# Novena to merciful love: day one
*2015-01-20*

> Bill Young introduces the Novena to Merciful Love written by Mother Speranza and leads the first day of prayer, focusing on the fatherly love of God.

## The life of Mother Speranza

Today we begin the Novena to Merciful Love, a nine-day prayer written by Mother Speranza. The history of the Church tells us that the Holy Spirit continuously and freely gives extraordinary gifts to men and women so they may do good for all humanity. Mother Speranza was one such person. Born in southern Spain in 1893, she entered the Sisters of Calvary at age 22, later forming a new religious family in 1930.

Mother Speranza possessed a particular knowledge of the mercy of God that came not from books, but from her intimacy with the 'good Jesus,' as she called Him. She desired to announce to everyone that God is not a severe judge ready to condemn, but a good father who loves, forgives, and forgets offenses. He is the father who awaits the prodigal son and the good shepherd who seeks the lost sheep.

Throughout her life, Mother Speranza established congregations to serve the most miserable members of society—homeless children, the abandoned elderly, and the handicapped. She also showed a deep maternal love for priests, establishing a unique union that allowed diocesan priests to become members of her religious family while remaining in their own dioceses. She died at age 90 on February 8, 1983.

## Opening prayers

We begin this novena in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We call upon the Lord for aid and offer the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Apostles' Creed to center our hearts in faith.

## Turning to merciful love

In the introductory prayer, we acknowledge the sorrow of having offended Jesus and the grace of the Father's forgiveness. With confidence in the promise 'ask and you shall receive,' we turn to His merciful love. We implore the grace to transform our behavior, to bear witness to our faith through our works, and to live according to His precepts, burning in the fire of His love.

## Meditation on the Our Father

On this first day, we meditate on the word 'Our.' God, having only one natural Son, in His infinite love desired to have many adopted children upon whom He could lavish His riches. Because we all share the same Father, we are called to love one another as brothers and sisters.

The title 'Father' befits God because we owe Him everything—both by nature and by the supernatural grace that makes us His adopted children. He wants us to call Him Father so that we may love, obey, and venerate Him, awakening in us a trust that allows us to obtain all that we ask of Him.

## Closing petitions

We turn to Jesus in our times of tribulation, asking that His goodness triumph and that He grant our desires if they serve His glory and the good of our souls. We ask Jesus to be our father, guardian, and guide on our pilgrimage so that we may not stray from the path. We also ask the Blessed Mother, who cared for the good Jesus, to educate us and lead us along the path of the commandments.

*God is not a severe judge, but a loving Father who invites us into His family through His infinite mercy.*