For Your Christmas Intentions – The St. Andrew Novena

Sometime during late childhood, I acquired a Christmas prayer card with these words on the back:

Holy and blessed be the hour and the moment
In which the Son of God was born
Of the most pure virgin Mary
At midnight in Bethlehem in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, O my God,
To hear my prayer and grant my desires
Through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer,
And Mary, his Immaculate Mother. Amen.

I included this in my prayers at Christmas, and at times I added it to the third Joyful Mystery during my rosary. During my years raising children, sometimes I said the Christmas prayer with my youngest child in mind, since she always was, and still remains, especially fond of Christmas.

A Christmas Novena

It was only recently that I learned that the Christmas prayer I’ve prayed since childhood is known as the St. Andrew Novena. Two years ago my oldest daughter requested that family and friends pray this novena for her special intention. I was glad to oblige, until I learned the conditions surrounding the request. My daughter informed me that the St. Andrew Novena is prayed fifteen times per day! Traditionally, it is said from November 30, which is the feast of St. Andrew, until December 24.

Repetition in prayers can prove challenging. How many of us find our mind wandering during the rosary? There, at least, we can focus on the mysteries, so that the repeated prayers serve as background for our meditations. But fifteen devout, focused recitations of the St. Andrew Novena every day for 25 days seemed next to impossible to achieve.

Prayer, a Response and a Conversation

Prayer is always a response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We may think that we turned to the Lord all on our own, but it is the Spirit who puts the idea into our awareness. So when I found myself praying the St. Andrew Novena fifteen times per day, despite my early misgivings about committing to it, I knew it wasn’t my own doing. I should not be surprised then that, like the rosary, the St. Andrew Novena inspires reflections. When we allow ourselves to reflect, we open ourselves up to what God is telling us. Because, after all, prayer is a two-way conversation.

Naturally, the St. Andrew Christmas prayer is worth saying at any time of year. And of course, the Lord hears it even when we pray it only once.

Inspiration from the St. Andrew Novena

So what is it that the St. Andrew prayer inspires? What are its messages?

First is the depth of the mystery of the Incarnation. “The Son of God was born.”  One could marvel at that statement for a lifetime. The Almighty God, magnificent beyond what words can express, took on human flesh. He became as one of his lowly creatures. Why? For love, because this is what the Almighty is: Love, in fact, Love Incarnate.

This is the first and greatest of the merits that the prayer references. A prayer of petition, the St. Andrew Novena requests favors, through the merits of Jesus and of his Mother, whom the prayer names as “the most pure Virgin Mary.” Imagine the power of a prayer that bases its petition on the infinite merits of the Son of God, plus the merits of the woman who is as full of grace as any human could possibly be.

Three Details of the Nativity

Three phrases in the novena describe the conditions of the Nativity: “at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.” Scripture does not tell the exact hour of Jesus’ birth. But the words, “at midnight,” signify the fatigue that Mary and Joseph must have felt after traveling without lodging for some time.

“In Bethlehem” reminds us that they were far from the comforts of home. When Christians hear the name Bethlehem, we are likely to have impressions of a cozy shelter, where a baby lies sweetly in a manger. The reality of childbirth in a strange city in ancient times, away from family and support systems, is a different situation entirely.

The weather in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth is also uncertain. Some scholars point to the swaddling clothes in which Mary and Joseph wrapped the infant as evidence that it was wintertime. However, swaddling is a comfort measure for newborns in any kind of weather. Various sources cite biblical and astronomical clues to theorize that the Nativity actually happened in September, in autumn, or in spring. What does that do to our tradition that the first Christmas was snow-covered? For one thing, it is just as likely that such theories are incorrect, and that the events of Christ’s birth happened in December, as tradition holds. Nevertheless, the “piercing cold” with which we associate the Savior’s birth does not have to be based on the season. The facts that no one had a room for a mother about to bear a child, and that within two years a king ordered the deaths of every male infant and toddler in the region, these are indications of a piercing cold that goes beyond a weather forecast.

The ordeal of travel, the inconvenience and danger of giving birth in a strange city, and the cold of nature or of human heartlessness are factors that add to the merits of Jesus’ birth, and thus to the efficaciousness of the St. Andrew Novena.

A Strategy for Fifteen Prayers in a Day

For practical purposes, how does one keep track of fifteen recitations of a prayer every day? Setting an alarm to pray it hourly from morning until bedtime may or may not be convenient. I found it helpful to say the prayer a few times in succession at different times of the day. It could be prayed three times with the Morning Offering, three times with the Angelus at noon, once with each Our Father in the rosary, and three times during evening prayers. Another idea would be to pray it three times with morning prayers, three times with each meal, and three times at evening prayers. It is do-able!

Our Prayers Answered

Finally, the St. Andrew Novena will always be special to me and my family. Eleven months after we began praying it, we were blessed with a new grandson, whose middle name is Andrew. Thanks be to God!