Saint Jude Novena

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applesofgold

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Hi all, People leave lots of copies of a novena to St Jude in our church.
The novena prayer itself is fine. It’s the ritual that goes with doing this novena that I find a bit strange.
You make 81 copies of the prayer.
You visit a church each day for 9 days to say the prayer, leaving 9 copies of the prayer in the church each time.
On the ninth day your request will be answered. It allegedly “never fails”.
Seems very mechanical. A genuine sacramental? Or Superstition?
 
Just another “Catholic Chain Letter”.

The saints do not rely on us roping other unsuspecting Christians into their devotions in order to answer our prayers.

You definitely don’t have to create 81 copies of a prayer, or forward an email to ten friends, before it will be answered.

This kind of promise is a scam, pure and simple. Many times they work by scaring good people into continuing the chain by threatening harm or disruption to those who break it. That’s very unChristian.
 
Dear friend,
if by, “this prayer never fails,” the author means that
you will, WITHOUT FAIL, get exactly what you asked for and in the way
that you EXPECT to receive it SPECIFICALLY,
then let me be the first to assure you, without meaning to dishonor Saint Jude
or any other saint,
that those prayers, most certainly, DO Fail,
again, if by “never fails” you mean you will get precisely what you asked for
in exactly and specifically the way you asked to receive it.
Sometimes you WILL, sometimes you WON’T.

Anyone who tells you differently is overly-exhuberant because they possibly had
a prayer answered “precisely” the way they wanted it answered , and is consequently
incorrectly over-stating things,
OR,
they may be superstitious. There is nothing WRONG about leaving 81 copies of the prayer in a church. Heck, leave 881 Copies of the prayer if you want to !!
BUT, there is nothing MAGICAL about leaving 81 copies either.
And you “must” leave them 9 copies at a time, for 9 days?
I believe in NOVENAs, too, but that seems to be taking it a bit too far.
You don’t want to get into superstition.

DO ask St. Jude for spiritual aid and material favors.
And if you get them, DO post a thank you note to him both in your church and
in the newspaper.

But don’t make the mistake of believing that The Apostle Jude is “BOUND” to answer if we do a certain set of prescribed actions (9 copies each day for 9 days). We can’t “BIND” the saints and God like that. Those are pagan-type practices, where thru magical-type actions, they hope to “FORCE” the hand of the spirits. Nuh-uh.
God doesn’t approve of that. And neither do the Saints.
Love to you,
Jaypeeto4
 
Jaypeeto4 said:
Dear friend,
if by, “this prayer never fails,” the author means that
you will, WITHOUT FAIL, get exactly what you asked for and in the way
that you EXPECT to receive it SPECIFICALLY,
then let me be the first to assure you, without meaning to dishonor Saint Jude
or any other saint,
that those prayers, most certainly, DO Fail,
again, if by “never fails” you mean you will get precisely what you asked for
in exactly and specifically the way you asked to receive it.
Sometimes you WILL, sometimes you WON’T.

Anyone who tells you differently is overly-exhuberant because they possibly had
a prayer answered “precisely” the way they wanted it answered , and is consequently
incorrectly over-stating things,
OR,
they may be superstitious. There is nothing WRONG about leaving 81 copies of the prayer in a church. Heck, leave 881 Copies of the prayer if you want to !!
BUT, there is nothing MAGICAL about leaving 81 copies either.
And you “must” leave them 9 copies at a time, for 9 days?
I believe in NOVENAs, too, but that seems to be taking it a bit too far.
You don’t want to get into superstition.

DO ask St. Jude for spiritual aid and material favors.
And if you get them, DO post a thank you note to him both in your church and
in the newspaper.

But don’t make the mistake of believing that The Apostle Jude is “BOUND” to answer if we do a certain set of prescribed actions (9 copies each day for 9 days). We can’t “BIND” the saints and God like that. Those are pagan-type practices, where thru magical-type actions, they hope to “FORCE” the hand of the spirits. Nuh-uh.
God doesn’t approve of that. And neither do the Saints.
Love to you,
Jaypeeto4
Click to expand...
I agree with this! Sometimes, the saint doesnt work exactly like we wished. And sometimes. his answers take longer to come or might not come depending on the situation.
You should just pray with faith but have in ur mind that the decision to give u what u want lies with him at the end of the day.
 
Elizium, good post !!

No Saint nor God would “Blackmail” people by telling them that they not only
will not receive the promised blessing,
but will ACTUALLY BE HARMED if they fail to forward the Chain Letter !!!
That’s really blasphemous to say things like that.

On the other hand, without encouraging blackmail,
the Saints DO ask, and reward you if you do comply, for people to promote
devotion to them. This is not for personal vainglory.
Some of them have been appointed by God to help people in especially powerful
ways, and it is God’s will that they become widely known. Big example: MARY.
Another: Saint Philomena. Another: Padre Pio.
So we should spread their devotion. It can be done in many ways.
MARY, for examples, promises (and in heaven she CANNOT lie) she promises
to take care of all of our needs (note: ALL of them, doesn’t mean though that we don’t
have to work anymore !!! ) if we help spread her Rosary, provide rosaries to the needy,
teach those who don’t know it , how to pray it, etc. She solemnly promises that.
And she will keep that promise.

