St. Joseph, who provided For Further Reading a home to the child Jesus, is Novena Prayer to St. Jude often invoked by Catholics The How-To Book of Catholic Devotions (Our Sunday needing to sell a home (The following prayers are repeated once a day for nine Visitor), Mike Aquilina and Regis Flaherty. (www.stjosephsite.com/ consecutive days.) The Church’s Most Powerful Novenas (Our Sunday SJS_Prayer_To sell a home. Most holy Apostle St. Jude, faithful servant and Visitor), Michael Dubruiel. htm) friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who deliv- Treasury of Novenas (Catholic Book Publishing), ered your beloved Master into the hands of His Father Lawrence Lovasik. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, enemies has caused you to be forgotten by many, also called the Little Flower, but the Church honors and invokes you universally General Novena Prayers is popular among many as the patron of hopeless cases, www.catholiclinks.org/novenasenglish.htm today who pray various of things almost despaired of. novenas to her for help in Pray for me, I am so help- all kinds of situations less and alone. Make use, I (www.ewtn.com/therese/ implore you, of that particu- novena.htm). Shutterstock lar privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy Inc. The Crossiers help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my How Do I Pray assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consola- To view a PDF of additional topical pamphlets or to order bulk copies of this pamphlet, go to a Novena? tion and help of heaven in all my www.osv.com/pamphlets Only.Visitor, There are many ways to necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, pray a novena. You could particularly (mention your request here), and that I may certainly pray spontane- praise God with you and all the elect forever. ously for nine days and I promise, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful designate that as a novena of this great favor, to always honor you as my spe- for a particular intention. cial and powerful patron, and to gratefully encour- 1-800-348-2440 • Fax: 1-800-498-6709 • www.osv.com ReviewSunday But praying, like speaking age devotion to you. Amen. or writing, is a skill. You (Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory By Mike Aquilina For learn how to speak or write Be.) Copyright © Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. Our persuasively from people St. Jude Thaddeus, pray for us, and for all who No part of this pamphlet may be reprinted or reproduced in any form. who know what they’re invoke your aid. Inventory No. P955 doing. In the same way, Nihil Obstat: Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D. when you use some of the Censor Librorum saints’ own prayers, you’re Christ Teaches Us to Pray Imprimatur: ✠ Kevin C. Rhoades learning to pray from Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend Shutterstock Without Ceasing September 10, 2010 people who have practiced Copyright the art for a long time. That’s why you’ll find many God is our loving Father. We come to The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the novenas with a set text, usually a prayer for each of him in our childlike simplicity and ask Nihil Obstat or Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed. nine days, with a space for you to mention your special for what we think we need, endeav- The Scripture citations used in this work are taken from the Catholic Edition of the Revised “Jesus always intention. oring to understand what it is he Standard Version of the Bible (RSV), copyright © 1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of responds to a knows we need. This continual Shutterstock America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. In times of difficulty, anxiety, or uncertainty, many dependence, this childlike asking, prayer offered people turn to St. Jude, long known as the patron saint is what the novena emphasizes US $14.95 in faith.” of “hopeless” or desperate causes. This novena prayer is by its very form. We don’t stop at The Crossiers simple — one set of prayers, said for nine days — and, once or twice; we keep going back, — Catechism of as a powerful aid in restoring calm in stressful times, nine times. Novenas invite us to the Catholic can be a great way to begin a novena devotion. keep asking, just as Jesus told us to. 0910 Church 2616 the upper room: “All these with one accord devoted From Jesus’ prayer, we learn the real object of prayer. novenas are not only a well- What Is a Novena, and themselves to prayer, together with the women and Prayer isn’t about changing God, because God doesn’t known popular devotion but have Why Should I Pray One? Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts change. The object of prayer is changing ourselves. also been adopted officially by the 1:14). Then, at the end of their “novena,” on the feast of Church for certain occasions. The word novena refers to nine of something. Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon them, filling them We should be prepared for our prayers to be One of the best ways to pray a Traditionally it’s a nine-day prayer, but it can also be a with supernatural gifts. answered the way the apostles were answered. The gifts novena is to pray with the whole prayer of nine hours, or nine weeks, or simply nine rep- they received at Pentecost were surely an answer to Church. Around the liturgi- etitions. One of the more famous recent testimonies we Whether they are prayers of thanksgiving or petition, their novena prayers. But the gifts weren’t just a day’s cal calendar, various feasts have have to the power of this simple form of prayer is the novenas by their very form remind us of our dependency worth of good feeling. They were a spiritual preparation traditional novenas assigned “express novena” to the Blessed Mother — a repetition on Christ, and allow us to ask — in a manner united to for the hard life the apostles had ahead of them — a life Shutterstock to them. In particular, there’s a of the Memorare nine times in a few minutes — that the first foundations of our Church — for the Holy Spirit of trials and even martyrdom, but a life nonetheless that Pentecost Novena, a Christmas Novena, a Novena of Mother Teresa liked to pray during times of challenge to come assist us. conformed them ever more closely to Jesus Christ. the Immaculate Conception, and the Divine Mercy or difficulty. Novena, which is prayed beginning on Good Friday. Even when they suf- So, why nine? Is this the magic number that ensures Praying a Novena with the Right Attitude fered, the apostles knew God hears and answers our prayers? And why should joy — even ecstasy Different Kinds of Novenas you and I pray novenas today? Because a novena is such a powerful form of prayer, — because they sometimes we can be tempted to abuse that power. had received the Novenas to the Holy Spirit take their inspiration When you hear stories of prayers that supposedly never outpouring of the from the apostles’ nine days of prayer between the fail — as though the novena were a magical incantation Holy Spirit that Ascension and Pentecost. When he called the Second that always gets you what you want — you’re seeing they had prayed Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII asked the whole abuse, and misuse, of the novena. for in those Church to join him in a novena to the Holy Spirit for nine days before the inspiration of the council (www.ewtn.com/devotion- Shutterstock Prayer is not magic. We can’t manipulate God just Pentecost. That als/pentecost/seven.htm). by saying a few “special” words. Even the most sincere outpouring of the prayer doesn’t come with a “guarantee” that we’ll get Holy Spirit, and the Novenas to the what we want. We will get an answer — that much is lasting joy that comes Blessed Virgin Mary guaranteed. The answer may not be what we expect, with it, is the real object appear under many and there will be times when it’s exactly the opposite of of all our prayers. of her titles, among what we think we want. But God answers on the basis them Our Lady of our needs, not just our wants. of Sorrows (www. Praying with the Whole Church catholicdoors.com/ In everything we pray, prayers/novenas/ the prayer of Jesus himself at Since those days of the apostles praying together p00028.htm) and The Crossiers Gethsemane is implicit: for nine days, novenas have developed slowly, perhaps Our Lady of Good more slowly and quietly than many other devotions Remedy (www. The number we invoke during the devotion of a “Father, if thou art willing, with which we may be familiar. By now, of course, catholicdoors.com/ novena is, itself, symbolic and historically significant. remove this cup from me; prayers/novenas/ Three times three, nine, is a trinity of trinities — it nevertheless not my will, but p00067.htm). Shutterstock brings God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to mind by thine, be done.” its very form. On the other hand, it’s incomplete — one — Luke 22:42 St. Anthony of Padua was known as the Wonder- shy of ten.