Several months ago, Jen Fulweiler posted a link to a website call PrayMoreNovenas, inviting others to join her in praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit. (A novena is a set of prayers prayed over the course of a few days, focusing on specific prayer intentions.) Even though I’m not Catholic, I signed up for the mailing list anyway, curious about the novena, because Jen writes about it almost every year as a really powerful experience. I prayed the novena every day this spring, and it was actually one of the coolest experiences of my life. There was just something amazing and – I don’t know – unifying, about praying the exact same thing that thousands of other people around the world were praying, and knowing that God was listening – to all of us.
Since then, a handful of other novenas have popped into my inbox, but I have to confess that I have a really hard time connecting with them in the same way. The Novena of the Holy Spirit included prayers that addressed God directly, but most of the other novenas I’ve read don’t do that. (I’ve never taken the time to truly investigate why Catholics believe in patron saints and praying to Mary and things like that, but if you’re Catholic and reading this, I would really love to hear your thoughts on all this!)
This week, the novena popping up in my inbox daily is the St. Jude Novena. St. Jude is credited with having written the book of Jude in the New Testament, which talks – in part – about perseverance. It seems he is the saint that people pray to in the face of impossible situations.
I can see how having someone advocating for you in heaven when all seems lost could be a really comforting thing – but this is the main question I have about this particular practice of the Catholic faith: why would you need that? You already have Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, interceding for and advocating for you. Why would you need a saint to pray for you?
Of course, maybe that begs the question of why we pray for each other, too… except that the Bible tells us to do so. But I’ve yet to find a verse that says I need to ask anyone to talk to God on my behalf. Jesus entered the Holy of Holies once for all of us, and the curtain between God and men was torn in half. People have been petitioning God directly about even “impossible” things at least since the days of Abraham (if not before then) – why, with the blood of Jesus covering us, would we need to rely on someone else’s prayers to hear from God, when we have complete access to His presence already, 24/7?
To my Catholic readers – please hear me: these are honest questions, and I truly am interested in your thoughts and perspectives if you would be so kind as to share them.
But in the meantime, I’ve found myself in a bit of a quandary every morning this week, as I opened the emails with each day’s prayers: unable to pray them because as a Protestant, I just can’t, but identifying with the heart behind the prayers – knowing that I have Catholic brothers and sisters who are, with different words, saying the same thing I am about every difficult and impossible thing we face (as the Church universal and as individuals): God, we need You.
So how do I, a Protestant, pray in unity with my Catholic friends, for their prayer intentions and my own?
Well, I found myself reading thru the emails this week and trying to find ways to pray the same sorts of things these daily prayers do, but in a way that that is truer to how I pray. And so I offer you a revision of the St. Jude Novena – for Protestants. I’ll be praying this daily through the end of this novena:
Lord Jesus – Saviour, Redeemer, and faithful friend – who sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us – I know You are the One who holds the solutions to even the most desperate, hopeless and impossible situations. I don’t even know what to pray right now – but I know You do.
Your Word says that the Spirit of God intercedes for us in accordance with Your will. You know every detail of my situation, and You know how to bring me through it. God, I really need Your help. Show me what to do; lead me in Your ways.
Lord Jesus, comfort me. You are my help and my shield, and I wait for Your deliverance with hope.
Thank You, Father, that as difficult as this is, there will be a day when it is no longer like this. Thank You for the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. And thank You for Jesus, –Emmanuel, God with us – here and now. I am not alone, for You are with me, always.
God, this is my situation, and this is what I hope You will do about it: (state your intentions)
but I ask that You would answers my prayers in the way that is best, and give me the grace to see how You are at work in my life, even through this. Help me to see Your purpose in this trial and to be open to what You have to say about it – even if it is not the answer for which I hope. I know that Your ways are best, even when I do not understand them.
You have given me so much already, God – life and salvation and (name some of the ways in which He has already blessed You). I choose to put my trust in You, knowing You have never forsaken those who seek You.
You are my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. – Psalm 46:1 (NIV)
But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay. – Psalm 40:17 (NIV)
Amen.
image credit: ©Depositphotos.com / peshkova
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Stitchwort
October 25, 2014As a 40+-year convert to Catholicism from Protestantism, I’ll take a stab at this.
Strictly speaking, no, you don’t NEED to go through the saints; you can indeed go directly to Jesus. But we are in a community of believers, not in isolation. Just as you want to–and do–pray for family and friends here on earth who need prayers, the holy souls who are already in heaven can and want help us who are still on earth by their prayers.
I myself, and I suspect all Catholics with a serious prayer life, frequently pray directly to Jesus. But we do not see death as quite the absolute barrier Protestants tend to. When we have a serious concern–sickness, job loss, whatever, we can not only ask our friends here on earth to pray with us–to God–for our intention, but we can also ask the saints in Heaven to join in praying to God for our need. Since they are in heaven their prayers can be more powerful than ours.
Heb. 12:1 describes us as being “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”. The author of this inspired book is speaking of the saints and angels; a “witness” is one who sees and testifies. Catholics understand this verse as meaning that those who have gone before us can see and be aware of our needs and pray for us.
Rev. 5:8 speaks of “clouds of incense–the prayers of the saints” being offered before the throne of God. So the saints in heaven do pray. and we believe that, just as when they were still on earth, they offer not only prayers of praise and worship, but of petitions for our needs.
(RSV-CE edition of the Bible.)
The Catholic Church has held this since the early days of Christianity. It is part of the Communion of Saints
Hope this helps you understand why we believe as we do!
Happy
October 25, 2014Stitchwort – thank you so much for your thoughtful response; this does help! I really appreciate your perspective on this.
