A Novena for Consecrated Life and Priesthood through the Intercession of Pope John Paul II
created for www.seekholiness.com in 2005
St. John Damascene defined prayer as “the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God(Catechism, 2559).” We are encouraged to be people of prayer, people who converse with God. While He knows our desires before we ask, He still has great concern for us and encourages us to state our needs. One prayer form that has developed by the faithful of the Church over the centuries is the novena.
The Church views a period of eights days, the octave, as a period of celebration, a time to rejoice. The Church sees nine days as a time to “of hopeful mourning, of yearning, of prayer(Catholic Encyclopedia, Novena).” A novena is a prayer that has developed over the centuries to ask God for special assistance, ultimately for grace.
This is a new novena. Pope John Paul II started his pontificate by stating “Do not be afraid!” He preached to the youth of the Church and the world to seek holiness. He told them to listen to God call out to them, to accept God’s grace. He encouraged us to rise above our humanity and accept and live in divinity.
It is the hope that all who pray this novena have as their intention an increase in consecrated life and priesthood.
Day One
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
from the XXXII World Day of Prayer for Vocations
It is in following Jesus that youth display all the riches of it potentiality and acquires its full meaning. It is in following Jesus that the young discover the sense of a life lived as a gift of self, and experience the beauty and truth of growing in love. It is in following Jesus that they feel themselves called to communion with Him as living members of a single body, which is the Church. It is in following Jesus that it will be possible for them to understand the personal call to love: in matrimony, in the consecrated life, in the ordained ministry, in the mission ad gentes. That dialogue shows however that Jesus’ care and tenderness can remain unanswered. And it is sad in the inheritance of life choices which distance us from Him. How many motives, even today, hold adolescents and young people from living the truth of their age in generous adherence to Christ. How many still do not know of whom to ask that question the “rich young man” put to Jesus! How many people’s young days are at risk of losing out on an authentic growth!
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
Pause for a moment to ask for Pope John Paul’s intercession.
Please pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be.
Prayer
O Mother of Jesus,
in your free and joyful “yes”
and in your active faith so many generations
have found inspiration and strength
for welcoming the Word of God
and for fulfilling His will.
O Teacher of life,
teach young people to pronounce “yes”
that gives meaning to existence
and brings them to discover the hidden “name” of God
in the heart of every person. Amen.
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
Pause for a moment to ask for Pope John Paul’s intercession.
Please pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be.
Prayer
O Mother of Jesus,
in your free and joyful “yes”
and in your active faith so many generations
have found inspiration and strength
for welcoming the Word of God
and for fulfilling His will.
O Teacher of life,
teach young people to pronounce “yes”
that gives meaning to existence
and brings them to discover the hidden “name” of God
in the heart of every person. Amen.
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