Pray More Novenas Blog

During the Last Supper, Christ promised his apostles an “Advocate” given by the Father that will remain with them always. 

The third person of the Trinity–the Holy Spirit–is the promised advocate who comes to us though many of us don’t give the Holy Spirit the attention He deserves. As Catholics, we believe that no one can come to Father except through the Son, and no one can know the Son except through the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation pours out special gifts and produces spiritual fruits that guide the faithful to deeper understanding and love of God.  

The Fruits vs. the Gifts of the Spirit

The phrases “Fruit of the Spirit” and “Gifts of the Spirit” are often used interchangeably although they are not the same. They are distinct endowments on us by the Holy Spirit and highlight the generosity of God with those who seek to live in His friendship. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Fruit of the Spirit as “…perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory” (1832). If we live a life of the Spirit–a life in Christ– these virtues will be found.

Church Tradition lists twelve fruits: 

• Charity
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Generosity
• Gentleness
• Faithfulness
• Modesty
• Self-control
• Chastity

On the other hand, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the faithful through Baptism and strengthened through Confirmation. 

They are: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, these gifts provide supernatural help to man in order to perfect the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. They, in turn, further produce the fruits of the Spirit.

The Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit form a “spiritual arsenal” of sorts that enable you to live a profoundly Christian life. 

Come Holy Spirit

Prayer and these endowments of the Holy Spirit go hand-in-hand. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “We pray the way we live, and we live the way we pray.” These graces are freely given by God, and our only response as creatures unworthy for such a gift is prayer; at the same time, prayer will allow these graces to take root in our hearts and flourish. 

If we want to live a life in the Spirit of the Lord and allow Him to bear fruit in our lives, prayer is non-negotiable. 

Turn to the Holy Spirit in your prayer; open your time of prayer with the phrase “Come Holy Spirit.” 

If there is a particular gift or fruit you desire to grow in your life, ask Him to soften your heart and make it fertile to fully receive these graces. 

Prayer was a crucial part of the disciples’ preparation before Pentecost; The very first (unofficial) novena took place in the days leading up to it. So what better way to aid you in your prayer than a novena. 

Pray More Novenas offers three Novenas specifically for an openness to the fruit and gifts of the Spirit. These novenas can be said at any time. 

Holy Spirit Novena

St John Paul II’s Novena for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Novena for Confirmation

The Church considers the Rosary one of the most powerful forms of prayer after the Mass. 

Through it, the faithful meditate on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and invite the intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary who can lead us closer to her Son. 

Countless saints have spoken on the importance of the Rosary, but a few saints stand out in their devotion to this prayer: 

St. Dominic

Saint Dominic established the Dominican Order because he saw a need for a group of religious people dedicated to teaching in order to combat the heresies rampant at the time. 

Dominic is often credited as being the first propagator of the Rosary after, as legend holds, the Blessed Mother appeared to him with instructions on how to pray it. 

St. Louis de Montfort

French priest, Saint Louis de Monfort has become almost synonymous with devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. 

His writing on the Rosary and on consecrating oneself to Jesus through Mary has helped to shape the faithful’s understanding of Mary’s role in our lives and in the Church. 

St. Padre Pio

Italian Capuchin priest and mystic, St. Padre Pio is one of the most well-known saints of modern times. He engaged often in spiritual warfare, sometimes even being physically attacked by demons. 

Padre Pio prayed the rosary everyday, which strengthened him against the attacks of the evil one. He even describes the Rosary as a “…weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”

St. Francis de Sales

St. Francis de Sales was a Bishop of Geneva and is now considered a Doctor of the Church. His book Introduction to the Devout Life is part of the Church’s treasury and a well-read spiritual classic. 

De Sales had a great devotion to Our Lady and helped establish the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary or the Salesian Sisters. He advised the sisters to say the Rosary “…every day with as much love as possible.”

Pope St. Pius X

Pope St. Pius X had an incredible devotion to Mary and even dedicated an entire encyclical on the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception. He spoke often about the need to pray the Rosary and especially encouraged families to pray it daily. 

Pope Pius X implored the laity: “If you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary” and “If there were one million families praying the Rosary every day, the entire world would be saved.”

St. Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and known for her great love and service for the poor and sick, prayed the Rosary constantly. 

She instructed her sisters: “Never go to the slums without first having recited the Mother’s praises; that is why we have to say the Rosary in the streets and in the dark holes of the slums. Cling to the Rosary as the creeper clings to the tree—for without Our Lady we cannot stand.” 

Pope St. John Paul II

One of the most well-known and beloved popes in Church History, Pope St. John Paul II’s papal motto was “Totus Tuus,” a phrase borrowed from St. Louis de Montfort. This phrase summed up his sincere belief that in giving himself totally to Mary, he could give himself totally to Jesus. 

He spoke about the Rosary often in both his writing and his preaching, and even added the Luminous Mysteries to the meditations of the Rosary. 

Some saints have been deemed worthy to share in the suffering of Christ in a very real and unique way through the Stigmata.

The Stigmata is a divine gift that gives a person physical marks that parallel the wounds Christ received during Crucifixion.

