Saturday, August 19, 2006

Novena to St. Monica starts today

St. Monica's feast day is August 27. In case you don't know, St. Monica is the mother of St. Augustine. Augustine was the original enfant terrible who famously lapsed from the faith. He credits the intercessory prayers of his mother with bringing him back to the Church. Indeed everything we know about St. Monica was told to us by Augustine.

Today I'm starting a novena for the lapsed members of my family and yours. The prayer I'm posting here is different than the one a few entries below. Whatever prayer you choose will be OK. Pray for the members of your family who have lapsed from the faith.


Novena To Saint Monica

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,
You perseveringly pursued your wayward son
Not with wild threats
But with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day
So that they may learn
To draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain
Close to their children,
Even the prodigal sons and daughters
Who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St Monica, troubled wife and mother,
Many sorrows pierced your heart
During your lifetime.
Yet you never despaired or lost faith.
With confidence, persistence and profound faith,
You prayed daily for the conversion
Of your beloved husband, Patricius
And your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude,
Patience and trust in the Lord.
Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,
That God may favorably hear my plea
For

(mention your petition here)

And grant me the grace
To accept his will in all things,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

pray for my neice Michelle. who has lost her way from God in Drugs, alcohol and homosexuality.

Anonymous said...

Pray for my children Marybeth that she turn from her immoral path and for Paul to be financially responsible.

Amy Giglio said...

St. Monica, pray for Michelle, Marybeth, and Paul!

Anonymous said...

Pray for m son who is so angry and guarded. he is removed from family and most of his friends. Pray he find his way back to our Lord and his loving and forgiving ways.

Amy Giglio said...

St. Monica, please intercede for Anon.'s son.

Anonymous said...

Please pray for my son, Christopher, that he will return to the faith, that his wife, Nicole will convert to the faith, and that they will have their baby daughter, Brooklyn, baptized. Also, please pray for my daughters, Amanda, that she will stay in the faith and choose to be confirmed, and Bethany, that she will remain a strong and steadfast Catholic. Thank you and bless you!

Amy Giglio said...

St. Monica, please pray for Leighann's family.

You know, everyone, you can do the novena at any time, not just in the 9 days leading up to St. Monica's feast day.

Anonymous said...

Glorious St. Monica, please pray for my 20 year old son that he will be extricated with his whole heart and mind from engulfment in a relationship which is extremely damaging to him and to his development.

Amy Giglio said...

St. Monica, please pray for Anon's son...

Anonymous said...

Please pray for my husband who has left the faith and has done horrible things to tear our family apart. I would like to see him become the man God intended him to be. We have two sons who need him.

Anonymous said...

Please, St. Monica, pray for me and ask your son to do the same.

Anonymous said...

pray for my brother who is caught up in the web of lies he has told in the past, addicted to porn and in a damaging relationship.

Anonymous said...

Pray for my husband, my daughters and me. Please also pray for my marriage. My husband has mental illness and sexual addiction. The hardest thing I had to do in my life was to tell him he must leave our house -- he must face the consequece of an 8 year affair with a stripper/prositute that spiraled into a life away from my daughters and me and filled with many other strippers/prostitutes. I do not know God's plans or the ultimate outcome -- I'll leave that in his hands. Pray that God's will be done.

It is so fitting that I attend St Monica parrish. I will be praying the novena too!

Anonymous said...

St. Monica, please pray for my husband who has left the faith. May he be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. He has left to work abroad and it has been a year now that we do not have any communication. I am so much troubled. Please intercede for us and and ask God to save our marriage. I do not know God's plan for us. Please ask your Son, to pray for us too....
anonymous

elizabeth said...

St. Monica, pray for our daughter Emily. She loves Jesus, but needs to return to the Church and to responsible behavior. She would be so much happier.

Unknown said...

I will make this novena for my children who are victims of divorce, and a lapsed mother, and have left the faith. One is living in sin. I will unite my prayers with all who have left an intention here. Thankyou for this blog! JMJ 24/5/09

Anonymous said...

