St. Jude Novena

St. Jude was one of the apostles and a cousin of Jesus. People often pray to him for "impossible" or difficult situations. If you have a situation like this, perhaps you'd like to join in this novena to St. Jude with me. You can leave a request in the comment box if you'd like (you don't have to say what your request is; you can simply say you'd like to be included). Whether you leave a comment or not, I will include the needs of anyone who reads my blog...and if you say the prayers, I would be thrilled if you would include my requests in your intentions, as well.

I am taking this novena from a book called The Catholic Family Book of Novenas, copyright 1956 by John J. Crawley & Co. with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. (For you who are non-Catholics, those two Latin names grant permission to publish and assurance that the prayes are approved by the Catholic Church. And a "novena" is a prayer repeated for a specified period of time, often for nine days. The repetition shows perseverance as in the parable, where Jesus said that if someone keeps knocing on the door, the master of the house will let him in just because he keeps knocking).

I am posting these prayers in good faith, assuming that the 1956 copyright has expired. If I find out that the copyright was renewed, I will remove this from my blog.

NOVENA TO ST. JUDE

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER:
Glorious Saint Jude, by those sublime prerogatives wherewith thou wast enobled in thy lifetime namely, Thy kinship with Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh and thy vocation to be an apostle, by that glory which now is thine in heaven as the reward of thy apostolic labor and thy martyrdom, obtain from me from the Giver of every good gift and every perfect gift all the graces whereof I stand in need, especially [Here mention your request.], in order to treasure up in my heart the divinely inspired doctrines which thou has transmitted to us in Thy epistle, that is to say, to build our edifice of perfection upon our most holy faith, praying by the grace of the Holy Spirit to keep ourselves in the love of God by all means, to help them that go astray, exulting thus the glory and majesty, the dominion and power of Him Who is able to keep us without sin, and to present us spotless, with exceeding joy, at the coming of our Divine Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

FIRST DAY:
O Blessed Apostle Saint Jude, who labored so zealously for the conversion of the Gentiles in many lands, and performed numerous miracles in needful and despairing cases, we invoke thee to take a special interest in us and in our needs. We feel that you understand us in a particular way. Hear our prayer and our petitions and plead for us in all our necessities especially [here mention your intentions.]. May we be patient in finding out God's Holy Will and courageous in carrying it out.

Saint Jude, pray for us!
My Jesus, mercy.

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You can find the prayers for all nine days of the St. Jude Novena by visiting the Scriptures and Prayers page.