As
agreed at the recent NAFRA meeting, the
SFO in the United States would like to
institute a “perpetual” novena for at
least one year on behalf of the
suffering people both home and abroad
especially for those in Orissa, India,
as we did in 2007 for Darfur. Every day
for the next year, members of the SFO
will be praying the novena prayer. For
this to happen, 5 Regional fraternities
are assigned to cover each month. To
make sure we cover the entire month,
there will be four to five “waves” of
the novena, each starting on Sunday.
People are assigned to these waves by
Region, as noted below. For example,
the first Sunday of December, members of
St. Elizabeth of Hungary Region will
begin praying the novena; the second
Sunday of the month Lady Poverty will
begin the novena. In this way the people
of Darfur will be held in prayer by the
SFO for the entire year.
In the event there are
only 4 Sundays in the month, the fifth
Region can pray week 1, or choose
another week. Individuals may start and
end their novena on other days if
necessary, or do a different week. If
you want to continue to pray before or
after your week/month you can certainly
do that! You are also encouraged to
share the novena with people in your
parish, youth groups, or other
organizations to which you belong.
A novena allows us to
hold a particular concern before God in
a special way. The name “novena” comes
from the Latin for “nine”. Traditionally
we pray a novena every day for nine
days, and the prayer is usually a bit
longer than a brief intercession. This
allows us to give more of ourselves to
our prayer for the concern we are
bringing before God.
|
|
Dec/June |
Jan/July |
Feb/Aug |
Mar/Sept |
Apr/Oct |
May/Nov |
|
Week 1 |
St. Elizabeth of Hungary |
Bl Kateri Tekakwitha |
Fr Solanus |
The Tau Cross |
Our Lady of the Angels |
St. Katharine Drexel |
|
Week 2 |
Lady Poverty |
St. Margaret of Cortona |
Brothers and Sisters of St.
Francis |
Five Franciscan Martyrs |
St. Maximilian Kolbe |
Holy Trinity |
|
Week 3 |
Divine Mercy |
Our Lady of Indiana |
La Verna |
Mother Cabrini |
Franciscans of the Prairie |
St. Clare |
|
Week 4 |
St Joan of Arc |
Queen of Peace |
Juan de Padilla |
Los Tres Companeros/Three
Companions |
Our Lady of the Rockies |
Santa Maria de las Montanas |
|
Week 5 or Week 1* |
Our Lady of Guadalupe |
Troubadours of Peace |
Bl. Junipero Serra |
St. Francis |
St. Thomas More |
Ohana O Ke Aneunue |
The prayer follows:
Novena Prayer of Intercession
Merciful Father, Prince
of Peace, Spirit of Wisdom and
Compassion, please look with mercy upon
our suffering brothers and sisters here
at home and around the world,
[particularly in *Orissa]. We humbly
pray:
---- For those who have
been subjected to violence, and their
families, we ask for healing,
consolation, and relief of further
suffering.
Our Father, Hail
Mary, Glory Be
---- For those who have
done violence, we ask for healing,
forgiveness, and the grace of
conversion.
Our Father, Hail
Mary, Glory Be
---- For those in
authority throughout the world, we ask
wisdom, creativity, compassion and
courage in addressing these situations.
Our Father, Hail
Mary, Glory Be
Lord Jesus, Your Sacred
Heart burns for love of all your people.
Please place in our hearts that same
love and inspire us to have the courage,
wisdom and ingenuity to take what
measures we can personally to relieve
the suffering of our brothers and
sisters. We pray this in the Name of
Jesus, our Lord, through the
intercession of the sorrowful and
immaculate Heart of Mary.
Memorare: Remember oh most
gracious Virgin Mary that never was it
known that anyone who fled to thy
protection, implored thy help, or sought
thy intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence I fly unto
thee, oh Virgin of Virgins, my mother.
To thee do I come, before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful. Oh mother of the
Word Incarnate, despise not my
petitions, but in thy mercy hear and
answer me. Amen
*insert specific concerns for which
you would like to pray.
Novena
of Solidarity