One of the most deeply rooted traditions regarding Christmas in Latin America is the celebration of the Novena.
One of the Catholic traditions most awaited by the Latin American faithful is the Christmas novena: nine days of reflection and preparation to receive the baby Jesus in their homes.
The spiritual basis of the Christmas novena
During these nine days various prayers, songs and commitments are made for spiritual growth, in reference to the 9 months of pregnancy of the Virgin Mary. The Christmas Novena begins to be prayed on December 16 of each year, to pray the last one upon reaching the 24th, the date on which Jesus will be born.
The tradition of the novena in Ecuador dates back to 1743, when the Franciscan Fray Fernando Jesús Larrea wrote what is now known as the novena when he responded to a commission from the teaching of Mother María Ignacia, within that response.
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How to pray the Novena
It begins with the sign of the Holy Cross: In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Prayer for every day:
Most benign God of infinite charity who has loved us so much and who gave us in your Son the best pledge of your love, so that, incarnate and made our brother in the womb of the Virgin, he would be born in a manger for our health and remedy; We thank you for such an immense benefit. In return, we offer you, Lord, the sincere effort to make this world yours and ours, a more just world, more faithful to the great commandment to love each other as brothers. Grant us, Lord, your help to be able to do it.
We ask that this Christmas, a celebration of peace and joy, be a stimulus for our community, so that, living as brothers and sisters, we seek more and more the ways of truth, justice, love and peace. Amen.
Glory to the Father is prayed three times.
A carol is sung.
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Sovereign Mary, because of your great virtues and especially because of your humility, you deserved that a whole God chose you as his mother, I beg you to prepare and dispose of my soul, and that of all those who are doing this novena at this time, for him. spiritual birth of your adored Son.
Strenna Novena O most sweet Mother, communicate to me something of the deep recollection and divine tenderness with which you waited for him, so that we may be less unworthy to see, love and adore him for all eternity! Amen.
(The Hail Mary is recited three times).
Prayer to Saint Joseph:
O most holy Joseph, husband of Mary and adoptive father of Jesus! Infinite thanks I give to God because he chose you for such sovereign ministries and adorned you with all the gifts provided to such excellent greatness. Amen.
(An Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be said)
(A reflection is made)
Prayer to the baby Jesus
Lord, Christmas is the memory of your birth among us, it is the presence of your love in our family and in our society. Christmas is the certainty that the God of heaven and earth is our Father, that you, Divine Child, are our Brother.
May this meeting with your manger increase our faith in your goodness, commit us to truly living as brothers, give us courage to kill hatred and sow justice and peace. Oh Divine Child, teach us to understand that where there is love and justice, there you are and there it is also Christmas. Amen.
A compromise is made.
The novena closes with some other Christmas carol.
At the end: (With the sign of the cross) In the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. (I)
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