Novena to St John the Baptist
On 24th June we will celebrate the great feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist: cousin of our Blessed Lord and His 'Forerunner', the last of the prophets to tell of His coming. St John is the principal patron of our Order. We will keep this feast with a solemn Mass at 6:30pm at Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, to which all are invited.
We invite all those of goodwill to join in praying a Novena of St John starting today (Saturday 15 June) and ending on Sunday 23 June, the vigil of the feast, praying for the Order and Our Lords the Sick and the Poor.
The Novena (which can be found on the p.190 of the Order' Prayerbook) traditionally has 3 parts to reflect the three phases of his life: (1) the time in the wilderness, (2) his preaching, (3) and finally his martyrdom.
O glorious Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those born of woman, although thou wast sanctified in thy mother's womb and didst lead a most innocent life, nevertheless it was thy will to retire into the wilderness, there to devote thyself to the practice of austerity and penance; obtain for us of thy Lord the grace to be wholly detached, at least in our hearts, from earthly goods, and to practice Christian mortification with interior recollection and with the spirit of holy prayer.
Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory Be...
O most zealous Apostle, who, without working any miracle on others, but solely by the example of thy life of penance and the power of thy word, didst draw after thee the multitudes, in order to dispose them to receive the Messias worthily and to listen to His heavenly doctrine; grant that it may be given unto us, by means of thy example of a holy life and the exercise of every good work, to bring many souls to God, but above all those souls that are enveloped in the darkness of error and ignorance and are led astray by vice.
Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory Be...
O Martyr invincible, who, for the honour of God and the salvation of souls didst with firmness and constancy withstand the impiety of Herod even at the cost of thine own life, and didst rebuke him openly for his wicked and dissolute life; by thy prayers obtain for us a heart, brave and generous, in order that we may overcome all human respect and openly profess our faith in loyal obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ, our Divine Master.
V. Pray for us, Saint John the Baptist
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.Let us pray.
O God, who hast made this day to be honourable in our eyes by the commemoration of blessed John the Baptist, grant unto Thy people the grace of spiritual joy, and direct the minds of all Thy faithful into the way of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.