Novenas are an ancient tradition that goes back to the days of the Apostles.
Jesus told His disciples to pray together after His ascension into heaven, so they went to an upper room along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Acts 1:14) and joined constantly in prayer for nine days.
These nine days of constant prayer by the Apostles at the direction of Jesus led up to Pentecost. This is when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:1-4). This pattern of 9 days of prayer, leading up to a feast day or final day, is the basis of the novenas we pray today!
Thus, the novena is an imitation of the Lord’s command to the Apostles when they prayed for 9 days in anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
And that’s why we pray all of our novenas for nine days, followed by one final prayer on the 10th day (which is usually the feast day).
We will start praying on Friday, May 19th.
You can sign up HERE to join us in prayer and you can share your prayer intentions with us all below. We’re praying for you!
Thank you for joining us in praying the Mary, Undoer of Knots Novena! If you’ve had any of your prayers answered throughout this novena, you can share those with us all below!
Please don’t give up on hope. The Lord is with you and we are praying for you every day.
It’s a keepsake book of twenty novenas that also includes a little history of novenas, the different types of novenas, and a schedule of when you can pray different novenas throughout the year.
You can learn more and pre-order the book here. Shipping is expected to begin May 12th.
Here’s a list of the novenas included in the book:
1. A Novena to St. Joseph 2. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Novena 3. The St. Michael the Archangel Novena 4. The Divine Mercy Novena 5. The Mary, Undoer of Knots Novena 6. The Surrender Novena 7. A Novena to St. John Paul II 8. A Novena to Gianna Molla 9. A Novena to St. Padre Pio 10. A Novena to St. Monica 11. A Novena to St. Augustine 12. A Novena to Saints Louis & Zelie Martin 13. A Novena to St. Martin de Porres 14. Mother Teresa’s “Flying” Novena 15. A Novena to St. Charles Lwanga 16. A Novena to St. Jude 17. A Novena to St. Josephine Bakhita 18. A Novena to Christ the King 19. A Novena for Healing 20. The Litany of Trust Novena
Some of the Novenas in the book are the same ones we pray here as a community — like the Divine Mercy Novena, the Mary, Undoer of Knots Novena, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Novena. A majority of the novenas, though, are newly composed.
If you’re outside of the United States or Canada, you can check out Ascension’s International Distributors here to find a local bookstore that may carry the book when it comes out.
Whenever we grow closer to Jesus’ mother, our mother, we grow closer to Jesus — because Mary always brings us to Jesus.
We will start praying on Saturday, April 22nd and we’ll finish the novena on May 1st. The month of May is actually dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so it’s a perfect time to ask for her intercession and to begin the month of May!
As St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence.”
One thing we love about Easter is that we celebrate it for so long… Lent lasts for 40 days, but the Easter season is 50 days long!
While we continue to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and to thank Him for the hope and mercy He offers us, Annie and I wanted to send you our Easter card here.
It is an honor and a joy to pray with you. Thank you so much for praying with us and for those in our community here.
Just scroll down to see our card :)
We’re praying for you every day!
God bless you!
John-Paul & Annie – PrayMoreNovenas.com
We hope to reach more and more people through this prayer service. If these novena emails have been a blessing to you please consider making a small donation to keep this prayer service running here: praymorenovenas.com/support/
Thank you so much for joining us in praying the St. Joseph Novena!
If you’ve had any of your prayers answered throughout this novena, you can share those with us all below.
We will continue to pray for you! Please hold onto hope and do not give up if your prayers have not been answered — the Lord is near and you are never alone in your suffering. We are remembering you in our prayers.
The next novena we’ll pray together is through the intercession of a powerful patron saint.
Saint John Paul II called him the Guardian of the Redeemer. He’s also known as the Protector of the Church, the Terror of Demons, Hope of the Sick and Comfort of the Sorrowing. He has many titles and patronages!
We’re looking forward to praying with you! Because prayer is powerful and it does something — it changes things — even when we don’t feel it or see its effects, and God loves to work through our prayers. Here’s a short reflection from our Lenten Retreat about that:
About St. Joseph:
St. Joseph humbly accepted his role as guardian, husband and father in the Holy Family. That’s why St. Joseph’s intercession has been sought for centuries. St. Joseph was clearly very close to our Lord and his prayers are powerful!
Saint Frances of Rome was an Italian wife, mother, and mystic. She suffered from such intense social anxiety that she often remained bedridden.
Frances miraculously recovered after a vision of St. Alexis telling her that God would heal her and that her life would glorify God. She went on to become the founder of the Oblates of Mary, a lay Benedictine order for women who dedicated themselves to serving God and serving the poor.
As Jesuit priest Fr. Marcello Mastrilli lay on his deathbed after an accident, he had a vision of St. Francis Xavier.St. Francis Xavier spoke to him saying:
“All those who implore my help daily for nine consecutive days, from the fourth to the twelfth of March inclusive and worthily receive the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion on one of the nine days will experience my protection and may hope with entire assurance to obtain from God any Grace they ask that is for the good of their souls and the glory of God.”
Fr. Mastrilli then experienced a miraculous healing and went on to become a martyr for the faith.
