St. John of the Cross Novena 2021: Introduction

NOVENA INTRODUCTION

What profit is there in anything that is not the love of God?

Saint John of the Cross
Ascent of Mount Carmel III, 30:5

In our 2021 Novena to Saint John of the Cross, we will journey along the path of self-denial and love of the cross as he did with one goal in mind: to grow in the union of love with God who is Love. Each day we will present a short scripture passage and a brief selection from the collected works of this great Doctor of the Church, followed by the novena prayer. We invite you to prayerfully reflect in silence for a few moments on both the biblical reading and the quote from St. John of the Cross. Ask the Holy Spirit and the Mystical Doctor, St. John to accompany you in your prayer and guide you in your reflection. Then, with a grateful heart pray the novena prayer.

As always, you are welcome to join us every day or any day throughout this novena. You will find the links to the meditations as the novena progresses and you may return to this blog post throughout the novena or in the future to review the readings for future reflection and to share with your friends and family. Together, as a community of those who love and turn to St. John of the Cross for inspiration and guidance, let us pray for one another’s intentions and needs.

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us!

NOVENA MEDITATIONS

• Day 1 — What do you want?
  
• Day 2 — What would you do?
  
• Day 3 — Why do you worry?
  
• Day 4 — Who do you imitate?
  
• Day 5 — What must I do?
  
• Day 6 — Which way should I go?
  
• Day 7 — How can I understand?
  
• Day 8 — How can I say thanks?
  
• Day 9 — When will I forget?

NOVENA PRAYER

O St. John of the Cross
You were endowed by our Lord with the spirit of self-denial
and a love of the cross.
Obtain for us the grace to follow your example
that we may come to the eternal vision of the glory of God.

O Saint of Christ’s redeeming cross
the road of life is dark and long.
Teach us always to be resigned to God’s holy will
in all the circumstances of our lives
and grant us the special favor
which we now ask of thee.

(Mention your request)

Above all, obtain for us the grace of final perseverance,
a holy and happy death and everlasting life with you
and all the saints in heaven.
Amen.

Our Father…

Hail Mary…

Glory be…

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us!

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We are grateful to Professor Michael Ogunu, O.C.D.S., of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites in Nigeria for sharing this novena.

All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Joseph, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Edith Stein.

Let us unite in prayer

Featured image: Saint John of the Cross, Fray Abel de Jesús, o.c.d. (21st c. Spanish), Digital illustration with Photoshop, © @FrayAbeldeJesus (All rights reserved).

We are grateful to Fray Abel de Jesús for his gracious permission to use his image of Saint John of the Cross on our blog. To learn more about the ministry of Fray Abel de Jesús or to ask about obtaining a copy of this artwork, visit his websites at the following links:

YouTube
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@FrayAbeldeJesus