Novena For Peace

With the holidays quickly approaching, I pray even more than usual that the war be over and our soldiers and their families come home safely and soundly.
First, a brief, simple primer. A Novena is a very special prayer. It means, simply Nine. When you say a Novena, you are praying a specific prayer to a specific saint (in this instance, the Holy Mother of God, Saint Mary) for their intersession to God. A Novena is a very powerful prayer, because while God hears every single one of our prayers, intersession from a beloved Saint makes the prayer even stronger, and God listens to His Saints when they decide to intercede on our behalf.

Saint Mary is one of the Saints that intercedes and has special power in prayer when her name is invoked, because she is the Mother of Jesus. Another saint, my favorite, is St. Therese of Lisieux, France. She is known as the Little Flower of the Child Jesus, and in her innocence, will shower you with roses if a prayer you have said to her in a Novena will be answered in your favor. In my life, I've seen the power of Novenas, and I would actually say that 98% of the time I've said a Novena, the prayer has come to pass in my favor.

In that vein, I'm delighted to have found a Novena for Peace. Even for those of you who are skeptics in the power of prayer for whatever your personal reasons, you might admit that a prayer couldn't hurt. I found this beautiful Novena on EWTN Catholic Network in their Novena section. I will admit that I shortened it a bit for my own reasons for this blog entry.

Novena For Peace
To Mary, Our Lady Of Sorrows

Most holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs, you stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of your dying Son. Look with a mother’s tenderness and pity on us, as we kneel before you. We venerate your sorrows, and place our request with dutiful confidence in the sanctuary of your wounded heart.

Present them, we beseech you, on our behalf to Jesus Christ, through the merits of His own most Sacred Passion and Death, together with your sufferings at the foot of the cross. Through the united efficacy of both, obtain the granting of our petition.

To whom shall we have recourse in our wants and miseries if not to you, Mother of Mercy? You have drunk so deeply of the chalice of your Son, you can with compassion receive our sorrows.

Holy Mary, your soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of your divine Son. Intercede for us and obtain from Jesus these petitions if they be for His honor and glory and for our good and the good of our nation.

That all those injured in the terrorist attacks around the world recover quickly,

Our Lady of Sorrows, hear us.

That the souls of the departed rest in the eternal peace of your Crucified Son, Jesus Christ,

Our Lady of Sorrows, hear us.

That the families of all those lost in the terrorist attacks around the world may know the comfort of Christ’s constant love, even if they're not sure what it is,

Our Lady of Sorrows, hear us.

That our soldiers, firefighters, policeman, and medical personnel will be protected by the grace of God,

Our Lady of Sorrows, hear us.

That those around the world, most especially those who use death and fear as their weapons to try to force others to change their views of the world and others religious beliefs, find peace in their hearts and come to realize that their lives would be better spent helping others with kindnes,

Our Lady of Sorrows, hear us.

Amen.