St. Patrick first arrived in Ireland as a slave, captured from his home by pirates. During his time in the pagan country, his own Christian faith deepened.
Patrick’s faith grew so much that even after his miraculous escape, he eventually went back to Ireland willingly–this time as a missionary and Bishop. He built many churches throughout the country and converted thousands of people.
St. Alexander, or Alexander of Jerusalem, became the first bishop of Cappadocia.
Alexander faced two persecutions during his time as Bishop–first under the Emperor Severus and again during the reign of Emperor Decius–but he never gave up his faith. Instead of renouncing his belief, Alexander proclaimed it more publicly, choosing torture and death rather than denying God.
Despite many attempts to take his life, Alexander died in prison still holding fast to the faith.
As the head of the Holy Family, Saint Joseph plays an important role in Salvation History. He took care of Christ and the Blessed Mother and serves as a powerful example of virtue and holiness.
Not only does the Church celebrate a Solemnity in his honor, but she also sets aside an entire month to show him special reverence and devotion.
On March 25th, nine months before Christmas, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation. On this very special feast we remember the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary and Mary’s yes to become the Mother of God.
On this feast we honor the great gift of the Incarnation, of God becoming man to bring about our salvation.
Here are three pieces of Advent for Lent from some of our retreat speakers:
1) How to respond in times of temptation
“We must never enter into a dialogue with the enemy. Rather, we must enter into a dialogue with the Word of God who desires to speak to us, who desires to lead us and guide us and sustain us and protect us…
In the Garden of Eden, we saw how Eve entered into a dialogue with the enemy and was defeated. Mary, on the other hand, entered into a dialogue with the Word of God and fulfilled God’s plan. She pondered on the angel’s greeting. That word ‘pondered’ in Greek is the word ‘dialogue.’
Jesus never entered into a dialogue with the enemy. In fact, he refuted his proposals by quoting and by claiming the Word of God. He said, “It is written man does not live on bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.” You see, friends, God’s Word has to become flesh in our lives.” – Michelle Karen D’Silva
2) How to accept that you need God’s grace, constantly:
“The Lord invites you to come to Him whenever you feel weary and find life burdensome… In the Bible, there’s some variation of “Do not be afraid” at least 365 times, so at least once for every day of the year. Which is kind of consoling, because it means the Lord wants us to come to Him whenever we’re feeling weary and we find life burdensome.
But at the same time, it’s a humbling thing because it means we’re always freaking out, right? And the idea, here, that I want to convey is that we’re called to get used to that — We’re the ones that always need to receive, which would ordinarily be a cause for concern, except for the fact that God is real, God is our father, and He’s the one who always gives. And we can rely on that, we can count on that.
So we can come to Him all the time, and again, the idea is to make that kind of normative. We never graduate from being this open wound who’s in need of the salvific grace of God the Father.” — Fr. Eric Mah
3) Why persevering in prayer is worth the effort:
“Prayer is like sitting in the sun. Prayer is like the Lord’s sandpaper. Prayer is like the steady drip of water upon a rock. We might not always feel what’s happening, but over time, our Lord will smooth out our rough edges…” — Dr. Andrew Swafford
All around us, God and Satan wage war wanting to gain dominion over each human soul. Of course, we know that ultimate victory belongs to God, won through Christ’s death and resurrection and offered to all of the baptized.
However, the enemy wants to separate us from God using any means possible so we need to fight to avoid sin and remain faithful. Thankfully, we don’t have to do it alone. We have an army of saints and angels on our side, ready to help. Here are a few novenas for just that…
You can pray the Novena for Spiritual Warfare to seek deliverance from spiritual attacks or help against physical manifestations of demonic activity in your home. You can pray this powerful novena for yourself or for a loved one to help vanquish the darkness.
Many saints and exorcists have spoken on the efficacy of the intercession of Saint Joseph in the midst of spiritual battles. In fact, the Church gives Saint Joseph the title of “Terror of Demons.”
God chose Saint Joseph to defend Jesus and the Blessed Mother from both physical and spiritual dangers, and will valiantly defend you too. Pray the St. Joseph Novena here.
Saint Michael the Archangel is known for his role as protector of the church. The Book of Revelation describes the angelic battle against Satan, with Micahel mentioned by name as the leader of the heavenly army who cast the dragon out of heaven.
For centuries, the Church has called upon St. Michael for protection, especially from attacks from the enemy. Pray his novena here.
Fransican priest Saint Padre Pio had many supernatural experiences–from levitation, bilocation, reading souls, and even the stigmata; he would enjoy heavenly visions of our Lord and His angels, but he would also experience demonic attacks.
The Saint Benedict medal is a powerful sacramental used to protect the wearer from evil. The symbols and text on it relate to the life of Saint Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictines and Father of Western Monasticism.
Like Saint Padre Pio, Saint Gemma Galgani experienced supernatural visions of Jesus, Mary, and her guardian angel from a young age. Her spiritual gift along with her great virtue also made her a target for spiritual assaults from Satan.
Habitual sin can feel like a significant and perpetual roadblock in our relationship with God; as we face temptation, we can easily feel hopeless in the struggle. Turn toward Jesus and rely on His grace in these moments.
