Novenas: when prayers are answered ....

... sometimes God really needs to give me a "thwack" upside the head!  Back on November 30th, I began a St. Andrew Novena -- 15 times per day I said the following prayers, each day from November 30th till December 25th.  I made it easier to remember by printing the below prayer card which I'd designed, printing it out, and putting it right next to my computer -- throughout the day, I would pray this prayer, mentioning my intention, and thinking about the words (especially that Jesus was born, not just in a dirty, messy stable, but at midnight in freezing cold!).

Anyway, a dear online friend mentioned today that she had rec'd her request in a wonderful way ... and I duly remarked on how wonderful that was and kept on keeping on ... until tonight.  I then realized that I too received my request ... and God is so very good!

May all your needs be filled by our good and gracious God!  Thanks be to God for giving us not just His love (which is amazing) but also other humans who have given it all to Him and now help all of us who ask!  Thank you St. Andrew for your intercessions and thank you, God, for your great love!



 

Feast Day: St. Monica (mother of St. Augustine)

Today is the feast of St. Monica (322-387).  She is remembered as St. Augustine's mother ... a mother who prayed constantly for 30 some years for her son to convert from his evil ways and turn to God and His Church. 

Here is a very cool three-day novena I found that we will start praying today ... and for the next two days ... to help pray for all our freinds,r elatives and benefactors who are fallen-away Catholics or luke-warm Catholics and for non-Catholics; we will also pray that there may one day be unity amongst all Christians under the one true Church:

TRIDUUM (THREE-DAY) NOVENA in HONOR of ST. MONICA

For an INCREASE of FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY

This Three-Day Novena may be begin three days before or on the feast days of St. Monica August 27, St. Augustine - August 28, St. Augustine's birthday - November 13, St. Augustine's Baptism - April 24

St. Monica, pray for us

FIRST DAY -- Prayer for Faith

O glorious St. Monica, transfixed with sorrow when you saw your beloved child Augustine living in the dark and gloomy abyss of error and vice, and straying far from the right path which leads to true felicity in the possession of God and His holy grace, hear our prayer, O afflicted mother. By that cruel sorrow, which with so much patience you did bear, and by those earnest sighs and bitter tears with which you did appeal to God to change the heart of your prodigal son, and by your wondrous confidence in God, which was never shaken, O grant to us, your children, that we may, like you, place all our trust in God, and in our trials and troubles be ever resigned to His holy will. While we ask you, O glorious mother St. Monica, to supply for us our special needs, we here earnestly ask you to pray for the erring children of Jesus, so many Augustines, straying from God and hurrying to ruin. Let that earnest prayer of yours go forth once more for us and for sinners, that we may live in the light of divine grace and be united again thereafter to bless the bounty of a loving God for eternity. Amen.

LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.

May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be. . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

SECOND DAY -- Prayer for Hope

O glorious mother, St. Monica, although the many means you employed to accomplish the conversion of your son Augustine seemed fruitless, and for a long time God Himself appeared deaf to your earnest prayer and unmoved by your ever-flowing tears, you never lost confidence in obtaining the long-sought grace for Augustine. You lovingly and tenderly admonished your erring son; you watched over him ever with all a mother's love, and fearless of danger and heedless of fatigue, followed him from place to place in his weary and wayward wanderings. In a word, all that a mother's tender love could suggest, all that a mother's anxious solicitude could inspire, all that a wondrous prudence and true wisdom could dictate, you, O great St. Monica, cheerfully did to effect the return to God of your firstborn and darling child. By all these generous efforts, so happily crowned in the end, hear, O mother, the petitions we make to you. Pray for us, too, and pray especially for those who are unmindful of and ungrateful to God. To you, O dearest mother, we are especially dedicated; look upon us, then, as your children, and win for us the grace we need. Regard mercifully the most destitute among us, that sin being diminished, the number of the faithful may increase, and greater glory may be given to Him who is the best of friends, the truest of benefactors, our first beginning and last end, the source of all our hope, our Savior, our God. Amen.

LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.

May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

THIRD DAY -- Prayer for Charity

O glorious mother St. Monica who can conceive the consolation that abounded in your heart, so long the home of brooding sorrow, when you saw your child Augustine rising in the light of grace and giving himself generously to God. When you folded your converted son in your arms and tears of every joy streamed forth to tell the glowing jubilee of your heart, Oh, how in that moment God in his mercy recompensed your years of sorrow and anxiety, your long and weary days of racking suspense. It was impossible that a child of tears like yours should perish and when your son Augustine heard the call of God he obeyed it, and his life and his deeds flung a luster all their own on you, St. Monica. O fortunate mother, twice mother of your child, deign to listen to our prayers and present our petitions to God. Look lovingly, and with all a mother's interest on us assembled here, under your protection, to honor you. We love you and let us become, as St. Augustine of old, the objects of your maternal love. Pray that we, too, like St. Augustine, may have strength to cling to God, and triumph over sin and temptation. By your prayers break the fetters of sin that hold in cruel bondage the souls of your sinful children in this world. O mother, pray that the miracle of grace in the heart of Augustine may again and again be repeated in these day of universal sin, and that the erring children of Jesus may be led back to the fold so that united here on earth, we may securely go through the dangers of life and be united with you, our mother, in heaven forever. Amen

LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.

May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.

