I heard that the Pope plans to visit to the United States in April, 2008.
The answer to that question, I found, was this (lifted in full from fisheaters.com—please God, don’t let them sue me): “Be aware that some uneducated persons think about Novenas in a superstitious manner. Any Novena instructions that include words such as, "say this prayer for 9 consecutive days and your wish will be granted to you," or that describe the Novena as "never fail" in some sense that would lead one to believe that we have God at our beck and call rather than our being His humble servants -- well, while the prayers themselves might (or might not) be OK, such instructions should be absolutely rejected.”
That answers the magic thing…more or less. Because, as Catholics, we’re not allowed to be superstitious, we’re not turning a novena into a magical incantation. And, we’re not expecting our Saint of choice (our intercessor) to jump through magical hoops to get God’s ear and make our wish come true. (At least, in theory. Though there is the common prayer to Saint Anthony, the Patron of Missing Car Keys and other stuff, too: Dear Saint Anthony, please come around, something is lost and can’t be found.*
(Light a candle) O admirable Saint Martha, I have recourse to thee and I depend entirely on thy intercession in my trials. In thanksgiving, I promise to spread this devotion everywhere. I humbly beg thee to console me in all my difficulties. By the immense joy that filled thy soul when thou didst receive the Redeemer of the world at thy home in Bethany, be pleased to intercede for me and my family, in order that we may keep God in our hearts and therefore, deserve to obtain the remedy to our necessities, especially the present situation that overwhelms me. (Mention your intentions here)I implore thee, O Auxiliatrice in all needs; help us to overcome our difficulties, thou who so victoriously fought the devil. Amen. Recite three times one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be, and the invocation "Saint Martha, pray for us."
Amen!
Now, I am not a good Catholic. In fact, whenever I write a short story, invariably I touch on something Catholic—things I question, things I find absurdly superstitious, medieval, or even oppressive.
But I still cling to those roots. I can’t help myself. In times of desperation—as do many—I turn back to the faith of my childhood. On my knees with the beads and the Hail Marys.
Recently I even surrendered to the most Catholic of Catholicisms. I performed a novena. My Saint of Choice was St. Martha. I chose her because my concern was my home and since Martha was the consummate homemaker and hostess, I thought she'd be the one to help me. You'd probably remember Martha as the woman who welcomed Jesus into her home, then waited on him until he told her to be like her sister Mary and sit down with him.
But I still cling to those roots. I can’t help myself. In times of desperation—as do many—I turn back to the faith of my childhood. On my knees with the beads and the Hail Marys.
Recently I even surrendered to the most Catholic of Catholicisms. I performed a novena. My Saint of Choice was St. Martha. I chose her because my concern was my home and since Martha was the consummate homemaker and hostess, I thought she'd be the one to help me. You'd probably remember Martha as the woman who welcomed Jesus into her home, then waited on him until he told her to be like her sister Mary and sit down with him.
(Which makes me think that Martha might have been a bit of a neat-freak. She was probably saying things like, "Jesus. Take your sandles off, I just swept the floor. Good. Now, sit here--no, not in that chair, this one. I just put a plastic slipcover on it...yes. Now, are you hungry? What do you mean, 'no', of course you're hungry. Let me get you something to eat...")
Martha's novena is prayed on nine consecutive Tuesdays and involves lighting a candle. You are supposed to pray it especially beginning 9 Tuesdays before 29 July, the Feast (aka special day) of St. Martha.
I started to wonder, somewhere about week two of my novena. Why don't Catholics (especially the good ones) seem to recognize this type of prayer to be a working of magic, comparable to something from a witch’s Book of Shadows? Mine even involves a form of candle magic!
The answer to that question, I found, was this (lifted in full from fisheaters.com—please God, don’t let them sue me): “Be aware that some uneducated persons think about Novenas in a superstitious manner. Any Novena instructions that include words such as, "say this prayer for 9 consecutive days and your wish will be granted to you," or that describe the Novena as "never fail" in some sense that would lead one to believe that we have God at our beck and call rather than our being His humble servants -- well, while the prayers themselves might (or might not) be OK, such instructions should be absolutely rejected.”
That answers the magic thing…more or less. Because, as Catholics, we’re not allowed to be superstitious, we’re not turning a novena into a magical incantation. And, we’re not expecting our Saint of choice (our intercessor) to jump through magical hoops to get God’s ear and make our wish come true. (At least, in theory. Though there is the common prayer to Saint Anthony, the Patron of Missing Car Keys and other stuff, too: Dear Saint Anthony, please come around, something is lost and can’t be found.*
(Poor Saint Anthony. He’s spending his eternity helping God’s Catholic kids find their misplaced crap—and as any mother can tell you [because we moms know where everybody’s dropped their stuff]—Anthony really is a saint. Would you want to spend eternity helping your kids find the stuff they didn’t care enough about to take care of in the first place? Yech.)
