Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Novena to St. Jude - Day Nine

O Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and Marytr, grant that we may so dispose our lives that we may always be pleasing to God. In working out our salvation in this vale of tears we have many needs and necessities. Today we turn to thee, asking you to intercede for us and obtain for us the favors we ask of God. Especially do we petition for [here mention your intentions].

May we not so much seek temporal good but rather what will avail our souls, knowing that it profiteth us nothing if we gain the whole world yet suffer the loss of our soul.

Therefore, may we incline ourselves towards the Divine Will, seeing God's grood and gracious purpose in all our trials.

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.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

St. Jude Novena - Day Eight

O Saint Jude, Apostle of Christ, pray that we may ever imitate the Divine Master and live according to His Will. May we cooperate with the grace of God and ever remain pleasing in His sight. Especially do we ask you to plead for us and obtain whatsoever is necessary for our salvation. Forget not our special petitions [here mention your intentions]. May we always be thankful to God for the blessings we have received in the past. Whatsoever we ask for the present or future, we submit to the Divine Will, realizing that God knows best what is good for us. We know He will respond to our prayers and petitions in some way or other.

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.

Monday, September 22, 2008

St. Jude Novena - Day Seven

O Holy Apostle Saint Jude, in whose honor we are gathered today, may we never forget that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ chose you to be one of His twelve Apostles. On this account and on account of the martyrdom you suffered for the Faith, we know you are a close friend of Almighty God. Therefore we do not hesitate to petition you in our necessities, especially [here mention your intentions]. We humbly submit ourselves to the Will of God, knowing full well that no sincere prayer is ever left unanswered. May we see God's good and gracious purpose working in all our trials.

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.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

St. Jude Novena - Day Six

Saint Jude, Apostle of Christ, and helper in despairing cases, hear the prayers and petitions of those who are gathered together in thy honor. In all our needs and desires may we only seek what is pleasing to God and what is best for our salvation. These, our petitions [here mention your intentions] we submit to thee, asking you to obtain them for us, if they are for the good of our souls. We are resigned to God's Holy Will in all things, knowing that He will leave no sincere prayer unanswered in some way, though it may be a way unexpected by us.

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.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Speaking of Unemployment

As we've been praying for people who are unemployed, and other economic problems, I came across the following article, Prayers and Tips for the Unemployed, posted by my friend Esther. Lots of great ideas.

St. Jude Novena - Day Five

O Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and companion of Jesus Christ, who has shown us by example how to lead a life of zeal and devotion, we humbly entreat thee today to hear our prayers and petitions. Especially do we ask you to obtain for us the following favors [here mention your intentions]. Grant that in praying for present and future favors, we may not forget the innumerable ones showered upon us in the past but often return to give thanks. Humbly we resign ourselves to God's Holy Will, knowing that He alone knows what is best for us in our needs and our necessities.

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.

Friday, September 19, 2008

St. Jude Novena - Day Four

Saint Jude who was called to be one of Christ's chosen Apostles and who labored to bring men to a knowledge and love of God, listen with compassion to those gathered together to honor thee and ask thy intercession. In this troubled world of ours we have many trials, difficulties and temptations. Plead for us in the Heavenly Court, asking especially that our petitions may be answered, especially the particular one we have in mind at this moment [here mention your intentions]. May it please God to answer our prayers in the way that He knows best, giving us grace to see His purpose in everything.

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.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

St. Jude Novena - Day Three

O Saint Jude, Apostle of Jesus Christ, thou who has so faithfully and devotedly helped to spread His Gospel of Light, we who are gathered together today in thy honor, ask and petition thee to remember us and our needs. Especially do we pray for [here mention your intentions]. May it also please our Lord to lend an ear to your supplications in our behalf. Grant that we may ever pray with fervor and devotion, resigning ourselves humbly to the Divine Will, seeing God's purpose in all our trials and knowing that He will leave no sincere prayer unanswered in some way.

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.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

St. Jude Novena - Day Two

O Blessed Apostle Saint Jude, who has been instrumental in gathering us here together today, grant that we may always serve Jesus Christ as He deserves to be served, giving of our best efforts in living as He wishes us to live. May we so dispose our hearts and minds that God will always be inclined to listen to our prayers and petitions, especially those petitions which we entrust to thy care and for which we ask you to plead for us [here mention your intentions].

Grant that we may be enlightened as to what is best for us, in the present and future, not forgetting the Blessings we have received in the past.

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.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Prayers to St. Jude for the Economy

Just for the record: I do NOT think the nation is on the brink of another great depression. Let me repeat that in a positive way: Personally, I think that we, as a nation, will pull through the present economic crises.

However, for people who have lost their homes, for people who have lost or are in danger of losing their jobs, for young people (and old) who are struggling to find jobs, the crisis is very real. So let us pray for our own families and for all those who are in financial need of any kind.

In case anyone would like to join me again in praying the Novena to St. Jude, I am going to include it here again. Interestingly, it was five months ago that I posted it, but people have continued to leave comments, thanking St. Jude for favors. Sometimes someone asks us to include them in our St. Jude novena, not realizing, I think, that the post they have found is from the past...So then I start thinking, hmm, maybe I should be saying a perpetual St. Jude novena with, and for, all these people.

So today I have restructured my sidebar so that you can more quickly get to the Scripture and Prayers link, from which you can easily get to the St. Jude Novena link.

But, once again...

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.