{
  "schema": "regina-novenas/1",
  "checked": "2026-10-10",
  "note": "Every fact below was checked on 2026-10-10 against the source listed with it. Scripture is the Douay-Rheims (Challoner), compared word for word with drbo.org. Prayers marked composed:true were written for 1765 Regina and are labelled so on every surface; every other prayer names its source.",
  "common": {
    "our-father": {
      "title": "Our Father",
      "text": "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.",
      "source": { "label": "A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Prepared and Enjoined by Order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, No. 2 (imprimatur 1885), \"The Lord's Prayer\" (public domain)", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14552" }
    },
    "hail-mary": {
      "title": "Hail Mary",
      "text": "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.",
      "source": { "label": "A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Prepared and Enjoined by Order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, No. 2 (imprimatur 1885), \"The Angelical Salutation\" (public domain)", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14552" }
    },
    "glory-be": {
      "title": "Glory Be",
      "text": "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.",
      "source": { "label": "Rev. F. X. Lasance, My Prayer-Book: Happiness in Goodness (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1908), p. 485 (public domain)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/MyPrayerBookHappinessInGoodness/page/485/mode/1up" }
    },
    "memorare": {
      "title": "The Memorare",
      "text": "Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions; but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.",
      "source": { "label": "The Raccolta (London: Burns & Oates; New York: Benziger Brothers, 1910), no. 196, p. 175 (public domain)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/theraccoltaorcol00unknuoft/page/175/mode/1up" }
    }
  },
  "novenas": [
    {
      "id": "monica",
      "name": "St. Monica",
      "for": "for a child or a husband far from the faith",
      "tags": ["mother", "wife", "widow"],
      "icon": "candle",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "08-27", "name": "St. Monica", "label": "Memorial of St. Monica, August 27" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Monica was born of Christian parents at Tagaste in North Africa in 333 and died at Ostia, near Rome, in 387. Her son Augustine wandered far from the faith of his childhood. She prayed for him with tears for years, and when he sailed for Italy she followed him, at last to Milan, where he was baptized.",
        "A bishop consoled her with words that mothers have carried ever since: \"the child of those tears shall never perish.\" The son she would not stop praying for became St. Augustine.",
        "She is a companion for every woman who loves someone who has left the faith: a son or a daughter, a husband, a brother, a friend."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Luke 11:9", "text": "And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49011.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to St. Monica",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "St. Monica, mother who would not stop praying: I bring you the one I love who has wandered from God. You know the weight I carry, for you carried it for years. Ask the Lord who honoured your tears to work in this soul what He worked in Augustine: to unsettle every false rest, to open the ear of the heart, and to bring them home to the sacraments. Obtain for me your perseverance: prayer without nagging, hope without deadlines, love that does not become a lecture. St. Monica, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Name them", "text": "Name the one you carry plainly to God. He already knows the name; saying it is how you hand it over." },
        { "theme": "Tears are prayer", "text": "Monica's tears were prayer. Yours count too, even the ones that come in the car or over the sink." },
        { "theme": "Love keeps showing up", "text": "She followed her son across the sea. Persevering love keeps showing up: at the table, in the kind word, in the door left open." },
        { "theme": "God sees every tear", "text": "A bishop told Monica, \"the child of those tears shall never perish.\" That word was given to her, not promised to every mother, but it tells you that God sees every tear. Hope for the one you love today, and tell God so." },
        { "theme": "Less to them, more to God", "text": "If talk about the faith has become a fight, rest it today: say less to them, and more to God about them." },
        { "theme": "Pray for the helpers", "text": "God often sends another voice for the word that finally reaches: a friend, a priest, a book. Pray for whoever He will send." },
        { "theme": "Patience in seasons", "text": "Ask for a patience measured in seasons, not days. Grace keeps its own hours, and God is never late." },
        { "theme": "Your own heart", "text": "Pray for your own conversion too: not because their leaving is your fault, but because a heart being made holy is the quietest argument for the faith and the strongest." },
        { "theme": "Entrust the outcome", "text": "Leave the outcome with God. Monica saw her prayers answered in His way and His time. Thank Him now for what He is doing that you cannot see." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), \"St. Monica\" (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10482a.htm" },
        { "label": "Luke 11:9, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49011.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "anne",
      "name": "St. Anne",
      "for": "for marriages, for mothers and grandmothers, and for women who hope to marry",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow"],
      "icon": "home",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "07-26", "name": "Sts. Joachim and Anne", "label": "Memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, July 26" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Scripture says nothing of the Blessed Virgin's parents. All we know of their names, Joachim and Anne, comes from early writings outside the Bible, chiefly the Protoevangelium of James, whose earliest form dates to about the year 150. The Church keeps their memorial on July 26.",
