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.


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