Christmas Novena & Consecration to the Holy Family

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Christmas Novena Prayer

Last year a friend of mine gave me a Christmas Novena prayer card. I had never heard of this novena before and just tucked the card away in a book. As Advent neared, I had a prayer intention on my heart for my nephew and his wife, so I was inspired to do this novena for that intention.

I began praying this prayer and offered my specific intentions as I would any other novena. Then about ten days into it I realized something, which was so beautiful. I was praying for my nephew and his wife to be open to children; to start a family and be drawn back to Christ. The Christmas Novena is a prayer that looks beyond time, because God is outside of time, and asks God to hear our prayer for today, at the moment the Son of God was born into this world in Bethlehem so long ago. It also asks for the intercession of the Blessed Mother in that moment at the Nativity and offers our intentions to our Savior Jesus Christ who was born from her womb.

Once I fully realized what this prayer meant and what it was asking, I was filled with awe. This prayer essentially asks God to take our prayer intention out of the here and now and unite it with the Son of God and the Virgin Mary on the evening of the Nativity of Jesus. God who is outside of time is able to do this. To God, all things exist in the very same moment. There is no past or future, only now. Time is given to humanity in order for us to be able to relate to one another and to God. It allows us the ability to grasp the concept of God as we live hidden behind the veil in this world. So while we as humans exist in time, our prayers can be united outside of time and this Christmas Novena does just that.

My personal intentions last Christmas were most fitting for this very novena. The Holy Spirit knew this would be the perfect prayer for my nephew and his wife as it was asking the Holy Family in Bethlehem to pray for their family. As the Holy Family was so open to life, I prayed for them to be open to life. As the Holy Family was obedient to the Will of God, I prayed for them to follow the Lord.

God is so much more than we can fully wrap our minds around. He is certainly not limited by space and time, but He does use space and time to call us to Himself. He uses this world, including the Church, to reveal Himself to us and to lead us along our way to eternal life with Him. God’s only concern is that all of humanity will be brought into union with Himself. Our prayers for one another to be brought closer to the Lord are the ultimate act of charity. When we truly love the other, we will want nothing more for them than to experience the love of God and to desire to walk in His ways.

My nephew and his wife have since had a baby girl! I am still awaiting their return to the faith, but I pray for them often, trusting in God’s timing. Prayer is so powerful, yet totally unexpected in how and when our prayers come to fruition. As the Body of Christ we are intricately united to one another. Like any father, our Heavenly Father is so proud of us when we love our brothers and sisters in Christ so much so that we are willing to pray for them. We must never give up on prayer, no matter how much we think our prayers go unanswered. When I look back on my life, I can see how the prayers of my family changed my course and led me into the loving arms of God. For me this happened in very small unnoticeable ways, that my family may never fully know about in this life. But I do believe when we stand in front of Jesus at the end of our earthly lives, we will see it all. All of the effects of our prayers, both big and small, and the ripple it had upon the earth.

My affection for the Holy Family has definitely grown since praying this novena. It really showed me how intimate and dear those first moments of Jesus’ birth were for both Mary and St Joseph. They were able to gaze upon the Savior of the world, God made man, in that stable in Bethlehem, in the very first moments of His life on earth. It always makes me think of our humble act of adoration today when we sit with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration. Jesus gazes upon us and we gaze upon Him, much like Mary and St Joseph did that most holy night.

A friend of mine and I have recently put together a Consecration to the Holy Family. It can be started on the first day of any moth and it concludes on the 25th of that month. There are daily meditations and it is suggested that the family or the individual pray a daily rosary as well. Leading up to the consecration day are two days of abstinence and one day of fasting, in order to fully prepare both our bodies and our souls for the consecration. Here locally we are giving our parish, friends and families the opportunity to join us as a community for this Consecration to the Holy Family. If you are interested, you can email susancgskinner@gmail.com to be included in the daily meditations that will be emailed out. We start Dec 1, so be sure to sign up now!