54 day novena question

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littleflower18

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Hello all, I was searching the Internet trying to find an answer to my question and I came across this forum.and now I am excited!!!
Okay, so I started a 54 day novena ( I know there are already a lot of threads on this already but I never found the answer to my question ) on Christmas Eve 2012… I have one week left, I have been doing SO GREAT on this until yesterday…I honestly oompletely forgot about it, didn’t even think about it until like an hour ago-day late. I am so upset…does anybody honestly know if I can still continue or do I have to start over. I am pretty stubborn and I feel like I have ruined the whole thing.

Please help!!! And thank you

I have been praying this for conception of a baby for my husband and I. We have been trying for almost 4 years.
 
Go on with your novena 🙂 God looks at the intentions in our hearts, not at the calendars on our walls. A novena it’s not a superstitious ritual with rigid rules that fails if we miss a step, but a manifestation of our faith and perseverance in prayer.
 
vames said:
Go on with your novena 🙂 God looks at the intentions in our hearts, not at the calendars on our walls. A novena it’s not a superstitious ritual with rigid rules that fails if we miss a step, but a manifestation of our faith and perseverance in prayer.
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True.
 
:tiphat: Hello and welcome! As the above poster said, just pick up where you left off. Missing a day does not nullify or ruin it in any way. Several years ago, I prayed a novena to Saint Therese of Lisieux. During the novena I went on a womens retreat. I chose to suspend the novena during the retreat as I was in intense prayer and adoration and simply didn’t have enough energy for any other prayer. I knew Saint Therese would understand and agree. When I got home I picked up where I left off. My prayers were answered and I even received a miracle of roses. Hope this helps and God bless you.:gopray2:
 
Thank you guys for your comments, I really appreciate it and it definitely makes me feel better. I am going to continue!! Thank you again!! 🙂
 
I should add that this has happened to me with the St. Therese novena and the seven First Fridays/devotion to the Sacred Heart. We are talking months with the last one. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so it was really hard for me to really absorb the idea that novenas are more about growing in your spiritual life than achieving a goal.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I should add that this has happened to me with the St. Therese novena and the seven First Fridays/devotion to the Sacred Heart. We are talking months with the last one. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so it was really hard for me to really absorb the idea that novenas are more about growing in your spiritual life than achieving a goal.
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Good point. I can be that way sometimes too. The sad thing about perfectionists is that we’re our own worst enemies. I think it’s helpful to lay the burden of perfectionism at the foot of the Cross and let the Lord guide us. Pax Christi.👍
 
Continue where you left off. Or if you want you could do two novenas in one day.
 
Finally, there’s a thread which addresses part of my question.

I started the Rosary Novena in late January, and everything was alright until last week, when I always struggled to focus on my prayer but failed and fell asleep without even saying the Creed. This situation persisted for five days. Today I am quite energetic and I would like to continue with the Novena and ‘compensate’ for the unsaid Rosaries. Does this still count as a ‘Novena’? Or should I give up saying the Rosary?

In fact, I usually pray only one to two (or at most three) mysteries per day. Is it a necessity to say a decade every day in order to fulfill the requirement of a Novena? If so, should I make up for what I have not said for the days before I stopped my prayer?

I am really sorry to Mary. I did not intend to hurt her, but sometimes temptations were fierce (especially when it was sleeping in a warm cozy bed amidst a cold winter).

By the way, one of my Novena intentions is for the relief of the Poor Souls in the Purgatory. Let’s pray for them and offer up Masses as far as we can!

N.B. I am not baptized and thus is in mortal sin. Will God reject my Mass offerings and Rosaries for the Poor Souls? (If so, should I give up praying for them?)

THANKS FOR ANSWERING!!! :):)🙂
 
anonymous1995 said:
Finally, there’s a thread which addresses part of my question.

I started the Rosary Novena in late January, and everything was alright until last week, when I always struggled to focus on my prayer but failed and fell asleep without even saying the Creed. This situation persisted for five days. Today I am quite energetic and I would like to continue with the Novena and ‘compensate’ for the unsaid Rosaries. Does this still count as a ‘Novena’? Or should I give up saying the Rosary?

In fact, I usually pray only one to two (or at most three) mysteries per day. Is it a necessity to say a decade every day in order to fulfill the requirement of a Novena? If so, should I make up for what I have not said for the days before I stopped my prayer?

I am really sorry to Mary. I did not intend to hurt her, but sometimes temptations were fierce (especially when it was sleeping in a warm cozy bed amidst a cold winter).

By the way, one of my Novena intentions is for the relief of the Poor Souls in the Purgatory. Let’s pray for them and offer up Masses as far as we can!

N.B. I am not baptized and thus is in mortal sin. Will God reject my Mass offerings and Rosaries for the Poor Souls? (If so, should I give up praying for them?)

THANKS FOR ANSWERING!!! :):)🙂
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I am also in mortal sin because I have not yet been confirmed (and have not yet been to confession). I too wondered at one point if my prayers reached God because of my sin. I was told that they do, but perhaps not as clearly.

I would continue to do all that you are doing until you are ready to be received into the Church.
 
Anonymous, I believe you must say at least 3 decades of the rosary for it to count as a whole rosary. But I would definitely try to make a habit of saying all 5 at the same time. As for being in the state of mortal sin because you are not baptized… Have you thought about going through the rica program at your church to become baptized?? Do you want to become baptized? We’re you raised catholic but just never baptized? Not being baptized is not a mortal sin, it is original sin from Adam and Eve which is like a venial sin (less serious) unless you have done other serious sin you should not be in moral sin just for not being baptized. I hope this helps!!
You should definitely continue to pray. I believe God will still hear your prayers because he wants to, he may just be hurt because of your sins. But never never turn down an opportunity to pray. God is always listening and It will bring you closer to him. You can always the act of contrition for your sins or call your priest to set up a meeting time for confession. Believe me, you will feel so much better after confession.
 
Littleflower18 I am determined to enroll in a RCIA programme. My Catholic faith originated in my years of studies in a Catholic junior school. I quite often attend the Holy Mass (of course I dared not to receive the Holy Communion!), but baptism always stands a lower priority on my to-do list. Not that baptism isn’t important, but that I feel that I am not capable of being a Christian due to my weaknesses - this can do harm to G_D’s glory. Another reason is that my parents are not Catholics - they were somehow anti-Catholic and considered me too young to make a justified decision. Now that I am 18 and they are more convinced that I am mature enough, I decide to go ahead for baptism once my exams end.

Of course, my ultimate goal is that my whole family can be baptised. That’s one of the intentions in my 54-day Novena.

I feel that I really should not give up my Rosary prayers. I’m going to start all over again. While a Novena is not magic formula which requires an exact number of Rosaries to be said in order to gain what I wish, an interrupted Novena is not a way to show my sincere gratitude to G_D.

Pray that I will gradually make it a daily habit!
 
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