        "By that tradition Anne is the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus. She has long been honoured as the patroness of women in labour, and women have brought her their marriages, their children and their children's children."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Proverbs 17:6", "text": "Children's children are the crown of old men: and the glory of children are their fathers.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/22017.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to St. Anne",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "Good St. Anne, mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus: I place in your hands the marriage, or the hope of marriage, that I carry today, and every child and grandchild of my house. Obtain steadiness for what is strained, warmth for what has gone cold, patience for what is delayed, and holiness at the centre of it all. Teach me to make a home in which God is welcome, as yours was. St. Anne, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "The house of Joachim and Anne", "text": "Every home forms the souls in it. Ask St. Anne for one grace for the climate of your own house this week." },
        { "theme": "Waiting is not wasted", "text": "Whatever you are waiting for, the waiting is not wasted time when it is offered to God." },
        { "theme": "For the man in your life", "text": "Pray today by name for your husband, or for the husband you have lost, or, if you hope to marry, for the man you may one day marry." },
        { "theme": "One healing", "text": "Ask St. Anne for one concrete healing in your family, and trust God with how and when it comes." },
        { "theme": "Grandmothers", "text": "Grandmothers hold generations together. Pray for yours, living or dead, and for the older women who have mothered you in the faith." },
        { "theme": "Not forgotten", "text": "Bring your timeline to God and leave it there. Whatever His answer, you are not forgotten." },
        { "theme": "Holiness first", "text": "Ask first for holiness for everyone under your roof. Every other gift is safer in a holy house." },
        { "theme": "Women waiting beside you", "text": "Pray for every woman waiting for a husband, a child, or a reconciliation, beside you in this novena." },
        { "theme": "Your family line", "text": "Entrust your whole family line, those before you and those after, to Christ through the prayers of His grandmother." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), \"St. Anne\" (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01538a.htm" },
        { "label": "Proverbs 17:6, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/22017.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gerard",
      "name": "St. Gerard Majella",
      "for": "for conception, pregnancy and a safe delivery",
      "tags": ["mother", "wife"],
      "icon": "cradle",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "10-16", "devotion": true, "name": "St. Gerard Majella", "label": "St. Gerard Majella, October 16 (a household devotion; not on the US liturgical calendar)" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Gerard Majella was born at Muro, in southern Italy, in April 1726. He entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, in 1749, served as a lay brother, and died on 16 October 1755. Leo XIII beatified him in 1893 and Pius X canonized him on 11 December 1904.",
        "A story told of him explains why mothers came to love him. Leaving a house, he forgot his handkerchief; a young girl brought it to him, and he told her to keep it, for one day it might be of use to her. Years later, near death in her first childbirth, she remembered it; it was brought to her, and her baby was safely born. Since his death, wrote his Redemptorist biographer, his prayers have been asked \"again and again\" for mothers in danger and for their children."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Psalm 138:13", "refNote": "Psalm 139:13 in modern Bibles", "text": "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/21138.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to St. Gerard",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "St. Gerard, friend of mothers: intercede for me and for every child God may entrust to me. If it is His will, obtain the gift of new life; guard the child now hidden and growing; steady me through fear, sickness and waiting; and bring us both safely through to the font of Baptism. For every woman aching for a child, ask the Father, who is not stingy with good gifts, to answer in His way and His time, and give us grace to trust Him. St. Gerard, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "God's deliberate work", "text": "\"Thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.\" Every life is God's deliberate work. Begin there." },
        { "theme": "Name the fear", "text": "Bring your particular fear to God today and name it to St. Gerard. Fear is not a sin; it is a place to be met." },
        { "theme": "What God wills", "text": "Practise saying once, honestly: \"What God wills.\" Mean as much of it as you can today, and ask for the rest." },
        { "theme": "The second birth", "text": "Pray for the Baptism of the child you carry or hope for: the second and greater birth." },
        { "theme": "Hard diagnoses", "text": "Pray for women carrying difficult news in pregnancy, and for doctors and midwives worthy of their trust." },
        { "theme": "If you are waiting", "text": "If you are waiting to conceive, remember Hannah, who poured out her heart before the Lord. Her longing is in Scripture because God honours it, whatever His answer." },
        { "theme": "A heart unclenched", "text": "Ask for a body at peace and a heart unclenched. Offer one small discomfort today for another mother." },
        { "theme": "The birth itself", "text": "Entrust the birth, every hour of it, to God through St. Gerard's prayers." },
        { "theme": "His before mine", "text": "Whatever comes, make this your resolution: this child is God's before it is mine, and I entrust this child to His mercy and His love." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia (1909), \"St. Gerard Majella\" (newadvent.org): birth, profession, death, beatification, canonization", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06467c.htm" },
        { "label": "O. R. Vassall-Phillips, C.SS.R., The Life of Saint Gerard Majella, 4th ed. (London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1915), pp. 146, 158: lay brother; the handkerchief; his help to mothers", "url": "https://archive.org/details/lifeofsaintgerar00vassrich" },
        { "label": "Psalm 138:13, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/21138.htm" },
