Day 8 Novena Prayer– based on the writings of Blessed James Alberione
(excerpt from Live Christ! Give Christ! Prayers for the New Evangelization)
We approach the final days of our novena to Mary, Queen of Apostles. For those joining us today, you can make a “triduum” of prayer, starting today, in honor of Mary, Queen of Apostles!
– Blessed James Alberione
(excerpt from Live Christ! Give Christ! Prayers for the New Evangelization)
Day 6 Novena Prayerexcerpt from Live Christ! Give Christ! Prayers for the New Evangelization
Day 5 of the Novena to Mary, Queen of Apostles
Prayer to Mary for a Listening Heart
Mary, when the Angel gabriel surprised you one day, you listened to his words with an attentive heart. You said “yes” to God’s invitation…
Intercede for us, that we, too, may have listening hearts: hearts that seek to hear the voice of God in every detail of our lives, hearts ready to respond to the needs of those around us…. Pray that we, like you, may treasure God’s word in our hearts and act on it. Amen. – excerpt from Live Christ! Give Christ! Prayers for the New Evangelization edited by Sr. Margaret Kerry, FSP.
In addition to the online Novena to Mary Queen of Apostles that I’m running here, our sisters are also running one on our Daughters of St. Paul Facebook Page here. Now you can choose between two online novenas to our loving Mother and Queen!
I don’t know how I missed this lovely article by Daughter of Saint Paul Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble on her Pursued by Truth Patheos Blog, but here it is for you: Five Things I’ve Learned About Holiness in the Convent.
Prayer for Day 4 of the Novena– Blessed James Alberione
Let us unite in prayer for the discernments of all who are reading the blog, and especially those who asked for prayers for their intentions and discernments in a particular way: IW, MR, JC, BS, AC, CC, S
Prayer for Day 3 of Novena to Mary, Queen of Apostles
Immaculate Mary, Co-Redemptrix of the human race, look upon humanity redeemed by the blood of your divine Son, yet still immersed in the darkness of error and confusion.
The harvest is always great, but the laborers are still very few. Have pity, O Mary upon your children whom the dying Jesus entrusted to you from the cross. Increase religious and priestly vocations; give us new apostles full of wisdom and fervor.
Sustain with your maternal care those who consecrate their lives to the good of their neighbor. Recall your care for Jesus and the apostle John; remember your consoling presence on the day of Pentecost. You were the counselor of the first apostles and of the apostles of all times. By your invincible intercession, obtain a new Pentecost for all those called to the apostolate, that it may sanctify them and inflame them with holy zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of humanity. Guide them in all their efforts; help them with your graces; sustain them in moments of discouragement; crown their zeal with great success. – from Prayers of the Pauline Family
Today, the second day of the Novena to Mary, Queen of Apostles, is the first day of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the feast of Pentecost. So today, our prayer will focus on Mary as Spouse of the Spirit.
Mary, Queen of Apostles, rejoice for the days
in which you were Teacher, Comforter
and Mother of the apostles in the Cenacle.
You invoked and received the divine Paraclete,
the Spirit with the seven gifts,
Love of the Father and of the Son,
Transformer of the apostles.
With your invincible intercession
and your humble and irresistible prayers,
which always move God’s heart,
obtain for me this grace….
–excerpt Prayers of the Pauline Family
It’s not too late to send in your prayer intentions to me–via email, a comment below, or Twitter (@SisterMPaul).
Today, we begin the novena to Mary, Queen of Apostles. This feast day is celebrated on May 23rd this year–the Saturday before Pentecost, when Mary gathered the apostles in prayer to await the coming of the Holy Spirit. Of course, when the Holy Spirit descended, the Apostles received very special graces to go forth and carry out their mission! It’s a very special feast day for my community as communicators of the Gospel, because Mary is the ultimate Communicator of the Word of God.
Our Pauline website has an explanation of what the title means. In the images of Mary, Queen of Apostles, Mary is holding Jesus out–as if to give him away. Blessed James Alberione describes the meaning of this gesture very specifically: “In the ‘Hail, Holy Queen,’ the Church describes her [Mary] to us with very beautiful titles, but the most beautiful is the one we see portrayed in the new painting of the Queen of the Apostles, in which the Madonna does not clasp Jesus to her heart, but holds him out to the Apostles, as her most sweet fruit, in order that they, in turn, will hold him out to humanity.”
For our purpose as discerners, Mary is also known as the “Spouse of the Spirit” because she so closely listened to, treasured, and responded to the invitations of the Spirit.
I invite each of you to send in your prayer intentions–you can email me if you want to remain anonymous, or send me a message on Twitter. (@SisterMPaul) If you add it in as a comment below, I will cut and paste all the prayer intentions (including the initials of those who wish to be anonymous), and we can all pray for each other on our discernment journeys.
I will post up a short prayer each day of the novena, so that if you check in over the next nine days, we can unite not just in intention, but also focus our prayers. The prayer below is an excerpt from our Founder’s prayer of entrusting to Mary–his own version of Consecration to Mary. It’s a beautiful prayer to begin our novena:
– Blessed James Alberione
To understand God’s call for us, we need to also understand how God sees us; we have to understand our “backstory” (to put it in storytelling terms) or where we come from.
How does God see us? Most simply put, we have been loved into being:
There is one truth for believers that, no matter how much our wounded nature might try, cannot be twisted. This truth is that God chose to create each of us. There is something so unique and wonderful about us that God wants to share his life with us. God wants us in the world. – See Yourself Through God’s Eyes
Not only is this true, but it has an amazing corollary: in creating us, God is expressing a desire to have a relationship with us. Because of Jesus, we know that this relationship with the God is adoption as God’s child, and our relationship with Jesus is friend.
How precious is the worth and dignity of every person on earth! The core of our identity is that we are created in the image of God, invited to become a child of God through Baptism so that we can share in Jesus’ divine Sonship. Created in God’s image, we have the ability to know and to love. Unfortunately, the freedom that gives us the ability to love also gives us the ability to choose to turn away from love.
When we choose not to love, we aren’t living according to the greatness of our identity. Although we are beloved, we are also flawed and sinful. Yet, even God’s response to our sinfulness proves his love for us! God sends his Son Jesus to save us from ourselves, from the power of sin, from the power of evil. Every time that we repent of our sins and ask forgiveness, we are invited to return to the depth and beauty of greater communion with God.
Our “backstory” helps us as begin or deepen our attitude of discernment, because God’s call to us is congruous with this reality that we are precious in God’s eyes. Since our very identity is founded on our relationship with God, it makes sense then that God is the Co-Protagonist in our life. God wants to partner with us, to draw us always closer to himself (in deeper communion with him) throughout our lives.
To Pray With
Psalm 139 is wonderful to pray with and ponder our identity in God’s eyes—God’s beloved ones. Pray with it over the next few days, and allow the awe and gratitude of this psalm to fill you.
This is one of my very favorite insights into discernment: we trust God because God–in Christ–first trusts us! Discernment: a relationship of love, trust, and freedom.
Blessed Easter! I have taken this week away from this blog to catch up on another project for our centenary year (yes, 2015 is the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Daughters of Saint Paul!), but I’ll be back next week. Thanks for your patience.
In the meantime, Sr. Margaret Michael Gillis, vocation director for the Daughters of Saint Paul in the USA and Canada, offers a two-minute audio reflection about discerning religious life here.
Co-Author Your Life with God 