Thank you to everyone who joined us in the nine day novena prayer to St. Jude. I know that he will continue to pray for us, as I'm sure you will, too.
And to celebrate St. Joseph's feast day today - I hope some of you will get this tonight - we are starting a new novena to him that can be found here. And as always, you are invited to join us in prayer, even if you don't begin today.
Today we wrote our petitions down and placed them before the altar of St. Joseph that a local church set up. The tradition of setting up an altar full of flowers, sweets and breads began when people in Sicily asked for his intercession during a famine and after they were sustained, they offered up crops in thanksgiving to him in the form of breads, desserts, and meatless dishes - because it was during Lent.
I know that your prayers and those of the saints are sustaining us now, and I look forward to the future when we can celebrate and feast in the blessings and provisions of God our Father.
But let it be known, that we do not think of these novenas as magic. Our desire is to join these virtuous men and women in heaven in prayer, both for our needs and the needs of others. Novenas are really a call to devotion and discipline, and to model our lives after the holy ones. Even though our house did not sell this week when our St. Jude novena ended, our lives are hopefully that much closer to looking like St. Jude's and our hearts are full of the confidence that this holy man is thinking and praying for us. When I was searching for a novena to recite for St. Joseph, I came across this hot mess and it's missing the point all together and casts a bad light on those who's desire is to honor, not disgrace. So please keep this in mind as you pray for us, and may your prayers, as well as mine, come from a pure and holy place.
St. Jude, Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
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