DIVINE MERCY NOVENA Holy Spirit Catholic Church Fremont Ca Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction (Exposition) Please Kneel O salutaris Hostia, Quae caeli pandis ostium: Bella premunt hostilia, Da robur, fer auxilium. Uni trinoque Domino Sit sempiterna gloria, Qui vitam sine termino Nobis donet in patria. Amen. O saving Victim, opening wide, The gate of heaven to man below! Our foes press on from every side. Thine aid supply, thy strength bestows. To Thy great name by endless praise, Immortal Godhead, one in Three. Oh, grant us endless length of days, In our true native land with Thee. Amen To the Holy Spirit Come Holy Spirit, I need you Come Holy Spirit, I pray Come in your strength and your power Come in your own gentle way Come like a spring in the desert Come to the weary of souls Lord let your sweet healing power Touch me and make me whole What It Is The word "novena" comes from the Latin meaning "nine each." It is a prayer or Holy Mass that is offered for nine consecutive days. Scripturally, novenas take their origin from the nine days of prayer before Pentecost. After the Ascension, the apostles, and disciples, in obedience to the Lord, gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to constant prayer, together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus (Acts 1:4-5). The nine days of prayer can also be considered as a representation of the nine months of Jesus in the womb of Mary. Like Jesus our Head, we His Body are also to be born of Mary and the Holy Spirit. The nine days of prayer were gestation prior to the birth of the Church on Pentecost. Since then, each novena can be considered as a time of gestation before a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What It Is Not Over the centuries, the practice of making novenas grew in popularity, and inevitably, abuses developed like weeds in a garden. One abuse is absolute guarantees of positive results. There are no absolute guarantees. Prayer must always be made according to the will of God. Even Christ Himself prayed, "Not my will, Father, but Yours be done." We pray with trust that God will give us what He knows is best for us. Another abuse is the guarantee that a particular novena will never fail if we publish the novena prayer. These mistaken ideas can often cause great confusion and lead to superstition. Persistent Prayer Novenas should be considered persistent prayer. Jesus exhorted us to continually ask, seek, and knock for what we need (Lk 11:10), and he gave us strong examples of the value of persistence in prayer — like the widow who kept pleading with the judge (Lk 18:1-8) and the man who woke his neighbor in the middle of the night to give him bread (Lk 11:5-9). St. Faustina also gives us a powerful example of persistence in prayer. Novenas were an important and regular part of her spiritual life. She made novenas of different kinds and for various needs. For her they were times of intense and persevering prayer. For us, too, novenas can be times of persevering prayer for special needs and of preparation for solemn feasts. Novenas also can help us to focus our intentions so that we can more effectively give thanks for God's response to our needs — whatever they are — placing ever greater trust in the Lord Jesus. “Pray for souls that they be not afraid to approach the Tribunal of My mercy. Do not grow weary of praying for sinners. You know what a burden their souls are to My Heart. Relieve My deathly sorrow; dispense My mercy.” (Diary of St. Faustina, para.975) “O, how ardently I desire that all mankind turn with trust to Your mercy!” (Diary of St. Faustina, para.929) Today, 27th September, begins the Novena in honor of Saint Faustina, ending on her feast day on 5th October. This great Apostle of Divine Mercy enjoys great power before the Throne of Mercy. In her Diary, she promised that in Heaven, she would not forget this world but would continue to draw souls to trust in the Merciful Lord – “When I stand at the foot of Your throne, the first hymn that I will sing will be one to Your mercy. Poor earth, I will not forget you. Although I feel that I will be immediately drowned in God as in an ocean of happiness, that will not be an obstacle to my returning to earth to encourage souls and incite them to trust in God’s mercy. Indeed, this immersion in God will give me the possibility of boundless action.” (Diary, para.1582) May all of us who seek her heavenly intercession enjoy the grace she obtains for us from the Merciful Lord. “I promise that the soul that will venerate this Image will not perish.” “I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this Image with the signature; Jesus, I trust in You.” “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls…” “These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross.” – words of the Merciful Jesus recorded in the Diary of Saint Faustina St Faustina tells us how the Image of Divine Mercy came about, following the appearance of the Most Merciful Jesus on 22 February St Faustina tells us how the Image of Divine Mercy came about, following the appearance of the Most Merciful Jesus on 22 February 1931 in her cell at the convent in Plock, Poland: “In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence, I kept my gaze fixed on the Lord; my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a while, Jesus said to me – “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature – Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated first in your Chapel, and then throughout the whole world.” Much later, another Sister gave testimony which noted that on this occasion, children standing in the street across from the Convent saw rays of light coming from a window – it was the window of St Faustina’s cell. The creation of the Image became a great trial for the young nun; despite repeated requests from the Lord, it would be three years before the Image would finally be painted by a local artist, Eugene Kazimierowski, the work paid for by Blessed Fr Michael Sopocko, who was Confessor and Spiritual Director to St Faustina. The image depicted on this page is the original Image of Divine Mercy which was painted under the direction of St Faustina ‘according to the pattern’ she alone saw and saw repeatedly – the Lord was careful to ensure that the Saint was completely familiar with ‘the pattern’ she saw. It is often referred to as ‘the Vilnius Image’. The original Image of Divine Mercy (the ‘Vilnius Image’) painted by Eugene Kazimierowski under the direction of St Faustina Although there are now many representations of the Divine Mercy Image, this is the only one seen by St Faustina, the only one painted under her own direction, and the only one on which the Lord later commented to the Saint – ‘Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush, lies the greatness of this Image, but in My grace’. The red and pale rays represent the Blood and Water which flowed from the pierced Heart of Christ upon the Cross on Good Friday. The pale ray denotes the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation, ‘which makes souls righteous, while the red ray denotes the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the ‘life of souls.’ The Image is intrinsically and intimately linked to the life of the Church and to Her Sacraments, and in a very real way, to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as – like the entire Devotion – it calls us to take up our Baptismal roles of priest, prophet and king in response to the demands of the Most Merciful Jesus, to join our sacrifice to His, and to be merciful as God is merciful. The original Image would eventually be placed publicly at the Ostra Brama Gate by Father Sopocko and would be venerated there for three days, throughout the Easter Triduum of 1935. Since that date, the Image has multiplied throughout the world and is venerated in many places and by many people, not least of all on the Feast of Mercy each year. “This Image is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.” This Image is indeed a reminder of the demands of the Most Merciful Jesus as revealed in the devotion given to St Faustina and it crystallizes the essentials of the devotion, as well as being a conduit of grace. Note that we venerate the Image as something holy, but we do not adore or worship it; rather, we adore and worship the One represented in this Image, He Who is Divine Mercy.