Dear Lord,
Remember how I prayed for the couples who were trying to conceive? Glory be to God, many of them now are parents. Since that post, many visitors come to this website to see that post (web analytics for your greater glory!) It inspired me to start a novena for this Advent Season and pray for those people who are praying to have a baby, or praying for a smooth and healthy pregnancy.
I started a Facebook event for this novena. No one but me plans on going to this event. That’s okay. Only a few grains of salt are needed to change the taste of a bite of food. Let me be that grain of salt. You know the couples whom I hold in my heart who are still trying to conceive. If I may be so bold, may I ask the first fruits of these novena prayers go to them? Including the Vigil Mass that I offered for these intentions this past Saturday?
I know I am weak and that my prayers are imperfect. Look not on my sins, but on the perfect prayers of St. Gerard Majella. I am joining my novena prayers to his and I will be asking for his intercessions on behalf of those who are trying to conceive or want a healthy pregnancy. Thank you, Jesus, for the Communion of Saints. How lonely would our prayers lives be without our saints praying beside (and for) us!
I humbly ask you, dear Jesus, to grant the prayers of St. Gerard Majella. Bless those who visit this website, looking for someone to pray for them to conceive. They have St. Gerard, St. Therese, St. Joseph, St. Thomas More, St. Jose Maria Escrivá and myself. We pray for them. Hear our prayers and grant them the joys of parenthood. We ask this in your name, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
The actual Novena to St. Gerard Majella is at the following link:
http://lordcalls.com/prayers-to-saints/novena-to-st-gerard
Day One:
Saint Gerard, hear my prayers to Our Lord Jesus Christ. You are close to Him, and being the patron for those who hope to conceive, allow me to join my humble prayers with yours.
Recite the Hail Mary (nine times).
Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
Response: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
O Almighty and Everlasting God, who drew to Yourself Saint Gerard, even from his tender years, making him conformable to the Image of Thy Crucified Son, grant we beseech Thee, that by imitating his example, we may be made like unto the same Divine Image, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Day Two:
Dear Saint Gerard,
It is such an honor to get to know you. So many mothers in Italy and the United States have turned to you, trusting in your prayers to Our Lord Jesus Christ for the birth of their children. I turn to you, dear St. Gerard, to purify my prayers for couples who are trying to conceive. Take my prayers, dear Saint, and let them be heard by Our Lord.
Hail Mary… (x9)
O Almighty and Everlasting God, hear the prayers of St. Gerard and Our Blessed Mother. Take pity on us and help those couples who visit this site, looking for someone to pray for them. Hear our prayers, O Lord… Take pity on us.
St. Therese, pray for us; St. Joseph, pray for us; St. Thomas More, pray for us; St. Jose Maria Escrivá, pray for us.