        { "label": "USCCB liturgical calendars 2026 and 2027: October 16 is kept for other saints in the United States (checked by Regina's calendar engine)", "url": "https://www.usccb.org/resources/2026cal.pdf" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "therese",
      "name": "St. Thérèse of Lisieux",
      "for": "for trust when you feel too small for your life",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "rose",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "10-01", "name": "St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus", "label": "Memorial of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, October 1" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Thérèse Martin was born at Alençon on 2 January 1873, the youngest daughter of Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin. She entered Carmel at fifteen and died there on 30 September 1897, at twenty-four, having done nothing the world would call great.",
        "Her \"little way\", St. John Paul II wrote, is the Gospel way of holiness open to everyone. On 19 October 1997 he declared her a Doctor of the Universal Church: one of the Church's teachers, for a doctrine learned in small duties done with great love."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Matthew 18:3", "text": "And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/47018.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to St. Thérèse",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "St. Thérèse, little flower of Jesus: I feel too small for what my life is asking of me. You knew that feeling, and you made it the road itself. Obtain for me your little way: to do the next small duty with great love, to trust the Father like a child held in arms, and to stop measuring my worth by what the world can see. Take my intention, which you know, and place it in the hands of God. St. Thérèse, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Small on purpose", "text": "Start smaller than you think. One duty done for love is a whole day's work in her way." },
        { "theme": "Hidden love", "text": "Do one hidden act of love today and tell no one." },
        { "theme": "Confidence", "text": "Her engine was confidence in God, not her own perfection. Which have you been running on?" },
        { "theme": "The ordinary day", "text": "The laundry, the noise, the interruption: a saint's life can be made of exactly this." },
        { "theme": "Feelings are weather", "text": "She kept trusting in darkness. Feelings are weather, not verdicts; keep walking in what you know." },
        { "theme": "One annoyance", "text": "Accept one annoyance today without comment, for love of Him." },
        { "theme": "The hardest person", "text": "Pray today for the person who most tries your patience, and do them one small kindness." },
        { "theme": "Graces in the day", "text": "Look back over today and find three graces you nearly missed. Thank God for each." },
        { "theme": "A child's request", "text": "Ask plainly for your intention, and for the childlike heart that can receive any answer from the Father." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "St. John Paul II, Divini Amoris Scientia (1997), vatican.va", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19101997_divini-amoris.html" },
        { "label": "Postulator General of the Discalced Carmelites, \"Louis and Marie-Azélie Martin\" (postocd.org)", "url": "https://postocd.org/en/?p=2928" },
        { "label": "Matthew 18:3, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/47018.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "zelie",
      "name": "Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin",
      "for": "for marriages, working mothers and the holiness of an ordinary house",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "widow"],
      "icon": "ring",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "07-12", "devotion": true, "name": "Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin", "label": "Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, July 12 (a household devotion; not on the US liturgical calendar)" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Zélie Guérin was born on 23 December 1831 and became a skilled maker of point d'Alençon lace. She married Louis Martin, a watchmaker, at Alençon in 1858. They had nine children and lost four of them young. Their last daughter became St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Zélie died at Alençon on 28 August 1877, after a long illness.",
        "They were beatified on 19 October 2008, and Pope Francis canonized them together on 18 October 2015: a husband and wife raised to the altars for the holiness of a working home."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Psalm 126:1", "refNote": "Psalm 127:1 in modern Bibles", "text": "Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/21126.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to Sts. Louis and Zélie",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "Sts. Louis and Zélie, husband and wife at the workbench: you knew orders due and children crying, grief that emptied your arms and faith that held. Intercede for every home whose days are too full, that in the work itself we may be made holy, that our houses be workshops of heaven, and that we never sacrifice our children to success nor our souls to busyness. Obtain for my family the grace that every one of us reach Him. Sts. Louis and Zélie, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Dare the great prayer", "text": "Ask God plainly that every one of your children become a saint. It is not too large a prayer." },
        { "theme": "Work as offering", "text": "Your work is not a rival to holiness. Offer today's work to God in the morning, before it begins." },
        { "theme": "Honest with God", "text": "Tell God honestly how hard today is. He would rather have your real day than a tidy prayer." },
        { "theme": "Mothers who grieve", "text": "They buried four children. Pray today for every mother who grieves a child." },
        { "theme": "One degree of peace", "text": "Move your house one degree toward peace today: for love, not for appearances." },
        { "theme": "A partnership in holiness", "text": "Pray for your marriage, or for the marriages around you, to become a partnership in holiness." },
        { "theme": "Keep Sunday", "text": "What argues in your house against keeping Sunday holy? Bring it to God and choose the Lord's Day." },
        { "theme": "Trust in the trial", "text": "Name today's worry and give it to God. He does not abandon those who trust in Him." },
