In preparation for Christmas

Last night the seminary began the first of its nine night Novena in preparation for Christmas. This is a tradition dating back to the time when the Vincentians were in charge of operating the seminary. The Christmas Novena is a tradition of their order.

The Novena, which is at 7:30 pm each evening from Dec. 5th through Dec. 13th consists of chanting eight prophesies, singing a cantical, listening to a reading, a short homily, the singing of the Magnificat and concludes with prayer petitions and the Our Father. It last around 45 minutes each evening and includes the bulk of the students, who are singing in the choir, setting up before the Novena or serving in a ministry function during the Novena. As for myself, I am recording the Novena each evening and will be the acolyte on Dec. 12th.

The Novena is a good opportunity to prepare oneself for Christmas and to make Advent a special time. If you are able to attend one of the evening Novena's here in St. Louis, I encourage you and invite you to come. If you are not in St. Louis (most of my readers are from other parts of the country), you can participate in your own short Novena in preparation for Christmas. EWTN has a short Novena prayer that can be prayed for any nine consecutive nights between now and Christmas. You can find this Novena at: http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/novena/christmas.htm and I encourage you to prayer it with your family or on your own as a way to prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 19:47 | link | comments (1) |
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