Latest update April 4th, 2025 5:09 PM
Latest News
Novena observances begin as Christmas draws closer
Christians around the world will begin celebrating the festival of Novena from tomorrow as the Christmas holidays draw closer.
Novena is a devotion consisting of prayer said on nine successive days to Christmas asking to obtain special graces. The practice of saying novenas is derived from the Bible.
After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, he told his disciples to pray together in the upper room and devote themselves to constant prayer.
The Apostles, Blessed Virgin Mary, and other followers of Jesus prayed together for nine consecutive days, concluding in the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
Though the novena is primarily a devotion used by members of the Anglican and Catholic Churches, it has spread to the Orthodox and even some Lutheran churches.
There are four kinds of novenas: novenas of mourning, of preparation, of prayer, and the indulgenced novenas.
Besides the novena for the dead, the novena of preparation was found in the earlier part of the middle ages, but this was only before Christmas and only in Spain and France.
This had its origin in the nine months that the Lord was in His Blessed Mother’s womb, from the Incarnation to the Nativity.
At the same time as the novena of preparation, the proper novena of prayer arose among the faithful, it would seem, who in their need turned to the saints with a novena, especially to recover health.
As has been said, the simplest explanation of the Christmas novena is the nine months of Christ in the womb.
But for every novena of preparation, as also for every novena of prayer, not only the best explanation but also the best model and example was given by Christ Himself to the Church in the first Pentecost novena.
He himself expressly exhorted the Apostles to make this preparation.
And when the young Church had faithfully persevered for nine full days in it, the Holy Ghost came as the precious fruit of this first Christian novena for the feast of the establishment and foundation of the Church.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The reciprocal tariffs
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has once again proven his talent for making the indefensible... more
Weekend Cartoon
