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Question: Why do Catholics attend the Novena devotions? What is the meaning of having nine days of prayers? Does the number nine have any superstitious significance? Answer: Well, the number nine could have a superstitious significance if one wants to be superstitious. The number nine, as far as I know, comes from the time when the early church was awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. After the Ascension of the Lord, the disciples went into Jerusalem, to the "Upper Room". They prayed there for nine days and after nine days, the Holy Spirit came down on them in the form of tongues of fire. Ever since then, the number nine has had a special significance with regard to prayer. It therefore has a Biblical basis. Now, more important than that perhaps is the idea of perseverance in prayer. Jesus says in Luke's Gospel chapter 18 that we are always to pray and not to lose heart. What Jesus means there is that we should persevere in our life of prayer and not grow weary of prayer. Jesus himself, in the agony in the garden, said the same prayer three times over "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." (Mt. 26:39) Just as Jesus himself repeated prayers, we too do likewise. In our religion as well as in the Russian Orthodox religion, the idea of repeating a prayer very slowly is part of our spirituality. We repeat the prayer again and again. We could, for instance, take some verse of the Psalm -- "Oh God, you are my God, for you I long" or "Teach me to do your will for you alone are my God", "As the deer longs for running stream so does my soul longs for you my God". It is part of meditation actually to repeat beautiful phrases like these which are found in the Psalms, again and again and again very slowly, very reverently, and to let them sink into our consciousness. In that way, we absorb as it were, the word of God. Repetition of the same prayer then is very useful, and it has in addition a long tradition behind it, and as I say, it is found in the New Testament itself in the practice of Jesus, manifested in the agony in the garden of Gethsemane. (Source: "Questions People often Ask", a booklet dealing with some questions people often ask about our Catholic faith. The answers are provided by Fr. Sean Kelleher C.Ss.R., a well known biblical scholar and writer, based on the questions put by Fr. Paul Pang C.Ss.R.) | Back to Main Page | |