubt, with
consolation in anxiety, with health in illness, with safety in danger,
with delivery from prison, and with help and assistance in all
tribulations. Therefore I, too, have recourse to you, and implore you
not to refuse me your aid.

Give thanks to God for me for all the graces He granted me during this
novena. I ascribe them to your great merits and powerful intercession. I
thank you all together, and each one in particular, for your interest in
my favor before the throne of God. I commend myself to your continued
protection, that I may one day be united with you in heaven, there to
thank the Giver of all good things and to praise Him for all eternity.
Amen.

Prayers of Petition and Intercession

I. Three Invocations

1. GREAT friends of God, Holy Helpers, humbly saluting and venerating
you, I implore your help and intercession. Bring my prayers before the
throne of the Most Holy Trinity, so that I may experience in all the
difficulties and trials of life the mercy of the eternal Father, the
love of the incarnate divine Son, and the assistance of the Holy Ghost;
that despondency may not depress me when God's wise decree imposes on my
shoulders a heavy burden. Above all, I implore your assistance at the
hour of death. Help me then to gain the victory over the temptations and
assaults of Satan, and to leave this world hopefully trusting in God's
mercy, to join you in heaven, there to praise Him for ever and ever.
Amen.

2. With confiding trust I turn to you, Holy Helpers, who were selected
by God before many other saints to be the special intercessors and