As we approach
the beatification of Archbishop Romero on the weekend of Pentecost, we offer
the Novena
to the Holy Spirit of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori. Let us pray that
the Holy Spirit will continue to accompany the Church, as it did during the
Second Vatican Council and in meetings of the Latin American Bishops in from
Medellin to Aparecida. We also remember the 40th anniversary of the first
pastoral letter of Archbishop Romero, “The Holy Spirit in the Church”, this
Monday 18 May.
Please
join us in prayer and kindly forward this prayer request to your contacts.
Friday, May 15 - DAY 1:
We pray for the gift of fear of God
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of holy fear, so that it may act on me as a check to prevent
me from falling back into my past sins, for which I beg pardon.”
Reflection: “Mary
is the tenderness that is anxiously seeking for a solution. Mary is in the midst of our country that at
times appears like a dead end street, hoping that God will come to save
us. Hopefully we will imitate this Poor
Servant of Yahweh and experience the fact that without God we can do nothing
because God is the hope of our people and only Jesus Christ, the Divine Savior,
can be the Saviour of our nation.”
—Archbishop Romero, December 24, 1978
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Saturday, May 16 - DAY 2: We pray for the gift of piety
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of piety, so that I may serve You for the future with
increased ervor, follow with more promptness Your holy inspirations, and
observe your divine precepts with greater fidelity.”
Reflection: “How
can we, as men and women, live without praying?
How can a person spend a whole life without thinking of God? How can a person leave empty that capacity
for the divine and never fill it?” —Archbishop
Romero, August 13, 1978
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Sunday, May 17 - Day 3: We pray for the gift of knowledge
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of knowledge, so that I may know the things of God and,
enlightened by Your holy teaching, may walk, without deviation, in the path of
eternal salvation.”
Reflection: “In
addition to reading the Bible, which is the Word of God, a Christian, who is
faithful to this Word, must also read the signs of the times and enlighten them
with the Word.” —Archbishop Romero, October
30, 1977
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Monday May 18 - Day 4: We pray for the gift of strength
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of fortitude, so that I may overcome courageously all the
assaults of the devil, and all the dangers of this world which threaten the
salvation of my soul.”
Reflection: “If
our Archdiocese has become a diocese of conflict then there should be no doubt
that this has occurred because of the desire of our diocese to be faithful to
the new evangelization. As a result of
the Second Vatican Council and the meetings of the Latin American bishops, we
are being invited to carry out a fearless process of evangelization that leads
us to make a commitment.” —Archbishop
Romero, March 11, 1979
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Tuesday, May 19 - Day 5: We pray for the gift of counsel
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of counsel, so that I may choose what is more conducive to my
spiritual advancement and may discover the wiles and snares of the tempter.”
Reflection: “The
preacher not only teaches, but learns.
You teach me. Your attention is
also for me the Holy Spirit’s inspiration.
Your rejection would be for me God’s rejection ... Thanks to God, the Church in El Salvador can
speak and we pray that this voice of the Church can continue to speak out. When the Church speaks, she must proclaim the
truth, otherwise it would be better for her to remain silent.” —Archbishop Romero, July 16, 1978
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Wednesday, May 20 - Day 6: We pray for the gift of
intelligence
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of understanding, so that I may apprehend the divine
mysteries and by contemplation of heavenly things detach my thoughts and
affections from the vain things of this miserable world.”
Reflection: “My
sisters and brothers, do you want to know if your practice of Christianity is
authentic? Here is the touchstone: Who are your friends? Who criticizes you? Who flatters you?” —Archbishop Romero, November 13, 1977
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Thursday May 21 - Day 7: Let us pray for the gift of wisdom
Novena prayer: “Divine
Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I
adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and
saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the
grace which You never cease to bestow on me. O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such
immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to
grant me the gift of wisdom, so that I may rightly direct all my actions,
referring them to God as my last end; so that, having loved Him and served Him
in this life, I may have the happiness of possessing Him eternally in the next.”
Reflection: “All
those longings for justice, peace, and well-being that we experience on earth
become realized for us if we enlighten them with Christian hope. We know that no one can go on forever, but
those who have put into their work a sense of very great faith, of love of God,
of hope among human beings, find it all results in the splendors of a crown
that is the sure reward of those who labor thus, cultivating truth, justice,
love, and goodness on earth. Such labor
does not remain here below but, purified by God’s Spirit, is harvested for our
reward.” —Archbishop Romero, March
24, 1980
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Friday, May 22 - Day 8: Humble petition
Novena prayer: “Most
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Father of the poor, Consoler of the afflicted. Light
of hearts, and Sanctifier of souls, look upon us who lie prostrate in Thy
presence, adoring Thee with the profoundest worship. A thousand times we bless
Thee, and with the seraphim before Thy throne we cry Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus!
We firmly believe that Thou art eternal God, consubstantial with the Farther
and the Son. We hope in Thy goodness, to save and sanctify our souls. We love
Thee, O divine love, with all our affections, and above all created things; for
Thou art infinite goodness, and alone worthy of all love. How ungrateful have
we been towards Thee! how deaf to Thy holy inspirations! how often have we
offended Thee by actual sins! O blessed Spirit, we beg pardon of Thee with
tears in our eyes, and it is our greatest unhappiness to think that we have
ever offended Thee, our chief good.”
Reflection: “What
beautiful coffee groves, what fine wheat, sugar cane and cotton fields, what
farms, what lands God has given us!
Nature is so beautiful! But we
see it groan under oppression, under wickedness, under injustice, under abuse,
and the Church experiences its pain.
Nature looks for a liberation that will not be mere material well-being
but God’s act of power. God will free
nature from sinful human hands, and along with the redeemed it will sing a hymn
of joy to God the Liberator.” —Archbishop
Romero, December 11, 1977
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
Saturday, May 23 - Day 9: Offer and invocation
Novena prayer: “I
offer you my heart as cold as it is, and I beg you to let you a ray of your
light and a spark of your fire enter it, so as to melt the ice of its
iniquities. You are a divine spirit, strengthen me against the evil spirits;
you are a fire, enlighten me with the fire of love; you are a light, let me
know what is eternal; you are a dove, grant me the habits of purity; You are a
breath of sweetness, dissipate the storms that raise passions in me; you are a
language, teach me the way of relentless praise; you're a cloud, cover me with
the shadow of your protection. Author of all heavenly gifts! I beg you, give me
life by your grace, sanctify me with your love, and govern me with your wisdom,
Adopt me as your child and save me with your infinite mercy, that I never cease
to bless, to praise you and to love you, throughout my life on earth and later
in Heaven for all eternity.”
Reflection: “The
Church has no desire to make denunciations.
I, more than anyone else, experience a repugnance for having to speak
these things --- but I believe that it is my duty to do this, my duty to speak
the truth. Thus we must keep our eyes
wide open, our feet firmly planted on the earth and our hearts filled with the
gospel and God.” —Archbishop Romero,
August 27, 1978
Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be
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