        { "theme": "Consecrate the house", "text": "Entrust your work, your house and each child by name to the Heart of Jesus." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Postulator General of the Discalced Carmelites, \"Louis and Marie-Azélie Martin\" (postocd.org): watchmaker, lace-maker, married at Alençon 1858, nine children", "url": "https://postocd.org/en/?p=2928" },
        { "label": "Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter of beatification (15 October 2008): their feast on July 12, the anniversary of their marriage", "url": "https://www.louisandzeliemartin.org/apostolic-letter-of-beatificat" },
        { "label": "Psalm 126:1, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/21126.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gianna",
      "name": "St. Gianna Beretta Molla",
      "for": "for a hard pregnancy and a heavy medical cross",
      "tags": ["mother", "wife"],
      "icon": "heart",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "04-28", "devotion": true, "name": "St. Gianna Beretta Molla", "label": "St. Gianna Beretta Molla, April 28 (a household devotion; not on the US liturgical calendar)" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Gianna Beretta was born at Magenta, near Milan, on 4 October 1922. She graduated in medicine and surgery at Pavia in 1949, specialized in paediatrics, and married Pietro Molla in 1955. They had four children.",
        "During her fourth pregnancy, in September 1961, a fibroma was found in her uterus. Before the operation she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying. A few days before the birth she said that if a choice had to be made between her and the child, the child was to be saved. Her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born on 21 April 1962. Gianna died a week later, on 28 April, after repeating, \"Jesus, I love you.\" St. John Paul II beatified her in 1994 and canonized her on 16 May 2004.",
        "St. John Paul II called her death an \"extreme sacrifice\". It was a heroic gift, freely given: the Church honours it, and does not lay it on every mother as a duty. The Church never permits the direct taking of a child's life; what a mother may rightly do when her own life is in danger is a question to bring to your doctors and to a priest you trust. These nine days are for strength and light, not a substitute for either."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Isaias 41:10", "text": "Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/27041.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to St. Gianna",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "St. Gianna, physician, wife and mother: you loved your work, your husband and your children, and you loved God more. Intercede for every mother carrying a hard diagnosis, a dangerous pregnancy, a cross measured in scans and waiting rooms. Obtain wise doctors, right counsel, courage without bravado, and a peace that does not depend on the prognosis. Help me to say with you, and to mean it: Jesus, I love you. St. Gianna, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Jesus, I love you", "text": "Begin with the words she prayed at the last. Say slowly, once: \"Jesus, I love you.\"" },
        { "theme": "Medicine and God", "text": "She was a doctor who prayed. Pray today for your doctors and nurses by name." },
        { "theme": "The exact fear", "text": "Bring the exact fear, the scan, the number, the date, into the open before God." },
        { "theme": "Joy at home", "text": "Ask for the grace to be gentle and cheerful at home while you carry this." },
        { "theme": "Mothers beside you", "text": "Pray for mothers facing what you fear, and for the children they carry." },
        { "theme": "Offered, not wasted", "text": "Offer today's discomfort for one particular person. Suffering offered to God is never wasted." },
        { "theme": "Her family", "text": "She was a wife and mother before she was a saint on an altar. Pray for the people of your own home by name." },
        { "theme": "Surrender", "text": "Surrender the outcome to God. Surrender is not approval of what you fear; it is trust in Who holds it." },
        { "theme": "Love to the end", "text": "Close these nine days with her words: \"Jesus, I love you.\" Ask that, whatever comes, they be your words too." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Holy See, \"Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962)\", biography (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20040516_beretta-molla_en.html" },
        { "label": "Agenzia Fides: canonization, 16 May 2004", "url": "https://fides.org/en/news/2367-VATICAN_CANONISATION_DEL_16_MAY_Gianna_Beretta_Molla_1922_1962_a_mother_who_gave_her_life_to_save_that_of_her_fourth_child" },
        { "label": "St. John Paul II, homily at the canonization of six saints, 16 May 2004 (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2004/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20040516_canonizations.html" },
        { "label": "St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 62 (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html" },
        { "label": "Isaias 41:10, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/27041.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "immaculate-heart",
      "name": "The Immaculate Heart of Mary",
      "for": "for the peace of your home",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "heart",
      "feast": { "type": "movable", "key": "immaculateHeartSaturday", "name": "The Immaculate Heart of Mary", "label": "The Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "St. Luke tells us twice that Mary kept the words and events of her Son's childhood in her heart (Luke 2:19, 2:51). Devotion to her Immaculate Heart honours that interior life: a heart wholly given to God, which pondered before it spoke and was pierced without turning bitter (Luke 2:35).",
        "The Church keeps the memorial of the Immaculate Heart on the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A home entrusted to her heart has a mother keeping watch over its peace."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Luke 2:19", "text": "But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to the Immaculate Heart",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "O Immaculate Heart of Mary, heart that pondered, trusted and was pierced: I entrust to you my home and everyone under its roof, our work, our wounds, and our unbelief wherever it hides. Reign here as mother and queen: keep small the quarrels, keep soft the hearts, keep our Sundays holy and our words clean of contempt. Form my heart on yours, pondering before reacting, magnifying the Lord and not myself, and lead every one of us to the Heart of your Son. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be", "memorare"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Ponder", "text": "\"Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.\" Ponder one thing tonight instead of saying it." },
