Two Many Novenas

"How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers." - Mother Teresa

And we here at Miss Marcel's Musings would like to add: How could there be too many novenas?

I suppose if you weren't enjoying them anymore, there might be too many novenas. But as to feasts, saints, and intentions, since these are never ending, why limit our prayers? Prayer is conversation, speaking our mind and heart to those we know love us, or those we hope love us, or those we are simply happy to love from our side - and praise God, this love is never unrequited when we involve the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of Love . . .

And thus we come to a marvelous double feast today which seems to Marcel and Miss Marcel to call for a super fun, super grace filled double novena.

Today is the feast of St. Faustina and the feast of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. The first acted as one of Jesus' little secretaries to give us the message of Divine Mercy, and the second was a great missionary in the United States who LOVES to work miracles. He made a habit of allowing God's power to flow through him while he lived on earth, and now that he's in Heaven, FX is still going strong in the wonder-working department.

And guess what? I've counted and re-counted, and it looks to me like if we start a novena today in honor of these two dear ones who would like to become good friends of ours, we will end on October 13, the day of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima!

Okay, and then - again I'm hoping my counting has not been in vain - if we then take a deep breath and begin the second part of our double novena on October 14, that means we'll begin on the feast of St. Callistus, pope and martyr, we will end on the feast of another Holy Father, the one we like to call Our Holy Father: Pope St. John Paul the Second!

There's also a double intention that goes with our novena. I've given it the old college try, and you who read here have surely been persevering in your prayers, but to be honest, I'm getting tired of praying for me! God has been answering our prayers with such kind mercy that I'd really like to share the abundance of His love and turn our attention to those children Mother Teresa mentioned at the outset.

Today is, in fact, the anniversary of the baptism of my second son. And when we get, in about 18 days (hence the double nine or a double novena) to the feast of St. JPII, that will be the day after the baptism of my FDIL (Future Daughter in Law!), and the day OF her First Holy Communion. 

In a striking turn of events which illustrated for all eternity God's sense of humor and fun, my second child (the one who was baptized 22 years ago today) was born twelve and a half years after my first child (the son who is happily offering us our FDIL). This meant that on this day, son #1 got to be the altar boy serving our Padre as he baptized son #2. What a fabulous trick God played on us, answering the prayers of So Many friends and relatives (and ultimately my mom and Aunt Joan's pilgrimage-to-Lisieux-request to St. Therese to give us another child) in such a perfectly timed but supremely unusual manner. . .

So. Some of you have kids. Some of you are kids! Some of you want kids. Some of you want help with the kids that our Heavenly Father has foisted on you! It's all grace, and these are all the stuff of special intentions, so let's do this together! Let's pray these back to back novenas for the children.

And since this is a double novena, I'll make it a double intention:

As well as praying for the children, let's pray for peace. Peace in our homes and hearts, peace in the hearts of all children, and peace in the world in which these children live.

First we'll have a Scripture quote and a couple of quotes from today's saints to edify and inspire us, then we'll suggest some possible prayers for the novenas (all optional to be used in the "liberty of spirit" recommended so convincingly in A Retreat for Lay People by our dear friend Monsignor Ronald Knox).

From the Blessed Trinity, as quoted by the prophet Isaiah:

"They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their children with them.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear." (Isaiah 65:23-24)

From St. Faustina:

"The heat is so intense today that it is difficult to bear. We are all thirsting for rain and still it does not come. For several days the sky has been overcast, but there is no rain. When I looked at the plants, thirsting for the rain, I was moved with pity, and I decided to say the chaplet until the Lord would send us rain. Before supper, the sky covered over with clouds, and a heavy rain fell of the earth. I had been saying this prayer without interruption for three hours. And the Lord let me know that everything can be obtained by means of this prayer." (May 22, 1937; Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary of St. Faustina)

From Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R. (those letters mean Redemptorist, by the way, and that makes Blessed FX our dear brother because he is Marcel's brother in the order founded by our father St. Alphonsus Ligouri!):

"But often in the midst of this work I do something dumb and everything goes topsy-turvy. Nothing astonishes me more than the extent of the patience which the dear Lord displays in my regard. He even elevates me before the people and showers his benefits upon me . . ." (from a letter quoted in his biography, Cheerful Ascetic, as re-quoted in Magnificat, October 5, 2024)

*    *    *

How magnificent! How spectacular! How truly beyond our wildest dreams is this infinite love of God and its revelation in the words of Scripture and the saints!

