NOVENA PRAYERS
1⃣ NOVENA TO ST. JOSEPH
2⃣ ANNUNCIATION NOVENA
3⃣ NOVENA TO ST. MARGARET CLITHEROW
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1⃣ NOVENA TO ST. JOSEPH
DAY 9 - MARCH 18
PRAYER BEFORE THE NOVENA: Great Saint Joseph, prostrate at thy feet with feelings of unlimited confidence, we beg thee to bless the Novena that I pray in thy honor. I will meditate upon thy virtues; grant that I may learn fully to appreciate them. The knowledge of them will be the source of great confusion for me because of the poverty and destitution of my soul. Great dispenser of the heavenly treasures, assist me in my poverty, help me to display thy virtues in my own soul. "Thou art never invoked in vain," says the seraphic St. Teresa of Jesus; be thou to me what thou hast been to that Spouse of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; graciously hearken to me as thou didst hearken to her. Amen.
SAINT JOSEPH, MODEL OF DETACHMENT
St. Joseph loved poverty because it detaches man from all passing and perishable goods, delivers the soul from dangerous obstacles, and from a thousand evils and cares, and permits him to keep his eyes raised towards Heaven, instead of stooping, like a slave, toward the earth. St. Joseph loved poverty, because he saw it practiced in the highest degree by Jesus Christ. Did he not regard it as a hidden and priceless treasure, when he contemplated Jesus in His abnegation, when he saw Him stretch out His divine hands to ask for the most necessary needs of life?
St. Joseph suffered the privations of life with patience, without murmur of complaint, using his poverty to detach himself more and more from worldly goods, and to seek the goods of Heaven.
(State your intentions here…)
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be...
PRAYER: St. Joseph, make me understand the excellence of poverty. Grant that I may enter into the interior dispositions which animated thee in regard to that virtue. Disclose to me the snares of riches, the dangers which are attached to them, the solicitude which they engender. Make me understand how much God favours us, when he refuses us riches, since he furnishes us a precious occasion to detach us from ourselves and from creatures, and to increase our merit for Heaven. Amen.
Protector of Holy Church, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
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2⃣ ANNUNCIATION NOVENA
DAY 3 - MARCH 18
THE EXPECTATION OF THE MESSIAH
Man, under the sorrow and effects of the first misery, and the accumulation of personal sins of each succeeding generation, looked and wept and prayed for the realization of the promise. All the Jewish history and ceremonial shows the eagerness with which God's people were looking for deliverance. Isaiah says: "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened and bud forth a Saviour" (Is 45: 8). 'O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down; the mountains would melt away at thy presence" (Is 64: 1).
PRAYER: I greet you, Ever-blessed Virgin, Mother of God, Throne of Grace, miracle of Almighty Power! I greet you, Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity and Queen of the Universe, Mother of Mercy and refuge of sinners!
Most loving Mother, attracted by your beauty and sweetness, and by your tender compassion, I confidently turn to you, miserable as I am, and beg of you to obtain for me from your dear Son the favour I request in this novena.
(State your intentions here…)
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be...
Obtain for me also, Queen of heaven, the most lively contrition for my many sins and the grace to imitate closely those virtues which you practiced so faithfully, especially humility, purity and obedience. Above all, I beg you to be my Mother and Protectress, to receive me into the number of your devoted children, and to guide me from your high throne of glory.
Do not reject my petitions, Mother of Mercy! Have pity on me, and do not abandon me during life or at the moment of my death. Amen.
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3⃣ NOVENA TO ST. MARGARET CLITHEROW
DAY 2 - MARCH 18
REFLECTION: CONVERTED TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH DESPITE PERSECUTION
PRAYER: St. Margaret Clitherow, you were raised as a Protestant and married a Protestant. But your love for God led you to convert to His Catholic Church. Please bring my petitions before God Whom you loved so dearly! Catholics were being persecuted on account of their religion in your country, but you boldly chose to become a Catholic anyway. You followed God's call despite the threat of death and torture for your Faith. Pray for me, that I may be as courageous a servant of God as you were. Pray that I may grow in devotion to God and His Church each day. Please also pray for,
(State your intentions here…)
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be...
St. Margaret Clitherow: Pray for us!