Novena of Grace

The Novena of Grace began in the 17^th century when Fr. Marcello Mastrilli, a Jesuit who, while working in Naples, sustained serious head injuries in an accident. Prayers were offered to St. Francis Xavier and Fr. Mastrilli was healed. Fr. Mastrilli is credited with recovering the body of Francis Xavier from Sancian Island off the coast of China. Fr. Mastrilli would go on to be martyred in 1637 in Nagasaki Japan. The Novena is traditionally prayed March 4 to 12 (the day St. Francis Xavier died).

This novena is nine days of prayer in the company of St. Francis Xavier through the letters he wrote. As a Jesuit, he underwent and then, in turn, led others through the Spiritual Exercises of his great friend St. Ignatius of Loyola. His writing reflects the spiritual insights and preoccupations of the Spiritual Exercises. We pray to know ourselves better, to discern the will of God in our daily lives, to hear and generously respond to Christ’s call to follow him, whatever the cost and to understand that everything is an unmerited gift from God, poured out lavishly upon his children “as rays from the sun or waters from the spring.” (Spiritual Exercises n.237)

Over the nine days of our Novena, Fr. John Sullivan, S.J. offers a beginning reflection to our prayer.

For each day of the Novena:

Begin with the Sign of the Cross

Watch Fr John’s Reflection

Read the Passage from St. Francis Xavier and the “For Reflections” questions for each day

Spend some time in Silent reflection

Pray the Novena Prayer:

O most kind and loving saint, in union with you I adore the most divine majesty. The memory of the favours with which God blessed you during life, and your glory after death, fills me with joy. And I unite with you in offering to him my humble tribute of thanksgiving and praise. I implore you to secure for me, through your powerful intercession, the all-important blessing of living and dying in a state of grace. I also ask you to obtain the favour I ask in this novena….

(here pause to ask the favour you seek)

But if what I ask is not for the greater glory of God, or the good of my soul, obtain for me what is most conducive to both. Amen.

O God who was pleased to gather to your Church the peoples of the East by the preaching and miracles of St. Francis Xavier, mercifully grant that we, who honour his glorious merits, may also imitate the examples of his virtues, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Finish by praying one Our Father….. one Hail Mary….. and one Glory be ……

Novena of Grace: Day 3

“May God our Lor grant us in time the gift to perceive his holy will. He wishes that we should always be ready to fulfil it whenever he manifests it to us and lets us feel it within our souls. To fare well in this life, we must be pilgrims ready to go wherever we can to serve God our Lord the more. “ (Letter to Francisco Mansilhas, SJ from Negapatam in India _ April 7,1545)

For Reflection:

Do I look for signs of what God wants of me: in my prayer, in moments of silence, in what others say? Am I ready to follow where God leads?
Or do I always set the agenda for everything I do?

Prayer:

Father, you speak to me in the silence and in the empty spaces of my life. Give me ears to hear your voice in stillness; eyes to see your presence in things that seem so insignificant at the time. Free me from the relentless whirl of activity, from the obsessions which limit me and snatch away my freedom to answer your call. Like St. Francis, may I too become a pilgrim, called to walk the path you set before me, wherever it may lead but always safe in the knowledge that Christ walks beside me unseen. Amen.

Novena of Grace: Day 2

“I therefore ask God our Lord to grant us to know and experience his most holy will and, once we have experienced it, great strength and much grace to fulfil it with charity in this life.” (Letter to the Jesuits at Rome from Cochin in India 27th January 1545)

For Reflection:

What does God ask of me in my day-to-day life?
As God for the strength to do and to be this.
Who or what do I find it most difficult to be charitable towards, even to love?

Prayer:

Father, each day you show me the love of a parent for its child: watchful of my every step, eager for me to thrive; you delight in my happiness and console me in my sadness. May the constant love in which you enfold me give me the confidence to show that same love to others. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Novena of Grace: Day 1

“May our Lord increase the days of [your] life for many years and may he grant you to feel in this present life, his most holy will and the spiritual strength to fulfill it, so that you do and accomplish that which, at the hour of your death, you will wish to have done.” (Letter to King John III of Portugal from Malacca in Malaysia
23rd June 1549)

For Reflection:

What are the things in my life of which I am most proud?
Which of these things will I be most pleased to place before God at the close of my life?
What do I need to do more of, or less of, if I am to present my best self to God my Lord?

Prayer:

Lord, each day you give me new life, new graces, new opportunities to feel your presence. Give me the gift of attentiveness to notice you in the people and your creation which surround my life; that I may grow in faith, and hope and love. Amen.