I would love to hear more of your story, if you’d be willing to share it, about how/why you converted to Catholicism. I had a good friend in college who converted as well, and on the few occasions I’ve been able to attend Mass, I’ve found so much beauty and holiness in the experience.
If you would be willing to share but would prefer not to do so publicly in the comments here, please feel free to email me directly at simplefelicity7 (at) gmail (dot) com.
Thanks again!
Sara
October 27, 2014thoughts:
I was just going to tell you how much I appreciated your novena-for-Protestants post. you articulated some things that I very much agree with. Whether or not Catholics *say* it’s just like asking someone here on earth to pray for them . . .
1. I think it reinforces the attitude that Jesus is not sufficient
2. It reinforces the idea that one Christian’s prayers are more “effective” than another’s–something I find pretty dubious. As if we were ranked and God loved one of his children more than another and
3. praying for each other is part of being in community–it’s about opening our lives to each other, and being vulnerable to each other, and carrying each other along. And yet, there’s no way for us to *do* any of that *for* the saints-who-have-gone-before. We can’t “return the favor.”
Also have some thoughts on whether the idea of patron saints is tied into and historically connected with the Roman patronage system.
You’ve got me thinking.
Stitchwort
October 29, 2014Sara, those are some of the standard Protestant objections. I do not personally find them convincing. However, the purpose of my post was to try to answer Happy’s plea for an explanation of the Catholic view, not to engage in a futile combox debate over which of us is right.
I do wish that Protestants would recognize that we pray to the saints in addition to praying to Jesus, rather than instead of.
Happy
October 29, 2014Stitchwort, thanks again for sharing your perspective – I have a friend who emailed me a link to the part of the catechism that talks about prayer, and I’m looking forward to reading more in depth about this soon. It’s helpful, your statement that Protestants don’t recognize that Catholics pray to saints in addition to Jesus – I think that’s true, mostly because it isn’t the myth perpetuated by the media. Most of what I know about Catholicism I know from books and movies and events in the news, and a couple of random religion classes in college – not from actual practicing Catholics. It’s become clearer to me, reading Jen Fulweiler’s blog over the past few years (and then her book this year), that there is so much I don’t know that I would like to. I appreciate you taking the time to explain things to a total stranger on the internet!
Sara has been one of my best friends for more than 1/2 our lives, and she’s a philosopher and a student of Roman history, among many other things. She was thinking “out loud” directly to me, and I invited her to post her thoughts in hope that it would generate further conversation.
In truth, we’re probably all right about some things and all wrong about others – and I think one of the wonderful things about the diversity of the body of Christ is the way the Holy Spirit can use our conversations to challenge each other to grow, and to encourage one another along the way. I appreciate the encouragement you’ve brought me in your willingness to teach me what you know.
Peace be with us, friends.
Christina
September 18, 2018Thank you for posting this! I was looking for an ecumenical novena to pray with friends of many different denominations.
Happy
September 18, 2018Christina, I am so glad that this was helpful to you; thanks for letting me know!
Kember Beaupré
March 23, 2019Hello,
Wondering how your thoughts on prayer have evolved over the past few years since first writing this? My husband and I are recent converts from Protestantism to the Catholic Church and very thankful for the richness and grace of these ‘cloud of witnesses’. To respond to your friend Sara, yes, we normally go to friends to ask for prayer for us, whom we trust have a deeper prayer life and are close to the Lord. I don’t usually ask friends who are not living in greater union with Christ or who seem to not pray very much ! It comes from James 5 “the prayers of a righteous man avail much”..hence novenas and asking prayers of those closest to Christ, already in heaven. I was looking for a good novena and ran into your blog, thanks !
Happy
April 10, 2019Hi, Kemper! Thanks so much for your comment, and apologies for the delay in reply! You ask a very good question – how *have* my thoughts on prayer evolved? I think in some ways, my prayers are a lot simpler than they used to be – Anne Lamott wrote a lovely little book called “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers” which I found very helpful. My faith and perspective continue to evolve (I hope this never stops) and I think I am a lot more comfortable with mystery and ambiguity than I used to be – there is a lot I don’t know about God and prayer (and even myself) and I am okay with the not-knowing most of the time, which has not always been true.
I still have a deep curiosity about how other people interact with their faith and with God (I love it when new friends like yourself swing by to chat!) and value deeply the wisdom found in various streams Judeo-Christian thought. My father passed away last November, and I discovered very quickly that evangelical Christianity does not have a good framework for grief. But orthodox Judaism does, and so I have been praying a Jewish prayer called the Kaddish for the past few months, and will continue to do so for the next year. It’s been a fascinating experience; I plan to write about it in mid-May (which will be about the halfway point). Putting the experience into language may be tricky, but I plan to try!
Thanks again for stopping by, and for asking such an insightful question.
Danna Brauburger
December 3, 2019To address the grief issue-GriefShare.org is a wonderful place to find some resources to help you through this time. They offer a free daily email that walks you through the first year of grief and give you some tools and scriptures to help. Plus many churches offer their 13 week sessions that go more in depth and were extremely helpful after my husband died. May God continue to be close to you at this time.
C Pea
June 21, 2021I’m just finding this post in 2021 and my thoughts and feeling are EXACTLY as Felicity offers at the beginning of her commentary. I love love love to pray Novenas to Jesus but have found in my catholic prayer group that 90% of the prayers we do each day are to saints and I have a hard time connecting with that. I’m interested in learning more about how to reconcile the “differences”. Is there a group of Catholics (or Protestants) that regularly pray Novena’s to Christ, or God, or the Holy Spirit?
Joyful
January 11, 2022Hi Happy, was wondering if the experience of those Novenas converted you to Roman Catholicism?