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The holiest days of the liturgical year begin today. What exactly is the Easter Triduum?

Nine Day Novena for the Men’s Conference


What is a Novena?

The word novena is taken from “novem,” the Latin word for nine. A novena is made up of nine days of prayer and meditation usually to ask God for special prayer requests or petitions. Novenas are often used to ask specific saints to pray for us. The Saint Jude Novena, for example, is prayed to ask Saint Jude to intercede on behalf of a request that seems especially dire.

Novenas are an ancient tradition that goes back to the days of the Apostles. Jesus told His disciples to pray together after His ascension into heaven, so they went to an upper room along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Acts 1:14) and joined constantly in prayer for nine days. These nine days of constant prayer by the Apostles at the direction of Jesus led up to Pentecost. This is when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:1-4). This pattern of 9 days of prayer is the basis the novenas we pray today.

Thus, the novena is an imitation of the Lord’s command to the Apostles when they prayed for 9 days in anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

( Source: praymorenovenas.com)


Starting on Friday, March 30th will mark nine days until the Catholic Chicago Men’s Conference. We invite you to join us in a Novena to Our Lady of Good Remedy.

You may not have heard of this Novena but, none the less, it is a powerful one indeed.

To learn more click here. 

To download the Novena click here.  

You may add a prayer to your Novena for a personal intention, as well as pray for, as our keynote Fr. Brad Zamora says, “That the Chicago Catholic Men’s Conference on April 7 "affords the men of our Archdiocese & beyond to come together and share their encounter with one another and realize that on the path of life & faith we’re all in this together."

Thank you very much! Please reply to this email if you wish to let us know that you’re in solidarity with us as Chicago Catholic Men.

Look forward to seeing you all at the conference!

God bless you!

- The CMCS Team

Support CMCS With Your Alms Givng This Lent

There is a matching giving offer during this Lenten Season for donations given to CMCS between February 14th and Mercy Sunday April 8th 2018, done anonymously.  The donor believes in fasting and alms giving are a key component of Lent.    Donate online here.  Download mail-in form here.