Archive for Novenas

Join the Novena for Pope Benedict and the Papacy!

[note: Find the Pope Benedict novena prayers here.]

popebenedictA priest I know sent me a text message this morning that I couldn’t believe.

It said that the Pope was going to retire.

I was shocked and thought it was a joke at first. But, it was true!

My first thought was that we need to pray.

So, we shall pray!

I had already been planning a novena for Pope Benedict’s birthday in April. So, I quickly texted my wife, Annie, and told her that we would need to move the novena up.

It looks like Pope Benedict’s last day as Pope will be February 28th. He said that he was stepping down because of his age and declining energy.

So, I think we should pray for Pope Benedict in his last days as Pope!

We will pray a novena starting on Wednesday the 20th to end on his last day.

It will be our ‘retirement gift’ to Pope Benedict!

We will pray in thanksgiving for Pope Benedict’s service, for his health and for the Papacy!

Please spread the word!

What about the next Pope, you ask?

We will do a novena for the election of a new Pope when the conclave has been convened. So, keep an eye out for that as Pope Benedict has called for a new Pope to be elected by Easter!

Sign up here and invite your friends!

[note: Find the novena prayers here.]

Here is the text of Pope Benedict’s Statement to the Cardinals regarding his retirement:

“Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonisations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church.

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.

However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to steer the boat of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me.

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects.

And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff.

With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.”

2012 Christmas Novena

Christmas NovenaThe 2012 Christmas Novena marks two years since the very first PrayMoreNovenas.com novena.

That novena had fewer than 1,000 people praying together.

This our third Christmas Novena together has more than 34,000 people praying together on our email list.

God is so good!

He has used this simple ministry to bring tens of thousands of people together in prayer. People from all across the globe are praying together for an end to abortion this Christmas.

I look forward to continuing to pray this Christmas Novena with all of you!

You are all such a blessing to me and Annie!

God bless you,

John-Paul and Annie

St. Jude Election Novena

St Jude NovenaBelow is the Election Novena to St. Jude, but for the next election we will be praying this new Election Novena featuring more saints. Click here for the new Election Novena.

Many faithful people look at politics and the election process and they think to themselves, “What’s the point?! It’s a lost cause.”

I know I’ve felt this way before! But, at the same time, our faith calls us to prayer and action in the public square. So, who better to intercede on behalf of the election than St. Jude: Patron of Lost Causes!

Please join me in praying this special Election Novena to St. Jude. Sign up here to get the prayers delivered to your email inbox.

You can certainly pray for your personal intentions as well during this powerful novena.

We will be praying our regular St. Jude Novena with some small changes and with the addition of the following election prayer:

Election Prayer

O St. Jude, please bring these election prayers to the throne of God:

I ask for the eyes to see others as sons and daughters of God. I ask for help in forming my conscience according to the Gospel so that I may both vote and act for the common good.

Give me the courage to stand up for the weakest members of society. The poor, the weak, the unborn. Give me the courage to re-examine my political loyalties and to be first a faithful follower of Jesus before I follow.

Remind me that my only true hope is in Jesus and that political power can never replace the the will of God and the mission of the Church.

For my own vote, help me to cast it in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Help me to do it reverently and with a well formed conscience.

For these elections, Oh God, please bless us with the best leaders possible at all levels of government.

My vote is a small but important part of my Christian life. Help me to both vote and live by the Gospel putting my trust in Jesus alone.

St. Jude, Pray for us!

Catholic Election Resources

I put together some election resources for Faithful people looking to educate themselves.

The US Catholic Bishops put out this guide to Faithful Citizenship. Click here.

The US Bishops’ Bulletin insert for Faithful Citizenship. Click here.

CatholicVote.org Prayer Video

CatholicVote.org issues link. Here.

Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation

This is the Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation written by Fr. Frederick L. Miller, S.T.D., 2012.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to send these out through the email reminders because it conflicts with the  St. Therese Novena. But, you can come back to this page to pray each day!

You can also CLICK HERE to sign up to pray our next novena with more than 27,000 faithful people.

This novena will be accompanied by a novena of masses aired on EWTN. Be sure you tune in for those! Click here for more info on this devotion. It runs from September 29th – October 7th. It’s part of EWTN’s campaign for religious liberties and the election.

Now, before you start praying, feel free to scroll all-the-way to the bottom of this page and post your prayer intentions. (note: your name will be posted publicly, so you might want to just use your initials)

Day 1 – Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation

You are wholly beautiful, my beloved, and without a blemish. — Song of Songs 4:7

Prayer

We fly to your patronage,
O holy Mother of God;
Despise not our prayers in our necessities,
But ever deliver us from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Reflection

Since God creates an immortal soul through the conjugal union of man and woman, the conception of every human person is sacred. He loves every person into being — even when the conception is an act of lust or violence.

When the Virgin Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother, God created her immortal soul and filled her with his divine life. In the Immaculate Conception, God uniquely redeemed Mary by preserving her from Original Sin through the foreseen merits of Christ, the Savior. From the first moment of her life, Mary was wholly beautiful, full of grace (Lk. 1:28), without any trace of self-centeredness, any inclination to sin and with unparalleled freedom to love God and all other people. In her conception, God armed Mary to destroy the kingdom of Satan (Gen. 3:15). The charity of Christ filled Mary from the first moment of her existence — in the safety of her mother’s womb.

Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in these words: We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.

