N: Novenas…more than you ask or imagine

 

Not sure what a Novena is? Neither was I before becoming Catholic. A novena is a devotion consisting of prayers (or services) for nine consecutive days. You can pray novenas asking for the intercession from particular saints; you can pray novenas to get you spiritually prepared for a ‘feast day’ in the Church. As you pray for each day, you should have a specific intention in mind.

I mentioned in the post earlier (M: Marriage….) that in the middle of May, I was participating in the Novena to the Holy Spirit, when God really started convicting me about my lack of belief. In fact, I was suffering so much from lack of belief that I didn’t have an intention in mind for the Novena because I wasn’t convinced that God would answer (or care).

This past Thursday, I concluded a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (This is a really Catholic post.)   This is a particularly long novena; with an opportunity to focus on (at least) 3 different intentions throughout the prayer. As part of my new commitment to daily, early morning fellowship with Christ, I also want to be much more intentional and purposeful in praying for others – especially Dan.

Dan plans to pursue his PhD through the U of A (one of the big reasons we decided to buy a house). I had very specific intentions that I was praying for Dan’s acceptance. On Tuesday, Day 7 of the Novena, Dan received a call from a senior faculty member inviting him to serve as a Livestock Consultant on an international project in Qatar.

As soon as Dan told me about this project, I could recognize that this opportunity was truly a gift from God. It was an amazing answer to my prayer – and a far better (and BIGGER) answer than I was even asking for. It is incredibly humbling – an immense blessing, and such motivation to me, to continue to be on my knees for my husband. It’s really great to be able to share in his blessing…when he is blessed, so am I. (Isn’t that a change in my heart?!)

So – I decided to pray another novena while he is gone to St. Isidore. If you would like to pray with me, the details are here: St. Isidore Novena.

If you are interested in praying novenas, I am part of this group: Praying More Novenas. It is headed by a husband and wife who simply wanted to grow in the discipline of praying novenas. Every month (or so), they choose a novena. During the novena, they send an email with the prayer for each day. It’s a great way to actually complete the novena.