Saints Peter and Paul ChurchCumberland, Maryland
Saints Peter and Paul ChurchLet there be peace on earth,and let it begin with me. |
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(From novem, nine.)
A nine days' private or public devotion in the Catholic Church to obtain special graces. To the novena belongs that of hopeful mourning, of yearning, of prayer. "The number nine in Holy Writ is indicative of suffering and grief" (Saint Jerome). The novena is permitted and even recommended by ecclesiastical authority, but still has no proper and fully set place in the liturgy of the Church. It has, however, more and more been prized and utilized by the faithful. Four kinds of novenas can be distinguished: novenas of (1) mourning, of (2) preparation, of (3) prayer, and the(4) indulgenced novenas, though this distinction is not exclusive.
The novena of preparation had its origin in the nine months Our Lord was in His Blessed Mother's womb from the
Incarnation to the Nativity. At the same time as the novena of
preparation, the proper novena of prayer arose, among the faithful, it would
seem, who in their need turned to the saints with a novena, especially to
recover health. Catholics know from their own experience that the novena
is no pagan, superstitious custom, but one of the best means to obtain signal heavenly
graces through the intercession of Our Lady and all the saints.
The novena of prayer is thus a kind of prayer which includes in it, so to speak,
as a pledge of being heard, confidence and perseverance, two most important qualities of efficacious
prayer.
The number ten is the highest, the numerus maximus, simply the most perfect, which is fitting for God; the number nine, which is lacking of ten, is the number of imperfection, which is fitting for mortal kind. For this reason it was adapted for use where man's imperfection turned in prayer to God.
As has been said, the simplest explanation of the novena are the nine months of Christ in the womb. But for every novena of preparation, as also for every novena of prayer, not only the best explanation but also the best model and example was given by Christ Himself to the Church in the first Pentecost novena (i.e. the nine days from Ascension Thursday until Pentecost). He Himself expressly exhorted the Apostles to make this preparation. And when the young Church had faithfully persevered for nine full days in it, the Holy Ghost came as the precious fruit of this first Christian novena for the feast of the establishment and foundation of the Church. If one keeps this in mind and remembers besides that novenas in the course of time have brought so many, even miraculous, answers to prayer, and that finally Christ Himself in the revelation to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque recommended the special celebration of nine successive first Fridays of the month.
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Detail
of St Francis |
Glorious Saint Francis, who voluntarily renounced all the comforts and riches of your home to follow more perfectly the life of poverty and abnegation of Jesus Christ: obtain for us, we pray, a generous contempt of all things in this world, that we may secure the true and eternal things of heaven.
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.
O glorious Saint Francis, who during the whole course of your life continually wept over the passion of the Redeemer, and labor most zealously for the salvation of souls: obtain for us, we pray, the grace of weeping continually over those sins by which we have crucified afresh Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may attain to be of the number of those who shall eternally bless His supreme mercy.
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.
O glorious Saint Francis, who, loving above all things suffering and the cross, merited to bear in your body the miraculous stigmata, by which you became a living image of Jesus Christ crucified: obtain for us, we pray, the grace to bear in our bodies the mortifications of Christ, that we may merit one day to receive the consolations which are infallibly promised to all those who now weep.
"If we be dead with Christ Jesus, we shall live also with Him," says the Apostle; "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." (2Timothy 2.11-12)
Pray for us, Saint Francis, that we may obtain the graces and favors we ask for in this novena; pray for us, especially, that we may obtain the grace of perseverance; of a holy death and a happy eternity.
Say five (5) times, the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.
O Beloved Saint Francis, gentle and poor, your obedience to God, and your simple, deep love for all God's creatures led you to the heights of heavenly perfection and turned many hearts to follow God's will. Now in our day, in our ministry to the many who come here searching for peace and intercede for us we come before the Lord with our special requests...
(Mention your special intentions here...)
O Blessed Saint of God, from your throne among the hosts of heaven, present our petitions before our faithful Lord. May your prayers on our behalf be heard and may God grant us the grace to lead good and faithrful lives.
Amen
Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
