Tomorrow is November 30th and the Feast of St. Andrew - the beginning day of the "Christmas Prayer," also known as the St. Andrew Novena.
Here's the prayer - it's short and easy to memorize.
"Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgina Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen."
It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer 15 times a day from the feat of St. Andrew until Christmas will obtain what is asked.
Stop rolling your eyes right now! In the post-Vatican II era, devotions like this have been frowned upon. Instead we are urged to meditate, to have special quiet prayer times, to master lectio divina, etc. Well, I do my best. I also run full-tilt and completely unrecollected the other waking hours of my days and nights. And everyone else pays for it.
I say this prayer throughout the season every time I think of it, every time there's a break in what I'm doing. And every time I say it, I'm reminded again of the enormity of the Incarnation.
So start now! If you don't read this for a few days after it's posted - start then.
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