CHRISTMAS (NATIVITY OF OUR LORD) NOVENA: DAY 5 (DECEMBER 20) – For all pregnant women, those who have experienced miscarriages, and especially those in labour at this period

INTRODUCTION

This fifth day of preparation for Christmas is centered on the person of Mary, her attitude, her docility, and her openness to God’s action. Before the manifestation of the Lord, the Virgin knew how to respond and correspond to God’s plan for her. Seeing Mary’s willingness and openness, may each one see how they are responding to the Father in their lives, and; thus, in these days leading up to Christmas, we can prepare ourselves interiorly for the Lord’s birth in our midst.

OPENING PRAYER

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Fr. Chinaka: Our help is in the name of the Lord
Participants: who made heaven and earth

Fr. Chinaka: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Participants: As it was, in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

God of infinite goodness, who loved us so much and who gave us in your Son the best offer of your love, so that, incarnated and made our brother in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, we would be adopted as sons and daughters of God. We give you thanks for such an immense benefit, and we offer you back, Lord, the sincere effort to make this your world and ours, a fairer world, more faithful to the great commandment to love one another as brothers and sisters. Grant us, Lord, your help to be able to accomplish it. We ask that this Christmas, a feast of peace and joy, be a stimulus for our community so that, living as brothers and sisters, we seek more and more the paths of truth, justice, love, and peace. (You may add your private petitions here) Amen.

SCRIPTURAL READING/MEDITATION: Luke 1: 26-38

The Gospel of the Lord

POINTS FOR MEDITATION

Go deeper into today’s gospel text, focus on Mary’s attitude, her reaction, what she says, what she does, and what she feels in her response.

PRAYER TO THE PREGNANT VIRGIN & SAINT JOSEPH

Oh Virgin Mother, we are beginning to prepare for your Son’s Nativity. We want to be with you to accompany you in these last days of your pregnancy. To share with you the joy that you feel in these moments, and thus learn from you how to correspond to the Lord, how to act according to his will, so that we may find joy, peace, and fulfillment in your Son, of the life that only He can give us. O Blessed Virgin and Mother, intercede for each one of us, ask your Son to help us live these days with the joy that you had in those moments of your Son’s birth. Amen.

Blessed Saint Joseph, husband of Mary and father of the Baby Jesus, you were chosen by the Almighty Father to be the Father and Guardian of His choicest Treasure, Christ our Redeemer, in the home of Nazareth. Help the fathers of families; may they always be in the home the image of the heavenly father, following your examples; may they fulfill the great responsibility of educating and forming their children, giving them, with a continuous effort, the best of themselves. Help children to understand and appreciate the unselfish efforts of their parents. Saint Joseph, husband, and father, intercede for us. Amen.

Pray 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, and 1 Glory be, seeking the intercessions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, while at the same time, contemplating on their “YES” in the mystery of Salvation (cf. Luke 1:26-38 and Matthew 1:19-24)

LITANY OF THE INFANT JESUS

(Short invocations)

Divine Baby Jesus, Bless us
Our Judge, forgive us
Well of Kindness, Feed Our Faith
Our hope, Sustain us
Our Protector, Defend us
Source of Our life, Refresh us
Alpha and Omega, stay with us
Divine Baby Jesus, in you we trust

LET US PRAY:

Lord Jesus Christ, we give You thanks for the testimony and example You left us of Your Blessed Mother. Thank You, Lord, because the Blessed Virgin Mary shows us the way to live our life of faith through our daily and persevering “YES” to God’s will. Lord, we ask that you help us to have the same attitudes as Mary. Grant Lord that we believe, that we trust in You, that we let ourselves be guided by Your Holy Spirit so that You can carry out Your saving work in us. Lord, help us to live what You ask of us, and may we always say with joy and trust like Your Blessed Mother: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your Word”. Amen.

CONCRETE ATTITUDE (Christmas Challenge)

– Make some concrete gestures or attitudes during the day in the spirit of Christmas. It could be that relative, friend, mentor, Priest, etc., who must have influenced or guided you through this year in making you persevere in your “YES” to God in prayers and Christian spirituality, as Mary did. Reach out to them and let them know how they have imparted in your life and assure them of your prayers… May it be a period of graces, testimonies, and abandonment into the hands of the Lord, so that He may carry out His salvific work in each of us.

CONCLUDING PRAYER/BLESSING

Dear Baby Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour, You are descended from David, from Abraham; You have assumed our history, forming part of it. In the fullness of time, You wanted to be born of a woman and be one of us, to show us the great and beautiful value of having a Mother, a family, people of the same bloodline, with whom to share life, being loved and supported. Dear Baby Jesus, you who had a family, we beseech you to bless ours and grant that parents have feelings of self-giving, of love and affection, of interest and sensitivity, that they love each other and live for each other, and may this love be showered on the children at all times. Baby Jesus, bless every family and fill them with love and tenderness, as you had from your Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. Amen.

Fr. Chinaka: The Lord be with you
Participants: And with your Spirit

Through the intercessions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, may the Baby Jesus (Christ Our Lord) born in a stable at Bethlehem, bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Fr. Chinaka: Peace be with you
Participants: And with your Spirit