The Christmas Novena Begins Today

There are only nine days until Christmas. Time to pray with increased intensity to prepare for the Nativity of the Lord Jesus.

Option 1

Click here for a traditional Novena prayer that begins Dec. 16, at EWTN’s site.

Each day includes a meditation, along with this prayer:

Christmas Novena Prayer
Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a stable at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires
(mention request here).
Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.

Option 2

An alternative Christmas novena: daily Antiphons to pray with the Magnificat, from The Twelve Days of Christmas by Elsa Chaney, 1955 The Liturgical Press.

Dec. 16 Antiphon:  Behold, the King will come, the Lord of the earth, and He will remove from us the yoke of our captivity.

Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Dec. 16 Antiphon:  Behold, the King will come, the Lord of the earth, and He will remove from us the yoke of our captivity.

Dec. 17 Antiphon: O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly, Come, and teach us the way of prudence.

Dec. 18 Antiphon: O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

Dec. 19 Antiphon: O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kinds shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

Dec. 20 Antiphon: O Key of David, and Sceptre of the House of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: Come and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Dec. 21 Antiphon: O King of the Gentiles and their desired One, the Cornerstone that makes both one: Come, and deliver man, whom You formed out the dust of the earth.

Dec. 22 Antiphon: O King of the Gentiles and their desired One, the Cornerstone that makes both one: Come, and deliver man, whom You formed out of the dust of the earth.

Dec. 23 Antiphon: O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations and their Savior: Come to save us, O Lord our God.

Dec. 24 Antiphon: With the rising of the sun, you will soon see the King of kings and Lord of lords, coming forth from His Father, as the bridegroom, from His bridal chamber.