        { "theme": "Each by name", "text": "Entrust each person in your home, by name, to her heart." },
        { "theme": "The sword", "text": "\"Thy own soul a sword shall pierce.\" Bring her the thing that has pierced yours." },
        { "theme": "Open a door", "text": "Peace often enters a home through a door one person opens. Open one today: a word, an apology." },
        { "theme": "The hardest to entrust", "text": "Pray especially for the person in your home whom you find hardest to entrust." },
        { "theme": "Magnify", "text": "Her soul magnified the Lord. Write down one line of thanks for what God has done in your house." },
        { "theme": "Saturdays", "text": "Saturdays have long been kept in honour of Our Lady. Consider one small Saturday practice for your home." },
        { "theme": "Guard the house", "text": "Ask her to guard what your family sees, says and scrolls under this roof." },
        { "theme": "Into her care", "text": "Ask her, in your own plain words, to keep this home in her heart: \"Mother, keep this home, and bring every one of us to Jesus.\" This is a petition, not an act of consecration; for that, use a text the Church has long used, such as St. Louis de Montfort's." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Luke 2:19, 2:35, 2:51, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm" },
        { "label": "Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001), 174: the memorial on the day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart; 204: consecration and entrustment, and St. Louis de Montfort (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "undoer",
      "name": "Our Lady, Undoer of Knots",
      "for": "for the tangled thing you cannot fix",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "sparkle",
      "feast": { "type": "any", "label": "A popular devotion with no feast on the Church's calendar: begin any day" },
      "end": null,
      "safety": "abuse-danger",
      "intro": [
        "St. Irenaeus wrote in Against Heresies that \"the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.\" Around 1700 a Baroque painter made that image, Mary untying the knots of a long white ribbon; it hangs in the church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg, Germany.",
        "Through Jorge Mario Bergoglio, later Pope Francis, the image became famous: a copy hangs in Buenos Aires, and it became known across the world after his election in 2013. Accounts differ on how he first met it: in a 2017 interview with Die Zeit he said he had never been to Augsburg, and that a religious sister he had met in Germany sent it to him on a Christmas card.",
        "It is a popular devotion, not a feast of the Church's calendar, so you may begin it on any day.",
        "If the knot is a person who hurts you, threatens you, or makes you afraid, your safety comes first. Prayer is never a reason to stay in danger, and what someone does to you is not your sin."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Luke 1:38", "text": "And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49001.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "Holy Mary, full of grace, you accept with humility what your Son allows and untie with patience what we have pulled tight. I place in your hands this knot. You see it whole, its first loop and its last. Ask your Son to undo in it what I cannot: the misunderstanding no conversation fixes, the resentment no apology has reached, the consequence still binding what God wants free. And untie the knots in me that keep it tied. I do not ask you to hurry; I ask you not to stop. Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be", "memorare"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Name the knot", "text": "Name the knot in one sentence. Precision is already a mercy." },
        { "theme": "Obedience loosens", "text": "\"The knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.\" Ask what one act of obedience to God would loosen today." },
        { "theme": "Your own thread", "text": "Look honestly for your own thread in the knot, if there is one: a part that is yours to bring to confession. What others have done to you is not your sin." },
        { "theme": "No yanking", "text": "Knots tighten when they are yanked. For today, no digs and no scorekeeping: bring it to prayer instead. A boundary that keeps you or your children safe is not a yank; keep it." },
        { "theme": "The other person", "text": "Pray for the other person in the knot as one whom God loves. Praying for someone never means letting them harm you." },
        { "theme": "Unseen work", "text": "Some knots are loosened in secret long before we feel any slack. Trust the work you cannot see." },
        { "theme": "A real sacrifice", "text": "Offer one real sacrifice today for this intention." },
        { "theme": "Drop your end", "text": "Forgiveness is not approval, and it is not a promise to stay in harm's way; it is letting go of your end of the rope. Consider your grip." },
        { "theme": "Leave it with her", "text": "Leave the ribbon in her hands. The novena ends; her care does not." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.22.4, tr. Roberts and Rambaut, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1, 1885 (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103322.htm" },
        { "label": "Pope Francis, interview in Die Zeit no. 11, 9 March 2017 (archived): the painting of about 1700 in St. Peter am Perlach with its white ribbon; the Christmas card; the copy in Buenos Aires", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20170726123339/https://www.zeit.de/2017/11/papst-franziskus-vatikan-katholische-kirche-interview" },
        { "label": "Luke 1:38, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49001.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "joseph",
      "name": "St. Joseph",
      "for": "for your husband, your father and the men of your house",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "widow", "single"],