Our Father. . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . .

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Novena: thank you St. Angela!

As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, our dear friend Karen asked us to pray a novena to St. Angela Merici for her intercessions on helping Karen attain her goal of wiping out her financial debt so that she can enter the Dominicans in August. 

Yesterday, Karen was notified that St. Angela had pulled through for her and the grant from Mater Ecclesia came thru -- Karen is now 51% of her way through with fund-raising. 

If you have a minute please pray a prayer of thanksgiving to St. Angela; also it would be wonderful if you could take a minute and send up a prayer that Karen's fund-raising efforts continue successfully so that she may follow God's call to become a Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia!

Novena: prayer card for you

As I mentioned last night, we are doing a very special novena for a very special friend.  If you'd like to print
a copy of the novena, just right click the image above and save to your computer or print directly.  This is a beautiful prayer to a beautiful saint for a beautiful woman trying to fulfill God's call. 

Please join us in prayer.

Novena: please pray this lovely prayer with us ...

... for a dear friend, Karen Mahowald, who is discerning a vocation to the Dominican Sisters of Nashville.  Karen is trying to enter this August, but needs to clear her student-loan debt before being accepted.  She has asked for our prayers to help her in this endeavor.

Here is the novena to St. Angela Merici, which we will start on Tuesday, Jan 19th and finish on Wednesday, Jan 27th (St. Angela's feast day):

Novena to Saint Angela Merici

January 19th to January 27th (Ending on St. Angela's Feast Day)

Saint Angela, you chose Karen as she prepared for her Confirmation, please watch over her now as she prepares to enter religious life. You instructed the young women of your time to live and grow in charity. Pray that Karen will receive a grant from Mater Ecclesiae. Please intercede not only for Karen's material needs but also her spiritual ones. Pray that Karen will be impelled always by charity and zeal for souls.


Lord, may Saint Angela commend us to Your mercy; may her charity and wisdom help us to be faithful to Your teaching and to follow it in our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen

Pray one Our Father, One Hail Mary and One Glory Be in honor of Saint Angela; end the novena prayer with St. Angela, Pray for us.

Prayer: 85,000 Memorares please

Our favorite priest was here for dinner last night and mentioned a prayer request: one of the priests in the Arlington Diocese has made a promise to the Blessed Mother to obtain 85,000 Memorares if she goes to her Son and asks that this priest is able to build an orphanage/school down in the Ivory Coast ...

would you help this rather good man attain his goal of 85,000 Memorares said for this intention?

The Memorare to Our Lady

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.

Our Lady is an amazing advocate for all our needs. May God grant this good and humble priest his request.

Novena: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (July 16th)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel has always been important in our family -- Mom's birthday (she'll be 78 this year) is on the feast-day!

Tonight, at our evening prayer, we started the novena to Our Lady, with the intercessions for Mom's continued health and happiness and for all her intentions.

Here's the novena we'll be praying for nine days:

Novena To Our Lady of Mount Carmel -- July 16

First Day:
O Beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother!(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Second Day:
Most Holy Mary, Our Mother, in your great love for us you gave us the Holy Scapular of Mount Carmel, having heard the prayers of your chosen son Saint Simon Stock. Help us now to wear it faithfully and with devotion. May it be a sign to us of our desire to grow in holiness.(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Third Day:
O Queen of Heaven, you gave us the Scapular as an outward sign by which we might be known as your faithful children. may we always wear it with honor by avoiding sin and imitating your virtues. Help us to be faithful to this desire of ours.(pause and mention petitions) s)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Fourth Day:
When you gave us, Gracious Lady, the Scapular as our Habit, you called us to be not only servants, but also your own children.We ask you to gain for us from your Son the grace to live as you children in joy, peace and love. (pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Fifth Day:
O Mother of Fair Love, through your goodness, as your children, we are called to live in the spirit of Carmel. Help us to live in charity with one another, prayerful as Elijah of old, and mindful of our call to minister to God's people. (pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Sixth Day:
With loving provident care, O Mother Most Amiable, you covered us with your Scapular as a shield of defense against the Evil One. Through your assistance, may we bravely struggle against the powers of evil, always open to your Son Jesus Christ.(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Seventh Day:
O Mary, Help of Christians, you assured us that wearing your Scapular worthily would keep us safe from harm. Protect us in both body and soul with your continual aid. may all that we do be pleasing to your Son and to you.(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Eighth Day:
You give us hope, O Mother of Mercy, that through your Scapular promise we might quickly pass through the fires of purgatory to the Kingdom of your Son. Be our comfort and our hope. Grant that our hope may not be in vain but that, ever faithful to your Son and to you, we may speedily enjoy after death the blessed company of Jesus and the saints.(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Ninth Day:
O Most Holy Mother of Mount Carmel, when asked by a saint to grant privileges to the family of Carmel, you gave assurance of your Motherly love and help to those faithful to you and to your Son.Behold us, your children. We glory in wearing your holy habit, which makes us members of your family of Carmel, through which we shall have your powerful protection in life, at death and even after death. Look down with love, O Gate of Heaven, on all those now in their last agony!Look down graciously, O Virgin, Flower of Carmel, on all those in need of help! Look down mercifully, O Mother of our Savior, on all those who do not know that they are numbered among your children.Look down tenderly, O Queen of All Saints, on the poor souls!(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.