Rosary Novena for American Pentecost

I was on the radio this morning with Gus Lloyd, where he challenged listeners to pray a novena of Rosaries for the new Pentecost for America that Pope Benedict XVI called for in his visit to the United States.

I've been trying to get Gus to say the Rosary for a while, telling him the Register Guide to the Rosary makes it easier (it's cheapest to buy several at a time, at 1-800-356-9916).

Today is a good day to start:

• Feast of St. Joseph, who is the Patron of the Universal Church.
• May, month of Mary, Patroness of America.
• Ascension Thursday, the beginning of the novena (nine days of prayer) Mary and the apostles spent before the original Pentecost.

At Washington Nationals Park, Pope Benedict XVI gave us a preview of Pentecost by celebrating a Mass identical (only the second reading was changed) to the one we'll celebrate on Pentecost Sunday. He used striking, formal language in the homily:

"In the excercise of my ministry as the Sucessor of Peter, I have come to America to confirm you, my brothers and sisters ... and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country."

Peter's Successor invoking his authority to "implore from the Lord" a new Pentecost for America.

That's huge.

I reminded Gus of what else the Holy Father said (at the National Shrine):

"Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. ... Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ."

So Gus took up my challenge: To pray a novena of Rosaries joining Benedict's prayer for a new Pentecost in America. He challenged listeners to join him, and many, many called in.

How about you? Will you join the novena?

-- Tom Hoopes

Comments

[Cannon Law]

I'm in. Who am I to say No to the Pope?

[Maryan]

Great idea Tom. We're in.

[Matilda]

Count us in!

[S.]

I'm in! Trying to bring others, too!

[joseph]

I was extremely pleased to read this blog post for a few reasons. First, I've been reflecting on the loss of grace so many catholics and christians experience simply because they dont ask for it. additionally, ive been impressed with the concept that much grace is also lost due to lack of utilization of various forms of prayer. specifically, i believe the novena is a particularly powerful form of prayer....so much so that i created a website to make it easier to pray a novena. essentially, you post a prayer request, select a novena and then the site will email to you the prayers of the day for 9 days. before i completed construction of this website, i learned that the first novena was specifically asked of the disciples and mary by jesus Himself. but catholics today often pray novenas individually by picking up one of those prayer cards in the back of church. but the original novena was a group novena. hence you can see my elation at learning that a site I had begun work on---groupnovena---was possibly more profound than I had though.

anyways, i live in washington dc but was on travel when the pope was here. I am extremely happy to learn that he asked for a new outpouring of the holy spirit for america because ive been praying for that too. In general, Ive been praying for the Holy Spirit to bring forth the sorts of miracles that accompanied the first apostles in their early work. to hear that the pope endorsed both a novena based on the rosary for an outpouring of the Holy SPirit...is uncanny. truly.

i didnt have a rosary novena on the site until tonite after i read this blog post.

ive added one though. here is the URL.

http://www.groupnovena.org/

http://www.groupnovena.org/novenas/14

I grabbed it from ewtn. i hope they dont sue me! :-)

if you are still reading this blog comment, please realize that a novena is a special prayer through which God originally sent the Holy Spirit to the church. It's importance cannot be underestimated. Everyone has something important that they need in their life right now today. Pray a novena for it!

[joseph]

I thought about it and decided it might be ok to offer a second chance novena for those who did not begin their novena on May 1. This one will begin on May 10.

To join this groupnovena, use this URL:

http://www.groupnovena.org/request/49

[joseph]

here's a holy spirit novena beginning May 10th also:

http://groupnovena.org/request/50