But chain letters? Blackmail? You “must” make specifically 81 copies of this prayer
and do this specific thing(s) or you will be CURSED? That’s sacrilege.

Now, we DO have LEGITIMATE rituals.
God IS BOUND TO them. Such as the Mass and the Epiclesis and Consecration.
Because He has promised to do so, God is BOUND to consecrate the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus IF a validly ordained priest calls down the Holy Spirit and pronounces the Words of Consecration. That’s why you can know you are always receiving a GENUINE Eucharist.

God is BOUND to give your Child the New Birth (regeneration, born again, etc) if your child is baptized, with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God is BOUND TO regenerate your child if you baptize him validly.

But.
God is not BOUND BY these sacraments.
God can give you the grace of new birth, regeneration, born again,
WITHOUT the use of Water and the formula. He can do that by simply infusing
the Holy Spirit into you. He has done that to many, many people.
He did it to the Virgin Mary at her conception. To John The Baptist in the Womb.
And to God knows HOW many others too.
He is bound TO his sacraments, but not Bound BY them.

Peace!!
 
applesofgold said:
Hi all, People leave lots of copies of a novena to St Jude in our church.
The novena prayer itself is fine. It’s the ritual that goes with doing this novena that I find a bit strange.
You make 81 copies of the prayer.
You visit a church each day for 9 days to say the prayer, leaving 9 copies of the prayer in the church each time.
On the ninth day your request will be answered. It allegedly “never fails”.
Seems very mechanical. A genuine sacramental? Or Superstition?
Click to expand...
Abuse of the saints!

It is like the emails that tell you to forward to ALL your friends or something TERRIBLE will happen, but if you DO forward, something wonderful will happen to you!

Pure superstition and I am 😊 that Catholics fall prey to it. Plus, someone has to clean up the copies and dispose of them!
 
Whereas octaves are associated with rejoicing in Church tradition, novenas are associated with pleading or grief or longing. I’ve heard the tradition is connected to the nine days after the Ascension when the apostles were waiting for the Holy Spirit as promised by Our Lord but there are probably also other reasons why the number nine is associated with supplication. Novenas are wonderful and often powerful devotional acts that can serve in demonstrating persistence in prayer. Recognizing the merits and virtues of any of the saints, as well as any privileges accorded to them by God, should always help bring us closer to Our Lord and His glory. Spreading devotion to a saint during the novena is like an act of confidence in their ability to help and spreading the devotion if prayers have been answered is a way of showing gratitude for their prayers to God on your behalf. But unfortunately, novenas sometimes fall prey to simpleminded chainmail-type superstitions as referred to by the OP. I’ve seen people apply similar superstitions to relics and other sacramentals as well. These sorts of beliefs are always contrary to Catholic teaching. I do love novenas and the Lord has shown me mercy in response to several.
 
I’ve seen this “Chain Prayer” a number of times in my pews. My guess is it got started by someone with good intentions but never the less is an as another poster said “an abuse of the saints”

Be more mature in your faith, pray the novena and then let it be. Don’t spread it with chain letter tactics.
 
Jaypeeto4 said:
Dear friend,
if by, “this prayer never fails,” the author means that
you will, WITHOUT FAIL, get exactly what you asked for and in the way
that you EXPECT to receive it SPECIFICALLY,
then let me be the first to assure you, without meaning to dishonor Saint Jude
or any other saint,
that those prayers, most certainly, DO Fail,
again, if by “never fails” you mean you will get precisely what you asked for
in exactly and specifically the way you asked to receive it.
Sometimes you WILL, sometimes you WON’T.

Anyone who tells you differently is overly-exhuberant because they possibly had
a prayer answered “precisely” the way they wanted it answered , and is consequently
incorrectly over-stating things,
OR,
they may be superstitious. There is nothing WRONG about leaving 81 copies of the prayer in a church. Heck, leave 881 Copies of the prayer if you want to !!
BUT, there is nothing MAGICAL about leaving 81 copies either.
And you “must” leave them 9 copies at a time, for 9 days?
I believe in NOVENAs, too, but that seems to be taking it a bit too far.
You don’t want to get into superstition.

DO ask St. Jude for spiritual aid and material favors.
And if you get them, DO post a thank you note to him both in your church and
in the newspaper.

But don’t make the mistake of believing that The Apostle Jude is “BOUND” to answer if we do a certain set of prescribed actions (9 copies each day for 9 days). We can’t “BIND” the saints and God like that. Those are pagan-type practices, where thru magical-type actions, they hope to “FORCE” the hand of the spirits. Nuh-uh.
God doesn’t approve of that. And neither do the Saints.
Love to you,
Jaypeeto4
Click to expand...
I agree. What I also find bothersome about prayers like this is that I think, when the prayer isn’t answered in the way the petitioner had hoped, it can both damage his/her faith in the Lord and leave the feeling that the prayers aren’t being heard.
 
Thank you for all the helpful comments. I thought the whole idea was a bit odd, just wanted to see if I was missing something.
 
I don’t know about “Never fails” but my parish has a novena to St. Jude monthly, with veneration of a relic and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. We do a quarterly healing Mass with it where annointing of the sick is offered.

Many have been cured, including one young man cured of cancer.

The text with a few loose rubrics is here.

-Tim-
 
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