SCRIPTURE
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matt 5:43-48
READING
One morning on awakening the glorious St. Joseph placed before my eyes all the graces with which God had favored me, thus showing me that I was more and more obliged to tend to perfection.
Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
From her autobiography, Book IV, ch. 9
Visions in her last hours
NOVENA PRAYER
Holy Joseph,
Man according to the Heart of God
you whose heart was afire with ardent charity
and whose life was a constant prayer and continual contemplation,
direct us in the way of perfection.
Obtain for us the grace of which we stand in need,
(mention your request)
in order to arrive at the sanctity to which we are called
particularly, a spirit of prayer, humility,
and surrender to God’s will, of which you were the model.
Amen.
NOVENA HYMN
Anne of St. Bartholomew, M; Bouix, M 1917, Autobiography of the Blessed Mother Anne of Saint Bartholomew, inseparable companion of Saint Teresa, and foundress of the Carmels of Pontoise, Tours and Antwerp, translated from the French by Michael, M A, H. S. Collins Printing Co., Saint Louis.
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.
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
Carmelite Quotes 