Introduction: Born in London, was a teacher and Anglican clergyman at Oxford University. In 1845 he became Roman Catholic and two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest. In 1849 he estab­lished the Oratory of St. Philip in England, and in 7 854 he founded the Catholic University of Ireland. Cardinal Newman defended the faith by his extensive writing, and by his lectures and preaching. He was named cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, and in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI de­clared him blessed.

Newman encourages all to learn the truths of the faithfully, to live them with dedication and confidence, and to teach them to others. His motto, Car ad Car loquitur, (Heart speaks to Heart) shows us how.

This novena: The following reflections and prayers, taken from Blessed Newman’s Meditations and Devo­tions, help us to consider God and his immense love for us.

At the end of each day, recite: the Concluding Prayer, one Our Father, One Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Cardinal Newman 1801-1890

GOD has created all things for good; all things for their greatest good; everything for its own good. What is the good of one is not the good of another; what makes one man happy would make another unhappy. God has determined, unless I interfere with His plan, that I should reach that which will be my greatest happiness. (. . .) God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.

Prayer: 0, my God, I will put myself without reserve into Thy hands. Wealth or woe, joy or sorrow, friends or bereavement, honour or humiliation, good report or ill report, comfort or discomfort, Thy presence or the hiding of Thy countenance, all is good if it comes from Thee. Thou art wisdom and Thou art love-what can I desire more.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

To possess Thee, O Lover of Souls, is happiness, and the only happiness of the immortal soul! To enjoy the sight of Thee is the only happiness of eternity. At present I might amuse and sustain myself with the vanities of sense and time, but they will not last forever.

Prayer: Give me grace, O my Father, to be utterly ashamed of my own reluctance! Rouse me from sloth and coldness, and make me desire Thee with my whole heart. Teach me to love meditation, sacred reading, and prayer. Teach me to love that which must engage my mind for all eternity.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Everything short of Thee, O Lord, is changeable, but Thou endurest. Thou art ever one and the same. Ever the true God of man, and unchangeably so. Thou art the rarest, most precious, the sole good; and withal Thou art the most lasting. The creature changes, the Creator never. Then only the creature stops changing, when it rests on Thee.

Prayer: Be Thou my own bright Light, to which I look, for guidance and for peace. Let me love Thee, O my Lord Jesus, with a pure affection and a fervent affection! (. . .) Let me find and feel Thee to be my only joy, my only refuge, my only strength, my only comfort, my only hope, my only fear, my only love.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

This then, O my soul! is what the sinfulness of sin consists in. It is lifting up my hand against my In-finite Benefactor, against my Almighty Creator, Preserver and Judge-against Him in whom all majesty and glory and beauty and reverence and sanctity centre; against the one only God. Why is this strange anomaly in the face of nature? Does God do things for naught? No, my soul, it is sin; it is thy sin, which has brought the Everlasting down upon earth to suffer. Hence I learn how great an evil sin is. The death of the Infinite is its sole measure.

Prayer: MY God, I dare not offend any earthly superior; I am afraid–for I know I shall get into trouble-yet I dare offend Thee. I know, 0 Lord, that, according to the greatness of the person offended against, the greater is the of-fence. Yet I do not fear to offend Thee, whom to offend is to offend the infinite God.

Oh my Lord Jesus, whose love for me has been so great as to bring Thee down from heaven to save me, teach me, dear Lord, my sin-teach me its heinousness-teach me truly to repent of it-and pardon it in Thy great mercy.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Who could have fancied that Thy creation of the universe implied and involved in it Thy humiliation? O my great God, Thou hast humbled Thyself, Thou hast stooped to take our flesh and blood, and hast been lifted up upon the tree! I praise and glorify Thee tenfold the more, because Thou hast shown Thy power by means of Thy suffering, than hadst Thou carried on Thy work without it.

Prayer: I wish to bear insult meekly, and to return good for evil. I wish to humble myself in all things, and to be silent when I am ill-used, and to be patient when sorrow or pain is prolonged, and aft for the love of Thee, and Thy Cross, knowing that in this way I shall gain the promise both of this life and of the next.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Thy Body has part in Thy power, rather than Thou hast part in its weakness. For this reason, my God, it was, that Thou couldst not but rise again, if Thou wast to die-because Thy Body, once taken by Thee, never was or could be separated from Thee, even in the grave. It was Thy Body even then, it could see no corruption; it could not remain under the power of death.

Prayer: I adore Thy Most Holy Body, O my dear Jesus, the instrument of our redemption.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

O memorable day! The Apostles feel it to be so, now that it is come, though they felt so differently before it came. When it was coming they dreaded it. They could not think but it would be a great bereavement; but now, as we read, they returned to Jerusalem “with great joy.” O what a time of triumph! (. . .) It was the triumph of redeemed man. It is the completion of his redemption. It was the last act, making the whole sure, for now man is actually in heaven. He has entered into possession of his inheritance. The sinful race has now one of its own children there, its own flesh and blood, in the person of the Eternal Son.

Prayer: I choose Thee then for my One Portion, because Thou livest and diest not. I cast away all idols. I give myself to Thee. I pray Thee to teach me, guide me, enable me, and receive me to Thee.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Such a sacrifice was not to be forgotten. It was not to be–it could not be–a mere event in the world’s history, which was to be done and over, and was to pass away except in its obscure, unrecognized effects. If that great deed was what we believe it to be, what we know it is, it must remain present, though past; it must be a standing fact for all times.

Prayer: My Lord, I offer Thee myself in turn as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Thou hast died for me, and I in turn make myself over to Thee. I am not my own. Thou hast bought me; I will by my own act and deed complete the purchase.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

I ADORE Thee, my Lord and God, the Eternal Paraclete, co-equal with the Father and the Son. I adore Thee as the Life of all that live. Through Thee the whole material Universe hangs together and consists, remains in its place, and moves internally in the order and reciprocity of its several parts.

I ADORE Thee, 0 my Lord, the Third Person of the All-Blessed Trinity, that Thou hast set up in this world of sin a great light upon a hill. Thou hast founded the Church, Thou hast established and maintained it.

Prayer: Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shinest: so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from Thee. None of it will be mine. (. . .) Make me preach Thee without preaching-not by words, but by my example and by the catching force, the sympathetic influence, of what I do-by my visible resemblance to Thy saints, and the evident fullness of the love which my heart bears to Thee.

Concluding Prayer: Almighty Creator and Heavenly Father, in John Henry Newman, Your priest and cardinal, You have taught us an unwavering respect for objective truth and dogma, love for the Scriptures, reverence for Tradition, and the inseparable relation of conscience to moral truths. We humbly ask You through his intercession to bestow on us the gifts of Your Spirit that we may grow in Your knowledge and love, and serve You in our neighbors. We also ask that You grant us the favor of: (specify petition) if it be in accord with Your most holy will. We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be