First off, we have Isaiah reassuring us with God's own reassurance: 
Our dear Father, our brother, best friend, spouse of our souls and True Love Jesus, and the Holy Spirit Who is the love of the Father and the Son given to live in us - this Blessed and adorable Trinity says, 
"Before they call, I will answer."

Wow! If you are getting tired of novenas, no worries! God is answering them before we even begin! But just to remind ourselves that He has listened, we might give it a shot (praying each day) so that we don't forget - which I for one do instantly forget - WE ARE CHERISHED AND LOVED, and just as we want so many good things for our children (and insofar as we are children, which Jesus urges us to be in order to enter His Kingdom, we want so many good things for ourselves too), so Almighty God, our true Father, wants even more for our children and all children.

Then we get Faustina slipping in this business about the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Jesus told her it would obtain anything, and here she is proving Him, once again, right as rain! In case you are a little OCD (either compulsive, or Discalced Carmelite - either one works here), don't be afraid to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet just once and call it a day, or even abbreviate it to "Jesus, I trust in You!" because He doesn't mind the quick and simple prayers. I think that St. Faustina's three hours of uninterrupted chaplets serve to remind us to persevere in prayer, and that's what we're hoping to do in our double novena, but again, liberty of the spirit. St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila, our holy mother in Carmel (if not in compulsivity) so beautifully teaches, "Everyone must walk this path of prayer in freedom."

And what about Blessed Francis X. Seelos? Ah, how it makes my heart relax into a steady and safe beat when I hear the saints talk about how dumb they can be too! They weren't always perfect, and perhaps they were never perfect, and most importantly, they made mistakes just like we do! No need to be discouraged - this is another characteristic of childhood, and spiritual childhood fails in nothing when it captures this charming feature of the little ones we so strive to be before Our Lord. 

Here is St. Therese's take on the topic of mistakes from Her Last Conversations (or in this edition I'm quoting from, Novissima Verba):

Her sister writes: I spoke to her of my imperfections. She said to me:

"It happens to me often enough also to fail thus, but I am never astonished at it. I am not always able to put aside the nothings of earth as promptly as I could wish: for example, I am tempted to feel disquieted over some silly thing I had said or done. Then, I i enter into myself, and say: 'Alas, I am once more at the first step as before!' But this I say in great peace, without sadness. It is so sweet to feel oneself to be little and weak." (July 5, 1897)

If you wonder why, contrary to our common experience, our crazy sister Therese finds it so sweet to feel little and weak, I have a quick answer:

Because when we feel little and weak we can abandon ourselves, like the children we are, into the care of our Heavenly Father and our Mother Mary. We can't do it, they can, let's let them!

So here are my suggestions for (optional) prayers for our double novena:

1. Divine Mercy Chaplet - I've been falling down on this job lately, which isn't making me feel guilty, just eager to give it a shot. I think I might try this for the next 18 days, especially since our novenas will end on the day of Our Fearless Leader who gave us the Divine Mercy chaplet, feast, and image with full papal approval!

2. Or if I find myself at the end of the day (or even in the middle) with not a focused thought in my head and not a spark of energy to tackle a whole chaplet, maybe I'll try a decade, or even "Jesus I trust in You!" which phrase He loves to hear almost as much as "Jesus, I love You a lot!"

And since we're heading toward a special day of Our Lady on October 13 and then a special day of one of her specialist servants and sons, JPII after that on October 22, how about I give another double option - the favorite prayer to Our Lady for friends, and Our Holy Father's Marian mantra. And when I say "another double option" I mean these are ALL just options - and for us who tend to scrupulosity, in the spirit of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, his father founder and our loving guide St. Alphonsus, and Jesus Himself (all tenderness, gentleness, and indulgence), I mean to say we can choose just one of these options, and not feel guilty a single bit! Remember, we're nuts enough to keep multiplying novenas . . . no need to make them burdensome or painful! So - reversing the order and giving you the mantra first:

3. Totus Tuus!
 
or in our loose translation: 

4. I am all yours, Mother Mary, and all that I have is yours!

5. Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen. 

Happy feasting, and may the angels surround you and all the other children we're praying for!

Draw me, we will run!