Epiphany of the Lord 6th January!

dysonFri 28/12/07 22:16

As we come to the end of Our Christmas 2007 Don't forget it's still Christmas till the Epiphany which is Sunday 6th January.

Anyone who wants to count down cause you've quite frankly had enough! This Novena will help you! Say for 9 days at any time. But on this partcular occasion the days leading to the Epiphany feast day!

NOVENA FOR THE EPIPHANY

While this Novena can be said at any time during the year, it is most popular during the 9 days prior to the Feast of the Epiphany (January), the 9 th day ending on the Feast.

Day 1

O holy Magi,
you were living in continual expectation
of the rising of the Star of Jacob,
which would announce the birth
of the true Sun of justice,
obtain for us an increase
of faith and charity,
and the grace to live
in continual hope of beholding one day
the light of heavenly glory and eternal joy.

Glory Be to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen.

Day 2

O holy Magi,
who at the first appearance of the wondrous star
left your native country to go and seek
the newborn king of the Jews,
obtain for us the grace of corresponding
with alacrity to every divine inspiration.

Glory Be..to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen. to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen. to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen. .

Day 3

O holy Magi,
who regarded neither the severity of the season,
nor the inconveniences of the journey,
that you might find the new-born Messiah;
obtain for us the grace
not to allow ourselves to be discouraged
by any of the difficulties which may meet us
in the way of salvation.

Glory Be...to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen. to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen. to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, as it is now and as it shall be world without end. Amen. .

Day 4

O holy Magi,
who when deserted by the star
in the city of Jerusalem,
sought humbly, and without human respect,
from the rulers of the Church,
the place where you might discover
the object of your journey,
obtain for us the grace to have recourse,
in faith and humility,
in all our doubts and perplexities
to the counsel of our superiors,
who hold the place of God on earth.

Glory Be...

Day 5

O holy Magi,
who were gladdened by the reappearance
of the star which led you to Bethlehem,
obtain for us from God the grace that,
remaining always faithful to Him in afflictions,
we may be consoled in time by His glory.

Glory Be...

Day 6

O holy Magi,
who, entering full of faith
into the stable of Bethlehem,
prostrated yourselves on the earth,
to adore the new-born King of the Jews,
though He was surrounded only by signs
of poverty and weakness,
obtain from the Lord for us a lively faith
in the real presence of Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament,
the true spirit of poverty,
and a Christlike charity
for the poor and suffering.

Glory Be...

Day 7

O holy Magi,
who offered to Jesus Christ gold, incense, and myrrh,
thereby recognizing Him to be at once King, God, and Man,
obtain from the Lord for us
the grace never to present ourselves
before Him with empty hands,
but that we may continually
offer to Him the gold of charity,
the incense of prayer,
and the myrrh of penance and mortification.

Glory Be...

Day 8

O holy Magi,
who when warned by an angel
not to return to Herod,
traveled back to your country by another road,
obtain for us from the Lord the grace that,
after having found Him by true repentance,
we may avoid all danger of losing Him again.

Glory Be...

Day 9

O holy Magi,
who were the first among the Gentiles
called to the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
and who persevered in the faith until your deaths,
obtain for us from the Lord
the grace of living always in conformity
to the baptismal promises
and especially in accordance with our religious vows
(or 'the duties of our state of life'),
leading ever a life of faith,
that like you we may attain to beatific vision
of that God Who now is the object of our faith.

Glory Be...

fatherjohnSat 29/12/07 03:55

the Epiphany is of particular importance to me as it is my 12th anniversary of being ordained to the priesthood...tempus fugit!
John+

dysonSun 30/12/07 00:04

Oh yes! Allways important for a priest to remember when they were ordained so I'll be praying with you! Also my Baby cousin is being recieved into the church on that day as well. She'll be baptised catholic.

ian1968Sun 30/12/07 10:16

Aww how nice for u, I'll pray for her. I also keep my crib up for a week after the 6th.

sexymancsladSun 30/12/07 12:47

That very Good to Hear LEts celebrate the end of Christmas as they do in Europe with the Novena and three Kings

ian1968Sun 30/12/07 20:18

My three King figures are underneath the Christmas tree, reason is they are not near the crib, but *making their journey* there.

dysonMon 31/12/07 00:05

dysonMon 31/12/07 15:45

By Saying this Novena We can be thanking god for all we had for christmas. We can also be thanking god and we can be thanking our Mother Mary for bringing Jesus to Earth and Thanking St Joseph for being the foster father of the lord. We can be thanking Jesus for his life with us on earth and his death on the cross for our human weekness. We can thank god for every little blessing we have by saying "Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning as it is and ever will be world without end, Amen!"