      "icon": "home",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "03-19", "name": "St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary", "label": "Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "Joseph is the husband of Mary and the guardian of the Child Jesus. When the angel spoke to him in his sleep, he rose and did what he was told (Matthew 1:24). Blessed Pius IX proclaimed him Patron of the Catholic Church on 8 December 1870, and the faithful everywhere call on him as the patron of a happy death.",
        "Pope Leo XIII wrote in 1889 that \"fathers of families find in Joseph the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a perfect example of love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity; virgins at the same time find in him the model and protector of virginal integrity.\" Pray these nine days for the men of your house: your husband, your father, your sons, or the husband you have entrusted to God."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Matthew 1:24", "text": "And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/47001.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "Pope Leo XIII's prayer to St. Joseph",
        "source": { "label": "The Raccolta (London: Burns & Oates; New York: Benziger Brothers, 1910), no. 308, p. 281 (public domain); given by Leo XIII with Quamquam Pluries, 15 August 1889", "url": "https://archive.org/details/theraccoltaorcol00unknuoft/page/281/mode/1up" },
        "text": "To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we fly in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy spouse, we confidently crave thy patronage also. Through that charity which bound thee to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and through the paternal love with which thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we humbly beseech thee graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities. O most watchful Guardian of the Divine Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving Father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from Heaven assist us in this our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity: shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thine example and thine aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in Heaven. Amen."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "The man who rose", "text": "Joseph rose from sleep and obeyed. Pray for the man you carry, that he may hear God and rise." },
        { "theme": "Guardian", "text": "Joseph guarded a household. Ask him to guard yours: its faith, its peace, its children." },
        { "theme": "His work", "text": "Pray for your husband's or your father's work: that it be honest, sufficient, and offered to God." },
        { "theme": "Silence", "text": "Scripture records no word from Joseph. Pray for the man who struggles to say what he carries." },
        { "theme": "Fidelity", "text": "Leo XIII called Joseph a perfect example of conjugal fidelity. Pray for the fidelity of every marriage you know." },
        { "theme": "Fathers", "text": "Pray for your own father, living or dead, and for every father in your family." },
        { "theme": "Sons", "text": "Pray for the boys and young men of your house, that they grow into men like Joseph." },
        { "theme": "A happy death", "text": "Ask Joseph, patron of a happy death, for a holy death for each man you love, when God calls him." },
        { "theme": "Into his care", "text": "Place the men of your house, by name, under Joseph's care, as God once placed His own Son." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries 4 (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15081889_quamquam-pluries.html" },
        { "label": "Pope Francis, Patris Corde (8 December 2020): Patron of the Catholic Church, 8 December 1870; patron of a happy death (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20201208_patris-corde.html" },
        { "label": "Matthew 1:24, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/47001.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "sorrows",
      "name": "Our Lady of Sorrows",
      "for": "for a sorrow you cannot carry alone",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "rose",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "09-15", "name": "Our Lady of Sorrows", "label": "Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, September 15" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "On September 15, the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Church remembers the Mother of God standing at the foot of her Son's Cross. Simeon had told her, \"thy own soul a sword shall pierce\" (Luke 2:35).",
        "Christian devotion counts seven sorrows: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the Child in Jerusalem, meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary, standing at the foot of the Cross, Jesus taken down from the Cross, and His burial. These nine days walk through the seven sorrows; on the eighth they stand where she was given to us as Mother (John 19:26-27)."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Luke 2:35", "text": "And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "Holy Mother of Sorrows, you stood by the Cross and did not run. Stand by me now in what I carry. You know grief that cannot be fixed and love that cannot stop; teach me to bring both to your Son. Keep me from bitterness, from despair, and from carrying this alone. Obtain for me the grace to stay near the Cross as you did, and to trust that it is not the end. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be", "memorare"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "The first sorrow: Simeon's prophecy", "ref": "Luke 2:34-35", "text": "She was told of the sword long before it came. Bring her the sorrow you see coming, and ask for strength enough for today." },
        { "theme": "The second sorrow: the flight into Egypt", "ref": "Matthew 2:13-14", "text": "She fled by night with her child into a strange land. Pray for mothers who flee danger with their children." },
        { "theme": "The third sorrow: the Child lost in Jerusalem", "ref": "Luke 2:43-45", "text": "For three days she searched for her Son. Pray for the child, or the faith, you are searching for." },
        { "theme": "The fourth sorrow: meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary", "ref": "John 19:17", "text": "Tradition keeps this meeting as the Fourth Station. Pray for the courage to stay near someone you cannot rescue." },
        { "theme": "The fifth sorrow: at the foot of the Cross", "ref": "John 19:25", "text": "She stood. Ask for the grace to stand where you cannot change what is happening." },
