How to say a novena

The word novena is Latin for nine. A novena is a prayer or good work which is said for nine days in a row. There are also various kinds of emergency novenas e.g. The Mother Teresa Emergency Novena. In an emergency say the Memorare prayer nine times in a row. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said this novena whenever she needed a favour. Sometimes it brought about fast dramatic results.

The Eight Hour Novena to The Holy Infant Jesus of Prague is said at approximately the same time every hour until the novena is finished. (The prayer is said nine times during the eight hours.)

Information on the history of the devotion of the Nine Tuesdays Novena in honour of Saint Anthony is located at:

http://missionbell.homestead.com/anthonycustoms.html

The 54 Day Rosary Novena: In this novena the Rosary is said for 54 consecutive days  i.e. 3 novenas in petition (27 days) and 3 novenas in thanksgiving (27 days). The 54 day Rosary Novena was revealed by Our Lady herself.

All of these novenas receive marvelous results. If you choose any of them, please also pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and help them, and ask them to obtain the favours that you need. Saint Catherine of Bologna assured her sisters that: she obtained many favours by the prayers of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, which she had asked for in vain, through the intercession of the saints. Saint Theresa affirms that she always obtained the favours which she asked from God, through the intercession of the Poor Souls.

The following link has accounts of favours granted through the intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors and ways in which we can help the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

http://missionbell.homestead.com/Afavourgrantedbytheholysouls.html

It is important when making a novena to be in a state of grace, to have faith that God will help you, and to persevere in the prayer. It is recommended that you give a donation to a charitable organisation: such as the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.

The Memorare
Remember O most loving Virgin Mary that never was it known in any age that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession was left unaided, inspired by this confidence, therefore I fly to thee O Virgin of Virgins my Mother, to you do I come, before you I stand sinful and sorrowful, do not O Mother of the Word Incarnate despise my prayers but in thy mercy graciously hear and answer them.  Amen.

This article comes from my book: Help from Heaven (Answers to prayers), which can be read free on-line by pressing here.

The Medal of St Benedict

The Saint Benedict medal is one of the most famous medals in the church. It commemorates Saint Benedict working miracles through The Sign of the Cross. The blessing formula for the medal has a special exorcism blessing against all things coming from the devil and the evil spirits. It also has a special blessing for the sick.

The undesirable tenants  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

Jill lived next door to a rental house.  Three successive groups of tenants lived in the house. The tenants in each of the three groups were drug addicts. They usually slept all day and stayed up all night disturbing the neighbours with their noisy rowdy parties. The third group of tenants skipped through without paying the rent. Jill’s mother then placed a blessed Saint Benedict medal in the foundation of the rental house, after that much quieter tenants moved in.

The noisy neighbours  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

In a similar incident to the previous one, Kim placed a Saint Benedict Medal in the foundations of a rental house across the road from her own home.  The tenants in this house used to blast the neighbourhood with unbearably loud music.  After the Saint Benedict Medal was placed in the foundations, the tenants moved out and quiet peaceful tenants moved into the house.

A noisy blast at the supermarket  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

Every Friday night my husband and I went to the supermarket to buy our weekly groceries. The supermarket played on the loudspeaker a heavy metal rock radio station.  This caused me to develop headaches during the shopping excursions.  After many weeks of this I came up with the idea of placing a tiny blessed Saint Benedict medal behind the cans of food.  The next Friday when we went to the supermarket to shop, the supermarket staff had changed the radio station to a much more pleasant music channel.

Trouble in the park  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

A friend of our family lived near a park.  For many years hoodlums gathered in the park at night.  All kinds of unacceptable behaviour took place.  The police were called repeatedly over a number of years.  They were never successful in improving the situation. Finally our friend placed a blessed Saint Benedict medal under one of the park benches.  From that day on the hoodlums never returned.

Stress in the workplace  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

Gail’s father works as a policeman.  He was under constant stress because of trouble that he was having with a senior police officer.  The senior police officer was very argumentative and troublesome. The problem had been ongoing for about a year.  Gail gave her father a blessed Saint Benedict medal and said a prayer for him, starting from the very next day the senior police officer was much easier to get along with.

Protection of a house from fire  (Saint Benedict)

While Melanie was working at the back of her house doing the laundry, she said a prayer to Saint Benedict asking him to protect her home.  Ten minutes later there was a knock at the front door.  It was a man who alerted her to a fire in her front yard which had been started by someone throwing away lit cigarettes. The fire had already started to spread.  There was no tap in that area, so Melanie ran back into the house to get a bucket of water, by the time she got back a passerby had put out the fire with his work boots, without his help the fire could had caused considerable damage.

The feast day of Saint Benedict is celebrated on July 11.

From my book:  Help from heaven (Answers to prayer) which can be read free on-line here.