These holy men and women experienced some of the pain Jesus underwent for our salvation: 

Saint Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi received the Stigmata on Sept. 17, 1224, a date that is still celebrated as a Franciscan feast. 

At the time, Francis had spent many weeks in prolonged contemplation of Christ’s suffering on the cross. While praying Francis had a vision of a seraph, containing the form of a man crucified, which bestowed on him the five wounds of Christ–becoming the first recorded stigmatic. 

Saint Padre Pio

St. Pio de Pietrelcina had a vision of the crucified Christ from whom he received the stigmata–the only priest to have received such a gift.

During the apparition, Christ lamented the ingratitude of men, particularly consecrated persons, and invited the Capuchin friar to unite himself to the Passion and offer his suffering.

After the vision, Padre Pio had open wounds on his hands, feet, and sides that he attempted to keep hidden. However, in obedience to his superiors, he gave his testimony and allowed for a photo of him with the stigmata to be taken as it seemed the Lord intended Pio to serve as a sign for the whole Church. 

Saint Catherine of Siena

14th Century Dominican tertiary and Doctor of the Church Saint Catherine of Siena first received visible wounds on her after receiving Communion. 

After receiving the Eucharist, Catherine went into her usual ecstasy and had a vision of Christ Crucified coming toward her in a great light. Her body rose to meet him and the five rays of blood coming from His wounds toward her hands, feet, and heart. 

Catherine asked for the Lord to hide her stigmata from others and He granted her request–allowing her alone to see and feel the wounds. In this way did she suffer with Christ interiorly and intimately until her death. 

Saint Rita of Cascia

St.Rita of Cascia was a wife and mother who joined the Augustinians after the deaths of her husband and sons. 

St. Rita spent many hours meditating on the Passion and prayed that God would allow her to participate in the sufferings of the Cross. She received a partial stigmata–a wound on her head caused by a Thorn from the Crown that pierced Christ’s head.

Unlike other stigmatics, who’s wounds seemed to exude a heavenly fragrance, the wounds of Saint Rita had a rotten smell, causing people to stay away from her. 

Saint Gemma Galgani

Italian saint Gemma Galgani received a vision of the Blessed Mother and Jesus with his open wounds on the vigil of Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. 

Mary wrapped Gemma in her mantle and supported her as fire came forth from the wounds of Christ and touched her.

Gemma woke from the vision with open wounds matching Christ’s on her hand, feet, and heart. She kept the wounds covered. 

The stigmata appeared on Gemma every Thursday and disappeared at 3:00 on Friday afternoon until she died. After her death, faint marks of the wounds she suffered remained. 

St. Margaret of Cortona

Italian Penitent and Lay Franciscan St. Margaret of Cortona lived a life of penance and devotion after turning from a life of sin. She dedicated herself to serving the poor and sick, often going without food or clothing so she could give to the poor. 

Margaret also had many mystical experiences that helped her understand God’s love and the importance of compassion, including the wounds of Christ on her hands, feet, and side. 

St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle…

Saint Michael, although venerated as a saint, isn’t really a saint; he is an angel. Not only that, but he is honored as the leader of the heavenly hosts and given the title of “Archangel” alongside Sts. Gabriel and Raphael. 

The little we know of St. Michael comes from Scriptures, where he is mentioned by name four times: twice in the book of Daniel where he is described as a “great prince” and God’s helper who will stand for the children of God; once in the epistle of St. Jude which alludes to an ancient Jewish tradition of a dispute between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses, and once in the Book of Revelation which speaks of his casting the dragon out of heaven. 

There are also a few passages which many scholars believe reference St. Michael but do not use his name—for example, in the Book of Joshua when a sword-wielding angel appears to Joshua before the fall of Jericho identifying himself as commander of the army of the Lord.

From these passages, Christian tradition assigns four roles to St. Michael: 

1. He fights against Satan
2. He rescues faithful souls from the power of the enemy, particularly at the hour of their death
3. He is the champion of God’s people and the patron of the Church
4. He is present at every deathbed to escorts the souls to the judgment

Although the devotion to St. Michael is ancient, the prayer of St. Michael is actually fairly new in Church history. Pope Leo XIII wrote the prayer after having a mystical experience during mass and had it included in the 1886 “Prayers After Mass,” requiring it to be prayed after all Low Masses in the Latin rite. 

The exact details of the vision aren’t known for certain and a few versions of the event have circulated during its retelling. Some say he collapsed, while others said he stood looking fearful at an unseen terror.

Some stories say that he overheard a conversation between God and Satan, in which Satan boasted that he could destroy the Church in 75-100 years and God gave him permission to try. 

The version with the most evidence is written about in Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael by Kevin Symonds says that the Pope saw a vision of “…the ages to come, the seductive powers and ravings of the devils against the Church in every land. But St. Michael appeared in the moment of greatest distress and cast Satan and his cohorts back into the abyss of hell.”

Whatever the true story behind the prayer is, the heart of it remains the same: God granted St. Michael the power to protect the Church from the forces that seek to destroy her, and that we should look to him as our protector. 

Pray the novena to Saint Michael the Archangel and ask for his intercession and protection for both your soul and for the whole Church. Although St. Michael’s feast day is celebrated on September 29 (a feast also known as Michaelmas), you can pray this novena at any time.