Christmas Novena

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The novena starts on December 16th?

I’ve just bookmarked this. Thanks for posting it.

Aparently. May Catholic Culture had it on Sunday from another year.

Puzzlement here.

Aparently. Maybe Catholic Culture had it on Sunday from another year.

Puzzlement here.

Got it bookmarked, that is okay. Just was wondering.

welcome

Christmas Novena - December 16 - 24

A Christmas novena is usually prayed, starting nine days before Christmas. The following novena was composed by an Italian priest, Rev. Charles Vachetta, C.M., in 1721. Most of the material comes from the Old Testament prophecies and the Psalms referring to the promised Redeemer.

The novena consists of Opening Responsory Prayers, Psalm (Let the Heavens Be Glad), Scripture Reading, Magnificat with Daily Antiphon and Closing Prayer.

This novena is prayed in conjunction with the O Antiphons, and if you are using an O Antiphon House or Tower, you would open the windows during this prayer.

Opening Prayers:

Father: O Lord, open my lips.
All: And my mouth shall proclaim Your praise.

Father: O God, come to my assistance.
All: O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia.

Father: Our Lord and King is drawing near, O come, let us adore Him.
All: Our Lord and King is drawing near, O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: Rejoice, O you daughter of Sion and exult fully, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, the Lord and Master comes, and there shall be a brilliant light in that day, and the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and hills flow with milk and honey, for in that day the Great Prophet will come, and He Himself will renew Jerusalem.
All: Our Lord and King is drawing near, O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: Behold, the God-man of the house of David will come to sit upon the royal throne, and you will see Him and your heart will rejoice.
All: O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: Behold, the Lord our Protector will come to save us, Israel's holy One, wearing the crown of royalty on His noble brow and He will exercise His rule from sea to shining sea, and from the waters of the river to the ends of the earth.
All: O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: Behold, the Lord and King will appear, and He will not deceive; but if He should delay, wait for Him to come; He will surely come and will not tarry.
All: O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: The Lord will come down like rain upon the fleece of Gideon; justice will thrive and an abundance of true peace; all the kings of the lands of the earth will adore Him, and every nation will serve Him.
All: O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: A Child will be born to us, and He will be called God the almighty; He will sit upon the royal throne of David His father, and He will hold sway, the sign of His power on His shoulder.
All: O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: Bethlehem, city of the Most High God, from you will come forth the King of Israel, and He will proceed forth from His eternity; and He will be greatly praised in the midst of the entire universe; and there will be peace in our land when He will have come.
All: Our Lord and King is drawing near, O come, let us adore Him.

(On the Eve of Christmas add:)

Eldest Child: Tomorrow the wickedness of the whole world will be destroyed, and over us will reign the Savior of the world. All: Our Lord and King is drawing near, O come, let us adore Him.

Eldest Child: Near at last is Christ our King. All: O come, let us adore Him.

Let the Heavens Be Glad

All:Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, for the day of the Lord is nigh: behold, He will come to save us, alleluia, alleluia!

The following prayer can be said all together, or each phrase recited alternately.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice. O all you mountains, praise the Lord.

Let the mountains break forth into gladness, and the hills with justice.

For the Lord shall come and to the poor He shall show mercy.

Drop down dew, you heavens, from above and let the clouds rain the Just One;

Let the earth be opened and bud forth the Savior.

Be mindful of us, O Lord, and visit us in Your salvation.

Show to us, O Lord, Your mercy, and grant us your salvation.

Come, O Lord, in peace visit us that with a perfect heart we may rejoice before You.

Come, O Lord, do not tarry; do away with the offenses of Your people.

Come and show to us Your countenance, O Lord. You sit upon the cherubim.

Father: Glory to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit. All: As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

All: Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, for the day of the Lord is nigh: behold, He will come to save us, alleluia, alleluia!

Scripture Reading for Day One

December 16: Genesis 3:1-15; Romans 1:18-26

Daily Antiphons for the Magnificat

16. Behold, the King will come, the Lord of the earth, and He will remove from us the yoke of our captivity.

Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed; the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation.

He has shown the strength of His arm, He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, And has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.

He come to the help of his servant Israel for He has remembered His promise of mercy, the promise He made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. (All: Repeat the Antiphon for the Day)

Closing Prayer:

Father: O Lord, hear my prayer. All: And let my cry come to You.

Father: Let us pray: Hasten, we beseech You, O Lord; do not delay; grant us the help of supernatural virtue, so that Your coming will be a consolation to those who hope in Your mercy. You who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God world without end. All: Amen.

Father: Let us bless the Lord. All: And give Him thanks.

Father: May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. All: Amen.

Today is Day One of the Christmas Novena

The Christmas Novena starts today!

Day One -- December 16

God's Love Revealed In His Becoming Man.

Thought:
Because our first parent Adam had rebelled against God, he was driven out of paradise and brought on himself and all his descendants the punishment of eternal death. But the son of God, seeing man thus lost and wishing to save him from death, offered to take upon Himself our human nature and to suffer death Himself, condemned as a criminal on a cross. "But, My Son," we may imagine the eternal Father saying to Him, "think of what a life of humiliations and sufferings Thou wilt have to lead on earth. Thou wilt have to be born in a cold stable and laid in a manger, the feeding trough of beasts.
While still an infant, Thou wilt have to flee into Egypt, to escape the hands of Herod. After Thy return from Egypt, Thou wilt have to live and work in a shop as a lowly servant, poor and despised. And finally, worn out with sufferings, Thou wilt have to give up Thy life on a cross, put to shame and abandoned by everyone." "Father," replies the Son, "all this matters not. I will gladly bear it all, if only I can save man."

