Preparation for Christmas

                      I hope you had a very happy thanksgiving!

Christmas is just around the corner. And I want to remind everyone of how special this time of year can be. Many Catholics recite The Saint Andrew's Prayer,a novena beginning November 30th and lasting until December 25th. I've enclosed it here for your convenience.

While any novena is usually a nine-day prayer, the word novena is  sometimes used for any prayer that is repeated over a series of days. The Saint Andrew Christmas Novena is often called simply the "Christmas Novena" or the "Christmas Anticipation Prayer," because it is prayed 15 times every day from the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle feast day until the day of the Christ Child.

St. Andrew's Day is the Scotland's patron saint.  His feast day is Scotland's official national day. St. Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, Russia, and Constantinople.

Here followes the Novena......

                                                                                           Saint Andrew Christmas Novena

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.
 
 
This prayer addresses God Himself, asking Him to grant our request in the honor of the birth of His Son at Christmas. You can say the prayer all 15 times, all at once; or divide up the recitation as necessary (perhaps five times at each meal).Praying as a family, the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena is a very great way to keep family and friends united in prayer.
 
God bless!
 
Melissa