        { "theme": "The sixth sorrow: Jesus taken down from the Cross", "ref": "John 19:38", "text": "Tradition pictures her receiving His body into her arms. Bring her the loss you have held." },
        { "theme": "The seventh sorrow: the burial", "ref": "John 19:41-42", "text": "Tradition places her at the tomb as it was closed. Pray for everyone who has stood at a grave this year." },
        { "theme": "Behold thy mother", "ref": "John 19:26-27", "text": "From the Cross He gave her to us as Mother. Take her into your home, as the beloved disciple did." },
        { "theme": "Not the end", "text": "Sorrow at the foot of the Cross was not the last word. Give your intention to her, and wait with her for the morning." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), \"Feasts of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary\" (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14151b.htm" },
        { "label": "Luke 2:35, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "immaculate-conception",
      "name": "The Immaculate Conception",
      "for": "for purity of heart, yours and that of the children in your care",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "star",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "12-08", "name": "The Immaculate Conception", "label": "Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "On 8 December 1854 Blessed Pius IX defined, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was kept free from every stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace of God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ (see the Catechism, 491). The angel greeted her as \"full of grace\" (Luke 1:28).",
        "The traditional nine days run from November 29 to December 7, the eve of the solemnity. Each day closes with the invocation on the Miraculous Medal, from the visions St. Catherine Labouré reported in 1830 (a private revelation; the Archbishop of Paris approved the medal, first struck in 1832)."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Luke 1:28", "text": "And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49001.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to the Immaculate Conception",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "Immaculate Virgin, full of grace, kept by God from every stain of sin for the sake of your Son: look kindly on me and on my house. Obtain for me a pure heart, a clean conscience, and the courage to turn from what I know is wrong. Guard my children's hearts and keep them close to Jesus. Make our home a place where grace is welcome. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."
      },
      "invocation": { "text": "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.", "source": { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia, \"Miraculous Medal\": the words on the medal (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10115a.htm" } },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "Full of grace", "text": "\"Hail, full of grace.\" Grace came first in her life. Ask that it come first in yours today." },
        { "theme": "A singular gift", "text": "Her purity was God's gift before it was her choice. Thank God for the gifts in you that you did not earn." },
        { "theme": "Clean hands", "text": "Make a good examination of conscience tonight, and plan your next confession." },
        { "theme": "The children's hearts", "text": "Pray for the purity of heart of each child you love, by name, and for what they watch and hear." },
        { "theme": "Advent with her", "text": "This novena falls in Advent. Make room in one corner of your day for quiet with her." },
        { "theme": "Her yes", "text": "Her whole life said yes to God. Find one small yes He is asking of you today." },
        { "theme": "Modesty of heart", "text": "Ask for a heart that does not need to be seen or praised: hidden, like hers at Nazareth." },
        { "theme": "Against discouragement", "text": "Grace is stronger than sin. Bring her the fault you are most tired of confessing, and begin again." },
        { "theme": "The eve", "text": "Tomorrow is her feast. Entrust yourself and your house to her: \"O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us.\"" }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Catechism of the Catholic Church 491 (vatican.va), paraphrased", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1K.HTM" },
        { "label": "Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (8 December 1854)", "url": "https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9ineff.htm" },
        { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), \"Miraculous Medal\" (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10115a.htm" },
        { "label": "Luke 1:28, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/49001.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "guadalupe",
      "name": "Our Lady of Guadalupe",
      "for": "for the children you carry, in your arms or in your heart, born and unborn, and for the Americas",
      "tags": ["mother", "wife", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "crown",
      "feast": { "type": "fixed", "md": "12-12", "name": "Our Lady of Guadalupe", "label": "Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12" },
      "end": "eve",
      "intro": [
        "In December 1531, by the account the Church has long honoured, the Blessed Virgin appeared on the hill of Tepeyac, near what is now Mexico City, to Juan Diego, a native convert, and her image was left on his tilma, his cloak. This is a private revelation: the Church honours it with a feast in her calendar, and St. John Paul II canonized Juan Diego at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on 31 July 2002.",
        "He wrote that the appearance of Mary to Juan Diego \"had a decisive effect on evangelization\", and the Church honours her as Patroness of all America. Her feast is kept on December 12; the traditional nine days run from December 3 to December 11."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Apocalypse 12:1", "text": "And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/73012.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "The novena prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe",
        "composed": true,
        "text": "Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the true God, who came to a poor man on the hill of Tepeyac: come to me in what I carry. Take under your mantle the children I love, born and unborn, and every mother afraid for her child. Keep our families in the faith, give us sweet hope in bitter days, and lead us all to your Son. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us."
