What is a novena?

After the Ascension, the apostles return to Jerusalem and persevere together in prayer with Mary, the mother of Jesus, until the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost.

Tradition sees in those days of waiting between the Ascension and Pentecost the first novena. Scripture does not count the days of prayer.

Jesus tells the parable of the widow who keeps asking the judge for justice, to teach that we ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Jesus also says: ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.

The Romans kept nine days of mourning after a death. Christians took up the custom of praying for the dead for nine days, and nine days of Masses are still celebrated after the death of a Pope.

In the Middle Ages, novenas of preparation for Christmas spread, and later novenas to particular saints.

In 1897 Pope Leo XIII asked the whole Church to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit every year before Pentecost.

The Divine Mercy novena, from Good Friday to the Sunday after Easter, comes from the diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska. It is private revelation: approved for devotion, never required.

Prayer of petition, asking God for what we need, is a true form of Christian prayer; Jesus himself teaches us to ask.

Novenas are a form of popular piety: good when they lead people to Christ and to the liturgy of the Church.

Attributing an effect to the mere outward form of prayers, apart from the inner dispositions they require, is superstition.