CHRISTMAS (NATIVITY OF OUR LORD) NOVENA: DAY 9 (DECEMBER 24) – For married couples seeking the ‘fruit of the womb’, may the Preganant Blessed Virgin visit them

INTRODUCTION

On the evening of this day is the ‘Happy Night.’ Tomorrow is Christmas. We have reached the end of our preparation, it is time for celebration. The Virgin will give birth to the Son of God and will name him Jesus. Today is a day of thanksgiving because tonight we celebrate the greatest mystery of our faith, which is the fact that the Only Begotten Son of Almighty and Eternal God took on our human nature and became one of us. Today, we celebrate the center of history, God in our midst, giving us joy and peace with His presence and His love.

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: 1:67-79

The Gospel of the Lord

POINTS FOR MEDITATION

Go deeper into today’s gospel text, observe the song of praise of Zachariah after having regained his power of speech, and ask God for the grace to always remain faithful when favoured by God.

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, today the liturgy presents us with the song of Zechariah, which manifests what your love is, and your ways which are different from ours. You keep what you promise and do everything for love, our infidelity doesn’t count for you, but you continue to love us and be faithful, even without being loved. Lord, on this Holy Night, when we will celebrate Christmas, we ask You to help us appreciate what it means to have faith in You. May each of us renew our faith tonight, and may we never tire of thanking you, because you are a formidable and exceptional God, unique, full of love and tenderness, a God who does even the impossible to show how much he loves us. Lord, renew us in your love, fill us with joy like Your Most Holy Mother, and may the singing of angels flood our hearts and make us experience Your peace and joy. Lord, may we feel tonight the joy of heaven. Amen.

CONCRETE ATTITUDE (Christmas Challenge)

– Today is the ideal day to pardon that person who hurt you so much. Ask the Baby Jesus to grant you peace as you pardon the ills of another. In doing so, may love be greater than anything that has been experienced. May today be a day of joy and peace!

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