ANYHOW, novenas are not supposed to be performed like magickal incantations. Even when you follow the nine-day or three-day rule. Fisheaters.com put it this way: [The word novena] deriving from the Latin word "novem," meaning "nine," a novena is nine days' private or public devotion in the Catholic Church to obtain special graces. Though they are not part of our liturgy and remain a "popular devotion" (a very few are prayed paraliturgically), they've been prayed since the very beginning of the Church -- and before its official beginning: Mary and the Apostles prayed from His Ascension to the Pentecost, a period of nine days (Acts 1). Also, a nine-day period of supplication was a pagan Roman and Eastern practice, so novenas were easily accepted by the earliest converts in these lands. The Christian and Jewish meaning of the number "9" entered into Christian thinking on the matter, as "9" was associated with suffering, grief, and imperfection, making it a fitting number for when "man's imperfection turned in prayer to God" (Catholic Encyclopedia). St. Jerome wrote that "the number nine in Holy Writ is indicative of suffering and grief" (Ezechiel, vii, 24).Novenas, then, often, but not necessarily, have about them a sense of "urgency"; they are typically made for special intentions, one's own or another's ("I'll make a novena for you"). Novenas to certain Saints are often made according to that Saint's patronage; for ex., because of his New Testament letter encouraging Christians to persevere in the face of persecution, St. Jude is the patron of desperate situations and "hopeless" causes, so a person who finds himself or a loved one in a real tough bind might make a novena to St. Jude (by the way, it is traditional, after making a novena to St. Jude, to make a public expression of your gratitude. This is the reason for those mysterious thank you notes to St. Jude that you might see in your local newspaper's Classifieds section).
ANYHOW, novenas are not supposed to be performed like magickal incantations. Even when you follow the nine-day or three-day rule. Fisheaters.com put it this way: [The word novena] deriving from the Latin word "novem," meaning "nine," a novena is nine days' private or public devotion in the Catholic Church to obtain special graces. Though they are not part of our liturgy and remain a "popular devotion" (a very few are prayed paraliturgically), they've been prayed since the very beginning of the Church -- and before its official beginning: Mary and the Apostles prayed from His Ascension to the Pentecost, a period of nine days (Acts 1). Also, a nine-day period of supplication was a pagan Roman and Eastern practice, so novenas were easily accepted by the earliest converts in these lands. The Christian and Jewish meaning of the number "9" entered into Christian thinking on the matter, as "9" was associated with suffering, grief, and imperfection, making it a fitting number for when "man's imperfection turned in prayer to God" (Catholic Encyclopedia). St. Jerome wrote that "the number nine in Holy Writ is indicative of suffering and grief" (Ezechiel, vii, 24).Novenas, then, often, but not necessarily, have about them a sense of "urgency"; they are typically made for special intentions, one's own or another's ("I'll make a novena for you"). Novenas to certain Saints are often made according to that Saint's patronage; for ex., because of his New Testament letter encouraging Christians to persevere in the face of persecution, St. Jude is the patron of desperate situations and "hopeless" causes, so a person who finds himself or a loved one in a real tough bind might make a novena to St. Jude (by the way, it is traditional, after making a novena to St. Jude, to make a public expression of your gratitude. This is the reason for those mysterious thank you notes to St. Jude that you might see in your local newspaper's Classifieds section).
Or, those mysterious thank you notes found in a writer’s blog, for that matter. So be it. I still feel the need to say:
Thank you, St. Martha, for your intercession in my hour of need!
Thank you, St. Martha, for your intercession in my hour of need!
(Light a candle) O admirable Saint Martha, I have recourse to thee and I depend entirely on thy intercession in my trials. In thanksgiving, I promise to spread this devotion everywhere. I humbly beg thee to console me in all my difficulties. By the immense joy that filled thy soul when thou didst receive the Redeemer of the world at thy home in Bethany, be pleased to intercede for me and my family, in order that we may keep God in our hearts and therefore, deserve to obtain the remedy to our necessities, especially the present situation that overwhelms me. (Mention your intentions here)I implore thee, O Auxiliatrice in all needs; help us to overcome our difficulties, thou who so victoriously fought the devil. Amen. Recite three times one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be, and the invocation "Saint Martha, pray for us."Amen!
*Saint Anthony Prayer, v. 2: Tony, Tony, come around, something is lost and can't be found.
This is a less formal prayer, said by Catholics more intimately acquainted with the saint, and therefore allowed to refer to him as if he were a character in West Side Story**.
**If this were the case, would he go around singing, "MARIA! I just met a girl named Maria..."?
Oh, crap. I really am going to hell in a handbasket. Anyhow, Welcome to America, Benny!
1 comment:
Well, I'm definitely a Martha person, too. I miss the boat on the bigger picture, because I'm too concerned with mundane details.
Martha was BIGTIME neurotic. (But I still think her sister Mary could have helped in the kitchen a little bit) Sheesh.
LOL
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