What is a novena? A novena is a repeated prayer given with a humble heart - asking God for specific intentions, the prayer is usually stated for 9 days or 9 hours - it follows the 'ask, seek, knock' principle of patient faith.
The 54-day Novena is a special novena in which faithful are called to pray the rosary for 54 days straight - the first twenty-seven days you ask God, with the intercession of the Virgin Mary, for your prayers to be answered; the second twenty-seven days in faith you thank God for the answered prayer even if the prayer has yet to be answered. The 54 day journey is a sojourn of faith and deepening trust in God and learning to discern your true desires apart and lay your burdens at God's feet - trusting Christ's intercession. Even if the intention is not answered during the course of 54 days - God will not fail to reveal HIMSELF through the Holy Spirit and love of the Blessed Virgin Mary to you. Christ is always at work in our lives.
The Rosary has four different sets of Holy Mysteries, each chronicling the life of Christ.
Joyful: Prayed on Monday and Saturday
1. The Anunciation - When Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary
2. The Visitation - When Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth who is going to have John the Baptist
3. The Birth of Jesus
4. The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
5. Finding the Child Jesus at the Temple
Sorrowful: Prayed Tuesday and Friday
1. The Agony in the Garden
2. The Scourging of Christ
3. The Crowning of Christ with Thorns
4. The Carrying of the Cross
5. The Crucifixion
Glorious Mysteries: Prayed on Sunday and Wednesday
1. The Resurrection
2. The Ascension of Christ into Heaven
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit
4. The Assumption of Mary
5. The Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven
Luminous: Prayed on Thursday
1. The Baptism of Jesus
2. The Wedding at Cana
3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom
4. The Transfiguration
5. The Institution of the Eucharist.
Although I am Episcopalian by birth I've fallen in love God's grace of the Holy Rosary. It is a contemplative method, that although seemingly repetitive at first, is truly a labyrinth drawing you closer to God through studying the Holy Mysteries of the Gospels and reflecting on God's nature and our own weakness and heartache - the rosary is more than a meditation - it is the Christian faith in a twenty-minute prayer - it is canonical and ecumenical...helping us to put aside our anxiety and take on the yoke of faith in God, and the hope in salvation.
I came into the rosary a bit skeptical...I wondered about the Hail Mary prayer and also I questioned how one prayer can be so powerful - when the Book of Common Prayer and personal prayers guided by the Holy Spirit ignite my soul in faith and thanksgiving. The Rosary however is a unique prayer because as I stated earlier it unites us succinctly with the tenets of faith, professing the divinity and love and life of our Lord Jesus Christ while delving deeper into the mysteries of faith and learning from the lessons and life of Christ. Each day praying the rosary, God reveals a new layer of His Life in the Spirit to me - I am able to set aside more of my worry and learn to trust as God did. The Rosary is a proclamation of faith - but instead of bland repetition it draws us into pondering - Christ - HIS life, HIS suffering, HIS healing miracles, HIS grace and HIS resurrection - it helps us to learn when we should take up our cross and when we are nailed to crosses in the world that prevent us from accessing Christ's love and his calling in our lives.
The Rosary is rooted in a tradition of contemplative prayer beads - prior to the Gutenberg bible the majority of Christians did not have the literacy to read scripture - so they would pray The Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary and say the Creed...this was to draw them closer into faith and remind them that Christ is the light of this world. St. Dominic had a vision of the Virgin Mary - who instituted the Rosary as a standard prayer method so that all Christians - even those without access to scripture could learn and grow while they meditated on the Holy Mysteries of Christ. While many pray with rosary beads - the prayer's formula of counting can be done with your hands - making it a prayer for everyone to grow through faith in.
How to Pray the Rosary?
1. Ask for forgiveness: Most merciful Father I confess that I have sinned against the in thought word and deed by what I have done and by what I have left undone; I have not loved you with my whole heart, I have not loved my neighbor as myself..I am truly sorry and I humbly repent, for the sake of your son Jesus Christ have mercy on me that I may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.
2. Make the sign of the cross.
3. Pray The Apostles Creed
4. Pray Our Father
5. 3 Hail Mary prayers (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
6. Pray: Glory be to the Father, son and the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
The rosary is then divided up into five decades, each decade focusing on a Holy Mystery...
For each Decade pray: 1 Our Father and 10 Hail Marys, followed by:
O' my Jesus forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.
- Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit... as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end.
At the end of the fifth decade, the Hail Holy Queen is typically prayed.
The Rosary comes with 15 promises given to St. Dominic by the Blessed Virgin Mary. And while I believe God answers all prayers - the Rosary focuses the attention on God and allowing God to work through our soul - helping us to let go of our demanding flesh and embrace Christ fully. I have come to believe in the 15 promises - the Rosary has helped me heal from depression and have more faith and trust in God's grace...and while I first came to the rosary in the hopes of 'answered prayers' regarding serious obstacles in my life, the process of praying the rosary has actually helped me to trust in God's plans more than my anxious heart. It has torn down walls and quieted my soul as I start to think about God's will and recognizing God's will as my own.
I hope to journal as much as possible on my contemplation as I embark on the 54-day Rosary Novena with insights from this spiritual journey and I hope you will join in with my novena.
Prayer Intentions:
Our Environment and all of Creation
Healing Prayers
Peace for all people
Children and the unborn
Social Justice
Victims of Natural Disasters
Persecuted peoples, particularly Christians, around the world.
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