Novena of Grace
Novena of Grace
The Novena of Grace began in the 17th 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 ……
“I therefore ask you to base all that you do entirely upon God and not to trust your own abilities, knowledge, or reputation; and in this way, I shall know that you are ready for all the great trials, spiritual as well as worldly, which can afflict you. For God raises up and supports the humble, especially those who in small and lowly matters have seen, as in a polished mirror, their own weaknesses and have conquered them.” (Letter to Jesuits of Goa from Kagoshima in Japan _ November 5, 1549)
- Do you trust your own abilities and judgements more than you trust God?
- Have you noticed God raising you up and supporting you?
- If you look at your life and personality in a polished mirror, do you see a person who is loved and forgiven by God?
“O my God, almighty and merciful Father, creator of all things of the world: I firmly believe in you, my God and Lord, since you are my entire good. You, Lord, created me and you have given me body and soul and all that I have. And you, my God have made me in your likeness. Thanks be to God!” (From the Short Catechism written by St. Francis Xavier for the people of Goa, in India_ May 1542)
For Reflection:
- Take time to consider the gifts God has given you.
- Count the blessings he has poured out on you, today, and over the course of your life.
- Give thanks!
Prayer:
Father, you are entire goodness, and you are goodness for me. Creator of all things, who hold all things in being for me, give me faith in you and in myself, your creation. Amen.
“There is reason for giving infinite praise and thanks to God at the sight of a king who is so well and piously inclined towards the things of God, and to such an extent that if I were not a witness of it all, as I am, I would not be able to believe what I have seen in him.” (Letter to Ignatius of Loyola SJ from Lisbon _ March 18,1541)
For Reflection:
- Do I look for the goodness in other people?
- Do I take the trouble to give credit where it is due?
- Do I notice and copy the good example that others set for me?
Prayer:
God our Father, praise to you! I am surrounded by so many good people: people who speak your word of compassion and kindness; people who act to give body to your justice and reconciliation; people whose lives are good seed growing in rich soil. Give me too, the grace to live in your Spirit, and to be your presence for those I meet as I go about my day. Amen.
“At night before you go to sleep, you should retire to some place and examine the things which happened to you that day, your thoughts, words and actions, examining your conscience with great diligence… and at the end say an Our Father and a Hail Mary. After this is has been finished, you should lie down, occupying yourself with the thought of how you are to amend yourself on the following day.” (Letter to Jesuit Novice, Joao Bravo, from Malacca in Malaysia _ June 23, 1549)
For Reflection:
- Take a few moments think back over your day.
- What were the thoughts, words and actions of which you are most pleased?
- Were there any thoughts, words or actions which you regret?
Prayer:
Father, as I look back on this day, there are so many thoughts, such babble of words, and such a blur of activity, that it is difficult to see you gently presence amid it all. Show yourself to me today and every day. Amen.
“God our Lord gives to all sufficient grace to serve him and preserve themselves from sin… all our good and evil consists in making good and evil use of his grace. “ (Letter to the Jesuits of Europe from Malacca in Malaysia _ June 22,1549)
For Reflection:
- Reflect on the strengths of character with which God has blessed you.
- How do you use these strengths for the good?
- How do you sometimes use them for evil?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, it is easy to be tempted as you were tempted in the desert; to make poor decisions for quick gains and satisfaction; to turn from the wonderful gifts of your generosity. Give me, day by day, the same Spirit of strength with which you faced down those temptations of power, wealth and honour; that my desires and motives, my words and actions may always be for the greater glory of God, my Lord. Amen.
“I have decided to go to the Moro Islands to assist the Christians in spiritual matters, exposing myself to every danger of death, placing all my confidence and hope in God our Lord, desiring to conform myself, in keeping with my slight and feeble strength, to the saying of Christ our Redeemer and Lord that ‘whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.’” (Letter to the Jesuits of Europe from Amboina in India _ May 10,1546)
For Reflection:
- What activities, pastimes, possessions, and relationships in my life are non-negotiable?
- Do any of these things get in the way of my relationship with God?
- What do I need to relinquish to be free to be my true self in following God’s calling?
Prayer:
Lord, before I ever came into being you knew and loved me. You have knit me together the way I am, and given me life and laughter, friends and the faces of strangers and world of wonder and new discovery. Grant me the freedom and the courage to discover you anew each day. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
“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.
“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.
“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.