      },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be", "memorare"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "She came to the poor", "text": "In the account, she came to a simple, humble man and trusted him with her message. Bring her what makes you feel small." },
        { "theme": "The children", "text": "Pray for each child you love by name, and for every child waiting to be born." },
        { "theme": "Mothers afraid", "text": "Pray for every mother who is afraid for her child tonight, near or far." },
        { "theme": "The sign of roses", "text": "In the account, she gave Juan Diego roses for a sign. Ask God to open your eyes to one sign of His care this week; it may be small." },
        { "theme": "The sick", "text": "Pray for the sick in your family, and for those who care for them through the night." },
        { "theme": "One family of nations", "text": "Pray for the peoples of the Americas, north and south, and for those who cross between them." },
        { "theme": "Faith handed on", "text": "Pray that the faith be handed on in your family, from the oldest to the youngest." },
        { "theme": "Under her mantle", "text": "Place your whole household under her mantle, as a child hides in her mother's cloak." },
        { "theme": "The eve", "text": "Tomorrow is her feast. Give her your intention one last time, and trust her with it." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "St. John Paul II, Ecclesia in America 11 (1999), vatican.va", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america.html" },
        { "label": "Holy See, \"Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548)\", biography (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20020731_juan-diego_en.html" },
        { "label": "St. John Paul II, homily at the canonization of Juan Diego, Mexico City, 31 July 2002 (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20020731_canonization-mexico.html" },
        { "label": "Apocalypse 12:1, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/73012.htm" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "holy-spirit",
      "name": "The Holy Spirit",
      "for": "for light, strength, and every gift of the Spirit",
      "tags": ["wife", "mother", "single", "widow", "consecrated", "discerning"],
      "icon": "sparkle",
      "feast": { "type": "movable", "key": "pentecost", "name": "Pentecost", "label": "Pentecost Sunday: nine days from the Friday forty days after Easter to the eve of Pentecost" },
      "end": "eve",
      "private": false,
      "intro": [
        "After the Ascension the Apostles waited in Jerusalem for the promised Spirit, and \"all these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren\" (Acts 1:14). Those days of prayer, ending at Pentecost, are the pattern of every novena.",
        "In 1897 Pope Leo XIII decreed that \"a Novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday, in all parish churches\" (Divinum Illud Munus). The nine days run from the Friday forty days after Easter (the day after Ascension Thursday, even where your diocese keeps the Ascension on the following Sunday) to the eve of Pentecost, and each day here asks for one of the gifts the prophet Isaias names (Isaias 11:2-3)."
      ],
      "word": { "ref": "Acts 1:14", "text": "All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/51001.htm" },
      "prayer": {
        "title": "Come, Holy Spirit",
        "source": { "label": "Rev. F. X. Lasance, My Prayer-Book: Happiness in Goodness (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1908), pp. 225-226, \"Prayer to the Holy Ghost\" (public domain)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/MyPrayerBookHappinessInGoodness/page/225/mode/1up" },
        "text": "Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.\nV. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.\nR. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.\nLet us pray. O God, Who hast taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolations, through Christ our Lord. Amen."
      },
      "isaias": { "ref": "Isaias 11:2-3a", "text": "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/27011.htm" },
      "closing": ["our-father", "hail-mary", "glory-be"],
      "days": [
        { "theme": "With Mary in the upper room", "ref": "Acts 1:14", "text": "Begin where the Apostles began: in prayer, with Mary, asking for nothing in particular except the Spirit Himself." },
        { "theme": "The fear of the Lord", "ref": "Isaias 11:3", "text": "Ask for holy fear: the reverence of a child who would not wound her Father's love. Everything else is built on it." },
        { "theme": "Godliness", "ref": "Isaias 11:2", "text": "Ask for godliness, or piety: a glad, childlike love of God that makes prayer feel like coming home." },
        { "theme": "Knowledge", "ref": "Isaias 11:2", "text": "Ask for knowledge: to see created things as they are, gifts from God and never gods themselves." },
        { "theme": "Fortitude", "ref": "Isaias 11:2", "text": "Ask for fortitude: strength to do the hard good and to endure what cannot be changed." },
        { "theme": "Counsel", "ref": "Isaias 11:2", "text": "Ask for counsel: light for the decision in front of you, and the humility to take advice." },
        { "theme": "Understanding", "ref": "Isaias 11:2", "text": "Ask for understanding: to see into the truths of the faith, so that they become yours and not only words." },
        { "theme": "Wisdom", "ref": "Isaias 11:2", "text": "Ask for wisdom: to taste the things of God and to order your house by them." },
        { "theme": "The eve of Pentecost", "text": "Tomorrow is Pentecost. Ask for all the gifts together, and for the fire of His love in your home." }
      ],
      "sources": [
        { "label": "Acts 1:14, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/51001.htm" },
        { "label": "Isaias 11:2-3, Douay-Rheims (drbo.org)", "url": "https://www.drbo.org/chapter/27011.htm" },
        { "label": "Leo XIII, Divinum Illud Munus (9 May 1897), vatican.va", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_09051897_divinum-illud-munus.html" },
        { "label": "Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001), 155: the pious exercise of the Pentecost novena (vatican.va)", "url": "https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html" },
        { "label": "Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), \"Novena\" (newadvent.org)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11141b.htm" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}