Divine Mercy Novena
The Novena...

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.

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 neighbour 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.

The Divine Mercy Novena of Chaplets

Intentions

For each of the nine days, Jesus gave Saint Faustina a prayer for different intention:
For All mankind, especially sinners; For the souls of priests and religious; For all devout and faithful souls; For those who do not believe in God and those who do not yet know Jesus; For the souls who have separated themselves from the Church; For the meek and humble souls and the souls of little children; For the souls who especially venerate and glorify His mercy; For the souls detained in purgatory; and For souls who have become lukewarm. 

Jesus said to St.Faustina, "I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fountain of My mercy, that they may draw therefrom strength and refreshment and whatever grace they have need of in the hardships of life, and especially at the hour of death".

Divine Mercy Novena - Starts on Good Friday, March 30, 2018
Divine Mercy
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