Somewhere in your parish bulletin this month there is a line about a novena of Masses running December 16 to 24, and probably no text to go with it. Or you have decided to do this at home and want to know what you are actually doing. A novena is nine days of prayer, and the Christmas novena is the oldest and most patient of them all.
Nine days is not a magic number. It is a habit the Church picked up early, and once you see where it comes from, the nine nights before Christmas stop feeling arbitrary and start feeling like the shape of the wait itself.
Two roots feed the practice. The first is the nine months Mary carried Christ, which is why a novena tends to be a stretch of waiting rather than a burst of asking. The second is the nine days the apostles spent in prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost, waiting in the upper room for what had been promised. Nine days of waiting, twice over.
The Christmas novena in most parishes runs December 16 to 24. Those dates are not random. They let the nine days sit inside Advent without swallowing it, and they end the night before the feast, so the last prayer is said in the dark and the answer comes at dawn.
A lot of the prayer booklets in circulation trace back to one source: Alphonsus Liguori's Novena del Santissimo Natale, printed in 1758. Liguori was a moral theologian before he was a devotional writer, and the structure he set down is plain. A short reading, a meditation on one of the joyful mysteries, a prayer, a hymn.
That is why the same order shows up in half the pamphlets you will find in a church vestibule, sometimes with different words. Nobody owns it. You can pray a Liguori-style novena with a Bible and a candle and nothing printed at all.
Advent is four weeks, and it is a season of the whole Church. A novena is nine days you choose. The novena starts late on purpose. Advent has already been working on you for two weeks by December 16, and the novena gathers that up rather than competing with it.
Think of it as the last stretch of a long walk, when you stop looking at the road and start looking for the house.
Most families who pray this at home do it after dinner, near the Advent wreath, with the lights low. Ten minutes is plenty. Light the candles you have lit for that week of Advent, read the night's theme, say the prayer together, and stop.
Children of different ages need different amounts. A four-year-old can blow out a match and say one line. A nine-year-old can read the night's passage. A teenager will resist and then ask a sharp question in the car three days later, which is the whole point. Give each child one job and let the youngest leave early.
A novena does not bind under pain of sin. It is a devotion, not a vow, and nobody is owed anything if you fall asleep on the couch on night five. If you miss a night, say the prayer the next morning and keep going. You do not start over. Restarting turns nine days into a test you can fail.
Many parishes also print a novena of Masses for December 16 to 24, and people enroll names. What that means is simple: nine Masses are offered, and the names enrolled are prayed for at them. It is not a transaction and no envelope buys an outcome.
The power is not in the number nine. Nine is a container. A novena that has become a chore, that everybody dreads and nobody says well, should be cut down rather than abandoned. Three nights, or one line a night, is better than nine nights of resentment.
In a lot of dioceses now, Filipino communities keep Simbang Gabi, nine Masses at four or five in the morning, and whole parishes join them. If your family can get to one of those, go. If not, the wreath at the kitchen table is enough. God is not checking a box.
Start where the nine months start. Gabriel comes to Mary and she says yes before she understands what it will cost. Tonight you say yes to the next nine days, whatever they turn out to be.
Mary, you said yes before you knew.
Teach us to begin without seeing the end.
We say yes to these nine days.
Amen.
Mary goes in haste to the hill country to help Elizabeth. The first thing she does with the news is travel toward someone who needs her. Prayer that never moves toward another person has not finished.
Lord, send us to the house that needs us.
Give us the haste of Mary.
Bless the people we will visit this week.
Amen.
The O Antiphons begin tonight in the Church's evening prayer. O Adonai, leader of the house of Israel, come with outstretched arm. The old titles are being sung while you wait, and you can borrow one for the table.
O Adonai, you spoke from the burning bush.
Come with your outstretched arm.
We are not strong enough to come to you.
Amen.
The road from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about ninety miles, and Mary was near her time. Whatever your own road is this month, the family in the Gospel walked it too, at the worst possible moment.
Lord, you were carried on a hard road.
Be near to everyone traveling tonight.
Bring the tired home before dark.
Amen.
The door that closed is part of the story, not an accident in it. Tonight, pray for the people you know who are being turned away from something they need, and check whether you are the one holding the door.
Lord, you were turned away at a door.
Show us the person we have turned away.
Soften whatever in us is closed.
Amen.
The first announcement went to night workers, not to scholars. They were in the fields, doing the job, and the angel came to them there. God tends to arrive at the place where you are actually standing.
Lord, you came first to the ones on the night shift.
Find us where we work.
Do not wait for us to be ready.
Amen.
The old litanies call her Mother of God, Ark of the Covenant, Cause of our joy. Tonight take one title and say it slowly. These names were not invented to flatter her. They were worked out by people trying to say what her yes did to the world.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Mary, Cause of our joy, pray for us.
Mary, Morning Star, pray for us.
Amen.
This is the quiet night. Nothing is announced. The house is as ready as it will get. Sit with the silence rather than filling it, and let the waiting be the prayer. Tomorrow you will be busy.
Lord, we have done what we can.
The rest is yours.
Keep watch with us tonight.
Amen.
The last night, and the answer arrives before the prayer is finished. Keep it short. The candles are low, the children are wound up, and the Word is about to be made flesh in a stable. Say thank you and go to bed.
Lord Jesus, you came.
You came in the dark, in a stable, to us.
Thank you. Amen.
(This prayer is written by our team, not an official text of the Church.)
✝ Offer this intention at the altar
Choose an offering: the amount is already filled in on the secure giving form.
Most parishes and families pray it December 16 through 24, ending the night before Christmas. Some begin on December 15 if the schedule needs it. The dates are a convention, not a rule, and starting a day early or late does not spoil anything.
No. Say the missed prayer the next day and continue. A novena is a devotion, not a vow, and it does not bind under pain of sin. Starting over turns the nine days into a test, which is the opposite of what it is for.
Advent is the four-week season of the whole Church. A novena is nine days you choose within it. The Christmas novena starts late on purpose, on December 16, so the last nine days gather up everything Advent has been doing rather than competing with it.
Many parishes print a novena of Masses for December 16 to 24 and enroll names. Nine Masses are offered over those days and the enrolled names are prayed for at them. It is a share in the Church's prayer, not a purchase, and no offering buys a particular result.
Yes, and shorter is better. Give each child one job: lighting the candle, reading a line, saying the response. Ten minutes after dinner is enough. If it becomes a battle, cut it to one line a night rather than dropping it.
🕯
Support Our Mission
Your donation helps us continue daily Mass and spiritual support worldwide.
♥ Donate NowEvery gift, large or small makes a difference.