Novena to Saint Joseph - Day 2 -

DAY TWO

O blessed Saint Joseph,
tenderhearted father,
faithful guardian of Jesus,
chaste spouse of the Mother of God,
we pray and beseech thee to offer to God the Father,
His divine son,
bathed in blood on the Cross for sinners,
and through the thrice Holy Name of Jesus
obtain for us of the eternal Father
the favor for which we implore thy intercession
(here our request..)

Amid the splendors of eternity,
forget not the sorrows of those who pray,
those who weep;
stay the almighty arm which smites us,
that by thy prayers and those of thy most Holy and Immaculate Spouse,
the Heart of Jesus may be moved to pity and to pardon.
Amen

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

Novena to Saint Joseph - Day 1 -

O great Saint Joseph, with feelings of unlimited confidence,
we beg thee to bless this Novena that we begin in thy honor.
O glorious Saint Joseph,
faithful follower of Jesus Christ,
to thee we raise our hearts and hands
to implore thy powerful intercession
in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus
all the helps and graces necessary
for our spiritual and temporal welfare,
particularly for the grace of a happy death
and the special prayer petition we now request
(here our request ..)
O guardian of the Word Incarnate,
we feel animated with confidence that thy prayers
in our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.
Glorious Saint Joseph,
through the love thou bear to Jesus Christ
and for the Glory of His Name,
hear our prayers and obtain our petitions.
Amen.

Today is the Feast of Saint Ignatius of Antioh , Bishop and Martyr ( according with the true Catholic Liturgical Year - before the Vatican 2's reformations )

We begin the month of February on this First Saturday Devotion and the Eve of the Purification tomorrow, by celebrating a Holy Bishop who willingly gave his life for Christ at the hands of the voracious lions, aware of Saint Peter's words in his First Epistle, chapter five, verse 8: "Be sober and watch: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour."
The Holy Bishop and Martyr Saint Ignatius of Antioch, like Saint Polycarp, was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle . The Tradition says as well that - when Saint Ignatius was a little child - he was held on the knee of Our Lord when the Savior spoke the words "Suffer the little children to come unto Me." During the persecution of Trajan he was condemned to death and sent in chains to Rome. While on the way he wrote letters to various churches which are precious documents for our Faith. He rejoiced when he heard the roaring of the lions set loose to devour him, exclaiming: "I am the wheat of Christ: may I be ground by the fangs of wild beasts and become bread agreeable to my Lord!" He died a noble martyr in Rome on October 17 around 107 A.D. He is commemorated every day in the prayer which precedes the Pater Noster, known as the "Great Intercession" - the Nobis quoque peccatoribus.

Oremus/ Let us pray :

Look upon our weakness, O Almighty God: and because we are weighed down beneath the burden of our own deeds, let the glorious intercession of blessed Ignatius, Thy Martyr and Bishop, shield us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Today - the Feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle , Ember Friday

from the Liturgical Year, 1870

This is the last Feast the Church keeps before the great one of the Nativity of her Lord and Spouse. She interrupts the Greater Ferias in order to pay her tribute of honour to Thomas, the Apostle of Christ, whose glorious martyrdom has consecrated this twenty-first day of December, and has procured for the Christian people a powerful patron, that will introduce them to the divine Babe of Bethlehem. To none of the Apostles could this day have been so fittingly assigned as to St. Thomas. It was St. Thomas whom we needed; St. Thomas, whose festal patronage would aid us to believe and hope in that God whom we see not, and who comes to us in silence and humility in order to try our Faith. St. Thomas was once guilty of doubting, when he ought to have believed; and only learnt the necessity of Faith by the sad experience of incredulity: he comes then most appropriately to defend us, by the power of his example and prayers, against the temptations which proud human reason might excite within us.

Let us pray to him with confidence. In that heaven of Light and Vision, where his repentance and love have placed him, he will intercede for us, and gain for us that docility of mind and heart, which will enable us to see and recognise Him, who is the Expected of Nations, and who, though the King of the world, will give no other signs of His majesty, than the swaddling-clothes and tears of a Babe.

Prayer:

O glorious Apostle Thomas! who didst lead to Christ so many unbelieving nations, hear now the prayers of the faithful, who beseech thee to lead them to that same Jesus, Who, in five days, will have shown Himself to His Church. That we may merit to appear in His divine presence, we need, before all other graces, the light which leads to Him. That light is Faith; then, pray that we may have Faith. Heretofore, our Saviour had compassion on thy weakness, and deigned to remove from thee the doubt of His having risen from the grave; pray to Him for us, that He will mercifully come to our assistance, and make Himself felt by our heart. We ask not, O holy Apostle! to see Him with the eyes of our body, but with those of our faith, for He said to thee, when He showed himself to thee: Blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed!

Of this happy number, we desire to be. We beseech thee, therefore, pray that we may obtain the Faith of the heart and will, that so, when we behold the divine Infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes and laid in a manger, we may cry out: My Lord! and my God!

Pray, O holy Apostle, for the nations thou didst evangelise, but which have fallen back again into the shades of death. May the day soon come, when the Sun of Justice will once more shine upon them. Bless the efforts of those apostolic men, who have devoted their labours and their very lives to the work of the Missions; pray that the days of darkness may be shortened, and that the countries, which were watered by thy blood, may at length see that kingdom of God established amongst them, which thou didst preach to them, and for which we also are in waiting. Amen

Novena to the Feast of Saint Nicholas Glorious Confessor of Christ

Saint Nicholas, Glorious Confessor of Christ, assist us in thy loving kindness.

Glorious St. Nicholas, my special Patron from thy throne in glory, thou dost enjoy the presence of God, turn thine eyes in pity upon me and attain for me from our Lord the graces and help that I need in my spiritual and temporal necessities (and especially this humble prayer intention provided that it be profitable to my salvation).
Be mindful likewise, O Glorious and Saintly Bishop, of our Sovereign Pontiff of our Holy Church and of all Christian people.
Bring back to the right way of salvation all those who are living steeped in sin, blinded by darkness of ignorance, error and heresy 
Saint Nicholas comfort the afflicted, provide the needy.
Strengthen the fearful, defend the oppressed, give health to the infirm.
Cause all people to experience the benefits of thy powerful intercession
with the supreme giver of every good and perfect gift. Amen.

~ Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be to the Father. ~

Pray for us Blessed Saint Nicholas, that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray,

O God who has glorified Blessed Saint Nicholas, Thine illustrious Confessor and Bishop, by means of countless signs and wonder, and who does not cease daily so to glorify him , grant we beseech Thee, that we, being assisted by his merits and prayers, be delivered from the fires of hell and from all dangers through Christ our Lord. Amen.