Spiritual Food: Novenas

(This is my "Spiritual Food" entry for my parish's bulletin.)

From the Thursday on which Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven until the Sunday of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, St. Luke records that the Apostles were gathered together in prayer with Mary and over a hundred other disciples. (cf. Acts 1:1-2:1) These nine (Latin: novem) days marked the first novena of prayer in the Church.

Novenas are typically nine-day devotions to prayer for a particular intention, although there are also 30-day and "perpetual" novenas. Some consist of the same prayer for each day; some have a different prayer for each day. The Church established an official indulgenced novena for Pentecost, which asks for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Church also attaches an indulgence to novenas prayed before Christmas and the Immaculate Conception.

Novenas are not "Catholic superstition", so you should steer clear from novenas which guarantee to "work" if prayed X times a day and if you make X copies of the prayer. God and His saints are not "vending machines" and novenas, like all prayers, are meant to teach us perseverance in faith, trust in God, and acceptance of His will.

Sacraments: Confirmation

Confirmation (from Latin, meaning “strengthening”) is one of the three sacraments of Christian initiation, a personal Pentecost experience. It is not, as is often imagined, a “coming of age” or “reaching maturity” in the faith; in the Eastern Rites of the Church, Confirmation is received by infants. But it does perfect our bond with the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, and it makes us “Soldiers of Christ”, as St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote in his Catechetical lectures back in the 4th century.

The confirmed Christian is “sealed with the gift the Holy Spirit”, which imparts an indelible character that conforms the person more closely to Christ. The Catechism (#1303) teaches that this sacrament “gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross.”

Liturgy: Feast of the Holy Family

(I write brief tracts once every couple months for my parish's bulletin, for a section called "Spiritual Food". This one is running this weekend, for the Feast of the Holy Family.)

The Sunday during the Octave of Christmas – between Christmas and New Year's – is the Feast of the Holy Family. This feast day celebrates the Christ-child, his Blessed Mother, and her most chaste spouse.

The Holy Family is the ideal family, expressing true love and devotion to one another, but Scripture shows us that even they had hardships to endure, including an escape to Egypt, and Mary and Joseph leaving Jesus behind in Jerusalem. The model the Holy Family offers us is one that prays together, listens to one another, cares for one another, is patient with one another, and is attentive to God's will.

The readings for this day remind us of the values a family should strive for: honor, obedience, forgiveness, and love. Celebrate today with the Lord and his Holy Family, but celebrate it at home with your family as well, and grow together in holiness.