The good news of the Immaculate Conception is that there is more love in Mary’s sinless soul than there is evil in the world. In her Immaculate Conception, God empowered Mary to say yes freely to his plan of salvation in Christ and to help us, her sons and daughters, to say yes too.

Prayer

God, Almighty Father, at the moment of our conception you loved each of us into life. You loved Mary wondrously in her Immaculate Conception, preserving her from inheriting the sin of Adam through the foreseen merits of the Savior. You prepared Mary in her conception to be the Mother and partner of your Son and our loving mother. Give all people an ever deeper reverence for your presence and creative action in human conception. Help all to recognize the evil of abortion and contraception, and all sins which offend our Creator God. In Mary’s maternal embrace, may every American foster reverence for human life in our nation. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Day 2 – Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation

And Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I have no husband? — Luke 1:34 Read More →

2012 Novena for Marriage and Family

Birth of Blessed Virgin MarySeptember 8th is both the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and it is the day that I’m getting married!

As Annie and I are preparing for marriage, we would like to invite you to pray a novena with us. We would like to pray with you!

The intentions for this novena? Well, obviously we are going to pray for our marriage and family, but also we want to pray for marriages and families in general.

Will you pray this novena with us and for us?

The novena begins on Thursday, August 30th. There are about 21,000 people who will be joining in praying this novena and I hope you will join us in praying for holy marriages and families!

I will be posting the prayers very soon, but be sure that you sign up HERE so you get the novena prayers delivered to your inbox.

Please be sure to share this with anyone who might want to pray for marriage and family!

We will be praying the Novena for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary :)

St. Anne Novena – 2012, this is how I met my wife!

Novena to find a husband

This is me and my fiance Annie!

A little more than two years ago, I was single.

Little did I know… my future wife was praying a novena, asking God to help her meet her future husband (me). Annie, my fiance, was praying a very special and powerful novena. Now, two years later, we are engaged!

I would like to ask you to join me in the very same novena that Annie prayed more than two years ago. We will start praying on July 17th! This novena is to a Saint who is known for truly great things.

So, what is it? It’s the St. Anne Novena! (Sign up here!)

St. Anne is the mother of Our Lady and grandmother of Jesus. She is a very powerful intercessor!

You may have heard that unmarried women often pray to St. Anne for help in finding a spouse. But, St. Anne is also known to intercede for people for any request.

So, I hope you will join me in praying this novena for your prayer intentions!

I have one quick request. Please take a moment to think of any friends and family you have who might be interested in joining us in prayer. Mothers and Grandmothers especially! Click here for the Novena!

Now, let them know that they can sign up to join you, me and 18,256 other faithful people in praying this novena. All they have to do to sign up is click here and subscribe.

I’m excited to pray this very powerful novena with you.

2012 Pentecost Novena

Holy Spirit NovenaI know, I know… This is a little late. It’s already Day 5 of the Holy Spirit Novena for Pentecost. I’ve been sending the novena out to the PMN email list since Day 1 of the Pentecost Novena. As you may know, I focus more on the email list than the website.

So, if you’re not already on the email list, you’re missing out! Sign up here.

The Pentecost Novena is really the first novena ever! So, I am excited about this because we are going back to the origins of the novena devotion. Also, the Holy Spirit is THE most powerful advocate for us. So, please join us in prayer!

You can find the full Pentecost Novena to the Holy Spirit Here.

Novena for Religious Freedom – 2012

Novena for Religious FreedomWith threats to the freedom of the Church cropping up in the US and around the world, I’ve decided to make our next novena a prayer for religious freedom.

Please help me reach more people to pray for these grave matters!

—> Click here to invite your friends to pray with us by email!

—> Click here to share it on Facebook!

—> Click here to get a sample blog post for your website!

Thank you for helping me spread the word and bring people together to pray for our freedom to worship!

84,000 Novenas for Pope Benedict’s 84th Birthday

[This Novena Starts April 8th, Don’t forget to pray each day *Click here to get Pope novena reminders by Email! * — No spam, just prayers…]

Will you join me in saying ‘Thank You!’ to our Holy Father in a special way on his birthday?

A Papal Prayer Present

Pope Benedict XVI Novena
We are going to give ‘Il Papa’ a HUGE birthday present!

Pope Benedict XVI’s birthday is coming up on April 16th. He’s turning 84 years old and I’m sure he can use all the prayers he can get while shepherding the Universal Church!

We are going to give the Pope the gift of prayer. We are going to lift him up in prayer for nine days straight. That’s right, we’re going to pray a birthday novena for the Pope. Read More →

Christmas Novena

Madonna and ChildThis Christmas Novena starts on December 16th. Don’t forget to pray each day – *Click here to get novena reminders by Email! * – No spam, just prayers…

Prayers to be used during the Novena of Christmas, or at any other time.

Opening Prayer:
———————-
V. O God, come to my assistance.
R. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father…

Our Father…

———————-
Day 1

The Incarnation.

O most sweet infant Jesus, who descended from
the bosom of the eternal Father into the womb of the
Virgin Mary, where, conceived by the Holy Ghost, you
took upon yourself, O Incarnate Word, the form of a
servant for our salvation. Have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us, O Lord. Have mercy on us.

Hail Mary…
———————-

Day 2

The Visitation.

O most sweet infant Jesus, who by means of your
Virgin Mother, visited St. Elizabeth, and filled your
servant, St. John the Baptist, with the Holy Spirit,
sanctifying  him from his mother’s womb.
Have mercy on us. Read More →