Please pray for my children's father who has left our family and left his faith as well....help him find his way back so that he can be a good example for his children instead of teaching them to stray...it is hard to do it alone!K

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all the Faith and prayers of all of you. Please pray for my son, Alex, who returned from Iraq, angry and away from his faith. He needs a healing and delieverance urgently. He is expecting a first child. Pls pray that his life will be turned around to God's ways.
I have recently become widow and this family needs God's intervention.

Bless all of you.

CM

Elizabeth said...

Please St Monica pray for my son and nephew. My son is desperate to join the army after university and I am so worried. My nephew drinks too much and cannot find a job.

Deborah said...

St Monica the world needs so much direction. Help us all to not be discouraged but to have the faith and courage to continue our journey as you taught us. With you, St. Augustine and all the Saints guide all our loved ones home with Jesus. Send abundant blessings to all who have shared their sufferings on this sight.

Anonymous said...

Saint Monica on your feast day today I wish to bring my son to you. Give him the wisdom to choose a Catholic girl as his life partner.

Anonymous said...

God and St. Monica, I pray for you to intercede for Kinsey and her well being. Restore health in mind, body and spirit. Grace her with solid life direction, discernment, success in grades and education, many scholarships, winnings of pageants and Godly friends. Remove what is bad in her life and help Kinsey realize what is happening. Help Kinsey to come to her senses and return home. She is only 17 years old and can not manage her life. Help and touch her heart to go to the DA to stop these criminal charges against me that she put into action. Help her to find her life partner after college who is of the faith and values and morals she was raised with and bless their relationship. If she chooses a relationship now, place a good person of faith into her life. Help Kinsey to love her mother and understand a mother's love and sacrifice. Help Kinsey to forgive and to be forgiven.
Dear God and St. Monica, Kinsey has turned from the ways of Christ and His Church, under your protection. Let her remember to always remain faithful to her Baptismal vows. Give her the strength to walk always in the ways of the Lord, despite the temptations and false values she find in the world today.
Dear St. Monica, once the sorrowing mother of a wayward son, please present my novena petitions before God in whose presence you stand. Remember, dear St. Monica, the joy that flooded your heart when Augustine, the son of your prayers and tears, turned his life over to the Lord. Obtain for me, if it be His holy will, the graces I request through your intercessory power, that me and Kinsey may experience the happiness of answered prayer. Amen. Amen.

Anonymous said...

Dear St. Monica, please intercede for my sons, brothers, nephew's, brother's in-law to be able to give up drinking & for those in our family who have wondered away from Jesus to hear Jesus voice calling them & to have the strength,courage & faith to be able to avoid temptations & turn back to Jesus. through your intercession & in Jesus name I pray....Amen.

Anonymous said...

Dear St Monica, please intercede for my brother who is struggling to give up drinking. Pray that he will be given the strength to fight his addiction every day. Amen.

Anonymous said...

Dear St. Monica,

Please pray for the Conversion to the Catholic Faith of my boyfriend, Michael G. And also pray for the grace for him to be enlightened, so as NOT anymore to entertain any other women online, as these can cause him to be undecisive, divided in his attention & focus, unfaithful and disturbed.

I trusts in your loving & kind Motherly Intercession for these specific petitions of mine.

MAY GOD BE GLORIFIED THROUGH YOUR INTERCESSIONS.

AMEN. AMEN. AMEN.

Anonymous said...

Dear St Monica, I ask for your intercession for my daughter Dorothy. please help her faith to grow and keep her spirit strong. Help her to successfully complete her PA program and expedite her legal issues. I ask this through Christ my Lord. Amen

Anonymous said...

I earnestly ask all of you to help me pray for my son Stephen! He needs to find God again, he needs to find joy and strength in his God given talent. Let him find the right direction and make right decisions about his life and his health. I ask this through your pervent prayers and with God's help . Amen!