What should we say if a prince, out of compassion for a dead worm, were to choose to become a worm himself and give his own life blood in order to restore the worm to life? But the eternal Word has done infinitely more than this for us. Though He is the sovereign Lord of the world, He chose to become like us, who are immeasurably more beneath Him than a worm is beneath a prince, and He was willing to die for us, in order to win back for us the life of divine grace that we had lost by sin.
When He saw that all the other gifts which He had bestowed on us were not sufficient to induce us to pray His love with love, He became man Himself and gave Himself all to us. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us;" "He loved us anddelivered Himself up for us."

Prayer:
O Great Son of God, Thou hast become man in order to make Thyself loved by men. But where is the love that men give Thee in return?
Thou hast given Thy life blood to save our souls. Why then are we so unappreciative that, instead of repaying Thee with love, we spurn Thee with ingratitude? And I, Lord, I myself more than others have thus ill treated Thee.
But Thy Passion is my hope. For the sake of that love which led Thee to take upon Thyself human nature and to die for me on the cross, forgive me all the offenses I have committed against Thee.

I love Thee, O Word Incarnate; I love Thee, O infinite goodness. Out of love for Thee, that I could die of grief for these offenses. Give me, O Jesus, Thy love. Let me no longer live in ungrateful forgetfulness of the love Thou bearest me. I
wish to love Thee always. Grant that I may always preserve in this holy desire.

O Mary, Mother of God and my Mother, pray for me that thy Son may give me the grace to love Him always, unto death.
Amen.

What? What’s the Christmas Novena? Does this mean we go to mass every day until Christmas and pray this?

Sorry for my ignorance, you know I’m a total newbie Catholic. They didn’t mention specific novenas in my catechesis; the priest was too busy discussing what Irenaeus said vs. what Cyprian said vs. what they said in some Latin thing that was slightly different in its suffix from something else in Latin that sounded EXACTLY the same but altered its meaning altogether, Heraclitus, Hermonidas, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, etc. We never got to novenas.

No, it just means that you can pray it from this Friday through Christmas. And fulfill the conditions of going to Confession and receiving Communion within that time.

I’m going to post the family prayers each day too. Might be nice to do with children in preparation for Christmas.

(No Christmas music yet.....)

Day Two -- December 17

God's Love Revealed In His Being Born An Infant.

Thought:
When the Son of God became man for our sake, He could have come on earth as an adult man from the first moment of of His human existence, as Adam did when he was created. But since the sight of little children draws us with an especial attraction to love them, Jesus chose to make His first appearance on earth as a little infant, and indeed as the poorest and most pitiful infant that was ever born. "God wished to be born as a little babe," wrote Saint Peter Chrysologus, "in order that He might teach us to love and not to fear Him." The prophet Isaias had long before foretold that the Son of God was to be born as an infant and thus give Himself to us on account of the love He bore us: "A child is born to us, a son is given to us."

My Jesus, supreme and true God! What has drawn Thee from heaven to be born in a cold stable, if not the love which Thou bearest us men? What has allured Thee from the bosom of Thy Father, to place Thee in a hard manger? What has brought Thee from Thy throne above the stars, to lay Thee down on a little straw? What has led Thee from the midst of the nine choirs of angels, to set Thee between two animals? Thou, who inflamest the seraphim with holy fire, art now shivering with cold in this stable! Thou, who settest the stars in the sky in motion, canst not now move unless others carry Thee in their arms! Thou, who givest men and beasts their food, has need now a little milk to sustain Thy life! Thou, who art the joy of heaven, dost now whimper and cry in suffering! Tell me, who has reduced Thee to such misery? "Love has done it," says Saint Bernard. The love which Thou bearest us men has brought all this on Thee.

Prayer:
O Dearest Infant! Tell me, what hast Thou come on earth to do? Tell me, whom art Thou seeking? Yes, I already know. Thou has come to die for me, in order to save me from hell. Thou hast come to seek me, the lost sheep, so that, instead of fleeing from Thee any more, I may rest in Thy loving arms.
Ah my Jesus, my treasure, my life, my love and my all! Whom will I love, if not Thee? Where can I find a father, a friend, a spouse more loving and lovable than Thou art?

I love Thee, my dear God; I love Thee, my only good. I regret the many years when I have not loved Thee, but rather spurned and offended Thee. Forgive me, O my beloved Redeemer; for I am sorry that I have thus treated Thee, and I regret it with all my heart. Pardon me, and give me the grace never more to withdraw from Thee, but constantly to love Thee in all the years that still lie before me in this life. My love, I give myself entirely to Thee; accept me, and do not reject me as I deserve.
O Mary, thou art my advocate. By thy prayers thou dost obtain whatever thou wilt from thy Son. Pray Him then to forgive me, and to grant me holy perseverance until death. Amen.

Today is Day Two of the Christmas Novena.