Day One, July 4: Novena to Saints Louis and Zélie Martin

Saints Louis and Zélie Martin

Day One: For Couples and Those Hoping to Form a Household

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25

“Through the Sacrament of Marriage the spouses are united to God and with their relationship express the love of Christ who gave his life for the salvation of the world.

            “Since Christ consecrates the love of Christian spouses and is committed to and with them, this fidelity is not only possible but is the way by which to enter into ever greater charity. Thus, in the daily life of the couple and of the family, the spouses learn to love as Christ loves.”

            Benedict XVI, Letter on the Occasion of the 10^th International Youth Forum, 2010

“If only you would have the good luck to meet a woman like I want for you, she would be your blessedness, but they are truly rare and I don’t know any. There’s no one but God who could get one to give to you.”

            Letter of Zélie to her brother Isidore

One day, as she was walking on St Léonard Bridge, Zélie Guérin crossed paths with a young man. At that moment an inner voice whispered to her: “This is the one I have prepared for you.” The two young people quickly came to admire each other and to love each other. Three months after their first meeting, they were united before God. This was on July 12, 1858.

“I kiss you with all my heart. I’m so happy today at the thought of seeing you again that I can’t work. Your wife, who loves you more than her life.”

            Letter of Zélie to Louis, CF 46

As we begin this novena, let us thank God for the meeting of Louis and Zélie Martin. Let us entrust our intentions to their intercession, and ask the Lord to open the way of blessedness to us as well.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures

where he gives me repose.

Near restful waters he leads me,

to revive my drooping spirit.

He guides me along the right path;

he is true to his name.

If I should walk in the valley of darkness

no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff;

with these you give me comfort.

You have prepared a banquet for me

in the sight of my foes.

My head you have anointed with oil;

my cup is overflowing.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me

all the days of my life.

In the Lord’s house shall I dwell

for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father...

Novena Prayer

O God, in Louis and Zélie Martin you have given us an example of holiness lived in marriage.

Look kindly upon the families of our time, and strengthen them with your love;

Let young people find in them the support they need to hear your voice and respond to your call.

Support the sick and the elderly with your power.

Louis and Zélie loved to pray to Notre-Dame des Victoires; through her intercession, we present to you our intention for this novena...

            (period of silence, or state the intention)

Watch over us, and lead us at last into your kingdom of love.

Notre-Dame des Victoires, pray for us.

Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us.

Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, pray for us.

------

Sources

Novena translated by Elizabeth and Turner Nevitt from: Neuvaine par l’intercession des bienheureux Louis and Zélie Martin. Basilique Notre-Dame des Victoires (Paris). Éditions Salvator: Paris, 2010. Used with permission of Hervé Soubias, rector of the Basilica of Notre-Dame des Victoires, Paris.

Louis and Zélie Martin. A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, 1863–1885. Ed. Frances Renda. Trans. Ann Conors Hess. New York: St Paul, 2010. Translation of Correspondance familiale (1863–1885), Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 2009.

“Benedict XVI.” https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en.html

The Psalms: The Grail Translation. 1963.

The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. 1966.

Novena to Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, canonized parents of the Little Flower, begins July 4

I am excited to share a new (to me) novena to Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin this year. I have been praying a novena to the holy Martins for the past four years, and have hosted it on my blog three of those years.

Sts. Louis and Zélie as we will learn through praying this novena lived a very holy life together. They had nine children, four of whom died in infancy or childhood. Their five surviving daughters all joined convents. Four of them including the youngest St. Thérèse of Lisieux became Carmelites, and their daughter who struggled the most to behave Leonie became a Visitation sister after three other attempts to enter the convent. Leonie now has a cause for canonization, and we named our baby who miscarried in November after her. Zélie died of breast cancer at the age of 45, but Louis lived on and eventually died at the age of 71 after suffering from dementia and other illness for six years. The were beatified in 2008 by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis.

The professor and I have been devoted to the Martins since 2009 when we attended a series of talks about them at Carmel in Buffalo, New York. I look forward every year to praying to them up to their Feast day of July 12, which is their wedding anniversary, and have seen and experienced great fruits in my marriages and that of other for whom we have prayed for.

Some friends of came across this particular novena to the Martins in France from Basilique Notre-Dame des Victoires in Paris. They have worked laboriously to translate the novena from French into English and have even obtained permission from the rector of the basilica for me to publish here on my blog.

I am super excited to share this beautiful novena with you.

I will be posting each day of the novena which goes from July 4-July 12 on my blog the night before each day--the date to pray each day will be in the title line of the post.

If you would like to receive it by email you can sign up to receive my blog email updates in the side bar of the home page of my blog.  Or you can follow the novena through my Facebook page.

If you would like to simply print it off, follow this linkfor a PDF of the novena.

I also would love to pray for your intentions during this novena. Please leave any intentions you would like me to pray for during this novena in the comments or feel free to email me at livingwithladyphilosophy at gmail dot com.

I can't wait to pray with you!

NCRegister: The Desert is Where We Find God

The fertile forests of Yosemite National Park in California, which we had camped in the night before, had given way to the dry, rocky land of Nevada, and our minivan sped on in a land where cities and towns are few and far between. We were on the final week of our three-week western road trip. It had all been so beautiful, but here, in this empty, dry land a sense of dread lay heavy on my chest. The desert went on for miles before us and behind us. Rocks rose occasionally into mountains and cliffs in the distance, but their barrenness only added to the bleakness of the path we had to take. And everything seemed closer on the horizon than it actually was, making each mile seem longer.

This family road trip was the first time I had experienced the desert, and what surprised me the most was the amount of life, life adapted to the environment, that struggled on even in this most desolate of climates.

Read more at the National Catholic Register...