When Christians pray for nine days for a special occasion or intention they are participating in novena prayers. The first novena ever prayed occurred immediately after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Sacred Scriptures tell us, “When they entered the city [of Jerusalem] they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” (Acts 1:13-14)
The Apostles and other disciples gathered in the upper room together with Mother Mary and prayed for the descent of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised. For nine days, they prayerfully gathered until the feast of Pentecost. Certainly, this must have been a powerful nine-day experience as many present-day novenas are. Novena prayers also offer us some extra good news. In addition to obtaining a particular favor by praying a novena, there are five benefits of doing novena prayers that we gain and that I would like to share with you.
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