Friday, May 11, 2018

A Perfect Storm of Novenas (Including Mary, Mother of the Church)

Here we are, the day after Ascension Thursday. (Yes, it was. Even if you are in a diocese that will celebrate Ascension on Sunday.)
  • It is the first day of the novena of Pentecost. (The original nine days of prayer were those days from the 40th day after Easter to the Jewish feast of Pentecost.)
  • It is the second day of the Pauline novena of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. (We celebrate her feast on the day before Pentecost.)
  • It is the day before the start of the novena of Mary, Mother of the Church. That feast will be celebrated for the first time this year on the Monday after Pentecost, thanks to Pope Francis.
What's a Catholic to do?

Well, here in the convent, we offered prayers to the Holy Spirit at morning prayer, and will sing our Marian novena in the evening. That will pretty much be our thing until next Saturday. You might consider something along the same lines. For example, you could pray a Chaplet of the Holy Spirit on the way to work, and a Rosary or other Marian prayer on the way home. Or you could pray with our sung Chaplet to the Holy Spirit* during one leg of your commute, and pray with our sung Marian novena (see video below) on your lunch break.



This is a sung Marian novena which is very suitable for preparing both for Pentecost and for the new feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. Confession: it is a section of our Pauline novena of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. You can find the novena texts we are singing here, along with supplemental Scripture citations and the official prayer for the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.



Download the Chaplet to the Holy Spirit from your favorite online music store; an online music purchase supports your favorite Media Nuns!
iTunes: Chaplet to the Holy Spirit
Amazon music: Chaplet to the Holy Spirit

*This Spotify streaming link will probably work on a desktop, but on mobile devices, only paid Spotify subscribers can listen to a specific song. The same seems to go for Google Play, where the Chaplet is accessible only as part of a "radio" playlist. Sorry!

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