Bearing in mind when we look to materialism Jesus was not born in a palace! Or a high tech hospital! Like most of our mothers were warm on comfortable beds in warm houses or hospitals when they gave birth to us. But Mary was in a stable on a cold night. Also having to carry the lord on a journey to Egypt through piercing winds to get away from Herod who'd have killed him.

sexymancsladSat 05/01/08 13:27

Happy Epiphany. Am i supposed to take the tree down?" Take it down tomorrow & your decorations (including cards) ..." Otherwise they stay up til Easter

sexymancsladSat 05/01/08 13:28

Am i supposed to take the tree down or something?

Not according to the poet Herrick, who wrote:

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and misletoe ;
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall.

...which is the opening of a poem entitled "Candlemas Eve". Candlemas Eve is February 1st. The mediaeval tradition he refers to would appear to have been "Decorations up Christmas Eve, down Candlemas Eve", giving a Christmas period of the biblical "40 days and 40 nights".

This makes sense, because usually the bleakest part of the year is the beginning, and the idea would have been to deck the house to cheer your way through it. The only reason for having Christmas before December 25th, and effectively ending it then instead of beginning it then, is that that is what most suits a consumer society: shops want to sell to people before Christmas, and lose interest in it as soon as the day of gift-giving is over

dysonSat 05/01/08 21:12

Happy Epiphany! Obviousely this is the day when the gifts are brought to the lord so should we open our presants on the 6th January not 25th December? Shouldn't gift giving be for the epiphany. The Shepheards could have ignored the star and carried on as normal.

I've just been to mass and my parish priest said afbout everything going back to normal and he'd said all through Christmas keeping how it was still christmas after 25th December!

In Europe Christmas is celebrated right up to the Epiphany but as far as we are concerned in this country we might as well take all our decorations down on the 25th December!

fatherjohnSat 05/01/08 22:19

quoting > "In Europe Christmas is celebrated right up to the Epiphany but as far as we are concerned in this country we might as well take all our decorations down on the 25th December!"

It is the same if not worse here in the States. Christmas starts in October with all the shops flogging their wares and ends on the "last shopping day" before Christmas. The whole thing has become far too secular and it is up to those of us who keep the catholic faith (however that manifests itself) to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday not one of rampant consumerism. Gifts are fine and wonderful things but they should have their place way down the list of what Christmas is all about.

Enough of a rant for now. Tomorrow is my 12th anniversary of ordination and I ask all your prayers as I thank God for His blessings on my ministry and ask Him to favour me with His grace in the years to come.

dysonSat 05/01/08 22:43

Happy Anniversary father john! Yes and what would happen if the state decided to be politically correct and say "we can not use the word Christmas we must use "winterfest" or "Winterville" which were both names Stoke on Trent and Birmingham City Councils used to market City Center shopping! We are fortunate in Coventry that the Catholic Church and the council erect a crib every year. And on the First Sunday of Advent a catholic priest does a blessing service over the crib. The crib is located outside the Library and the City Precinct's main public toilets so it's a place where you can't miss it!

ian1968Sat 05/01/08 23:32

Agree that tomoz is the 12th day of Christmas. I have taken down my decorations two days ago, still have the crib up.
photo:599500

dysonSat 05/01/08 23:37

Happy Epiphany to you!

Just a mad bit of a secular note. Here's a tip to clean your models of the lord, the kings, Mary and Joseph!

So the don't end up in a hoover!

Get a pair or tights, Cut a bit off them! Use an elastic band and some sellotape to fix the bit of tights to the end of your vacuum cleaner!

Hoover the ornaments, The dust will come off but the tights will stop the figures going up!