St. Gianna Novena

Day 3: Blessed are They Who Mourn

Reflection

St. Gianna knew well that the Devil never takes pause from his sieges, and she sought to be on guard against the distractions of our age that make sin seem innocent. In fact, she mourned at the vileness of sin, saying, “I want to fear mortal sin as if it were a snake. And I repeat again, it is better to die a thousand times than to offend the Lord.”

“‘Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.’ St. Augustine cautions us against an improper understanding of mourning. Jesus does not bless every form of sorrow. Despair is sorrow without hope. Self-pity is a most dangerous form of mourning… We are to mourn for our sins and the sins of others. Our ‘true consolation will be that which gives comfort that will never be lost.’”

- “St. Augustine On the Beatitudes,” by Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg

Intention

Let us ask St. Gianna to help bolster our resolve
to practice the Beatitudes in our daily lives.

Novena Prayer

(Composed by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke)

Saint Gianna, heroically Christlike wife, mother and physician, I ask the help of your prayers, as I strive to follow your holy example in my physical and spiritual trials.

Help me, by your prayers, to recognize the suffering of the Cross as the way to pure and selfless love of God and my neighbor. May your practice of medicine with priestly care of both body and soul inspire physicians to see the Face of the suffering Christ in their patients.

May your loving acceptance of illness and death help patients to know and do God's will in all things, uniting their sufferings to the Passion and Death of Christ for the salvation of the world.

Saint Gianna, pray for us always that we may have a heart, meek and courageous, like the Heart of Jesus, in Whom we find our healing and strength.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord. AMEN

St. Gianna Beretta Molla,
Pray for us!

Day 4

Day 2

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