Prayer to Saint Jude

Most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone. Make use I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly- (Here make your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the elect forever. I promise, O blessed Saint Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you. Amen.

SAINT JUDE NOVENA

FIRST DAY

The word Apostle means a messenger.

The Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ were the messengers He sent throughout the world to tell all mankind the glad tidings, the good news of the Gospel.

Ordinary men from the fishing crafts of small inland seas, from the tax-collectors' benches, from the homes of the less than middle class, they were normally destined for obscure lives and unhonored graves.

But they met the Saviour of the world. He spoke the compelling words, .'Come, follow me." They could have ignored His invitation and returned to their nets, to their coins, to their mediocrity. Wisely they accepted His invitation. They lived for three years with the master, received from Him incredible power and authority, and went out to be His spokesmen.

Among this historic Twelve the least known was the Apostle Jude. Today however he is loved and honored by millions, who call him the saint of the impossible. In his honor we pray:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

SECOND DAY

World conquerors we call the Apostles.

These twelve men, chosen by Christ, proved to be history's most important conquerors. Unarmed, save with the power of truth, unarmored, save for the grace of God, they moved under the leadership of Peter and of his field marshal, Paul, to win the nations for the kingdom of Christ.

They never lost sight of the Savior and of the happiness that would come to men and women who became His in utter devotion.

They spoke with His voice, repeating the things He had taught them. They took bread and wine, and, by the same words and gestures that He had used, they turned these elements into His body and blood. "This is my body....This is my blood," He had said. Then He added: "Do this for a commemoration of me."

They drove from the souls of men the worst of enemies, Satan and sin. For they, exercised the power He gave them: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them."

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

THIRD DAY

Of all the Apostles, Saint Jude seems the least known.

Not once throughout the course of the Gospels is it recorded that he spoke. There is confusion about his name; sometimes he is called Jude, and sometimes Thaddeus.

In the Office of the priest the Church says of this little known Apostle: "Thaddeus was also called Jude the son of James. He is the author of one of the Catholic epistles. He preached in Mesopotamia. Later he joined Saint Simon, a fellow Apostle in Persia, where together they brought into the faith numberless children of Jesus Christ, preaching the Gospel and spreading the faith in these vast regions and among these widespread peoples, winning them to the faith with doctrine and miracles. In the end together they made glorious the name of the Savior with their splendid martyrdom."

Since the two Apostles had worked together, their feast is kept together on October 28.

Silent as long as the Savior lived, Jude, accepting the responsibilities of his mission, travels, preaches, works miracles, writes a brief letter filled with his love for Jesus Christ, sees the faith catching fire in the souls of countless pagans, and then dies gloriously for his beloved master .

This is the great Saint to whom we say:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

FOURTH DAY

Strangely enough the Savior selected two Apostles of the same name. One of them was Jude, whose fuller name was Judas. The other was the infamous man, the traitor, Judas Iscariot.

The name Judas has become a synonym for all that is ugly and traitorous in friend-ship turned to hate, trust beu.ayed. A Judas is a man who kisses his friend's cheek as a sign to that man's lurking, murderous enemies.

So it was that Jude the saint was never given his full name, Judas, for fear that the name be a reminder of the traitor.

How different these two men in their ultimate destiny. How alike in their possibilities. Both obscure and unimportant, both are called to greatness. Each lives for three years as the intimate friend of the God-man. To each is given the secrets of the heavenly kingdom and the promise of leadership in the battle to win the world for God. Each is called a friend.

One of these two turns traitor, sears the cheek of His God with a treasonous kiss.

The other of the two, apparently of lesser talent, never as Judas was-an official in the apostolic group, uses his opportunities, holds fast to the powers entrusted to him, loves his Savior and does His work, and ends a glorious martyr.

This is Saint Jude, to whom we pray:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

FIFTH DAY

Sometimes we are misled by the pictures and the statues of the Apostles.

We see these men as vast in physique, with flaming eyes, hands raised compellingly, lips clearly accustomed to authority and the powerful words of the Lord.

We forget, until we come to Jude (little known and for centuries largely forgotten) that these were ordinary men like our-selves. There was little in their nature and nothing in their background to give promise of what they became. Poor sons, grubbing tradesman, accustomed to plain fare and dull company, resigned to common-place lives and obscure ends, there was no sign of what they could become.

Only the power of Christ made them different. Before Christ called them, the Apostles were even less than ordinary. After Christ called them and always with Christ, the Apostles were the glorious saints, martyrs, Popes, and bishops, destined to make earth ring with the greatest news since creation.

Jude without Christ...a nonentity; Jude with Christ...one of the world's truly great.

Without Christ we ourselves are no-bodies. With Christ we can do all things in Him that strengthens us.

To Saint Jude, powerful with the power of Christ, we say:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

SIXTH DAY

Among these ordinary men who became the world's greatest, Jude seems to have been marked only in that he was more ordinary than the rest.

We do not know whether he was tall or short. handsome or plain.

There were a thousand others of his name. In a crowd he would have been lost in the routine similarity of trade and clothes and looks and speech.

Jude had none of the qualities that make for earthly preeminence; he had all the generous qualities that the Savior had sought.

From the multitude the finger of the Lord singled him out. Like the rest of men he clung naturally to his small possessions and still more to his right to fashion for himself the kind of life he cared to live.

Unlike most men he gave up all things to follow Christ, and he accepted what-ever the Savior planned for him. He could echo sincerely the triumphant words of Saint Peter: "Behold, we have left all things and have followed thee."

He could hear throughout his life and at the moment of his thrilling entry into heaven, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

In the hope that we will follow in the footsteps of Jude, from obscurity to eternal glory, we say:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

SEVENTH DAY

There must have been a lovely humility about Saint Jude.

He left to the other Apostles the aggressive action and speech that were worth recording.

Once he breaks the silence to write a letter that is filled with his humble love for the Savior and his eagerness to see all men love Him and follow Him.

After a brief journey alone he joins forces with Saint Simon, almost as if he distrusted himself.

Clearly he wished to share with someone else the conversions he made and the miracles he wrought and the souls he won.

After the flame and glory of martyrdom he almost disappears from history. Few altars were erected to his honor. Few churches were named for him. The fact that there had been a Judas kept people from christening their sons Jude. So few remembered to pray to this almost forgotten Apostle.......until close to our times, this age of the common man, when the ordinary man and woman rediscovered this dear and, humble Apostle and gave him the compliment of their confidence. He was a little like themselves. They felt that a humble saint would perhaps have fewer clients.

To the human Saint Jude, in many ways like ourselves, we say:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

EIGHTH DAY

So it was that in our age Saint Jude became known as the saint of the impossible, as far as human power is concerned. Perhaps that appeals to our day.

Of a sudden, Catholics began to know how great was the power of the humble with God. At a time when men deify fame, and might, God counters with the humble Jude.

When other intercessors seemed to fail, they turned to Saint Jude and their petitions were answered, their needs filled.

When the problem seemed insoluble, prayer to Saint Jude solved it.

When the difficulty was too great to bear, Saint Jude somehow managed to see that it was lifted.

It was almost as if he had set the pattern for one of the branches of our armed services: "The difficult I shall take care of immediately; the impossible (in terms of human power) may take a little longer."

Faith found that humility means power in the eyes of God.

Men learned that, not outstanding deeds, but loving hearts count with the Savior; that the gratitude of Christ overflows to the ordinary man and woman who by in His love and His grace attain to sanctity; through the martyrdom of everyday duty.

To Saint Jude, humble saint of the ordinary, we say:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

NINTH DAY:

We too are called to be apostles.

The work of the Apostles only began with them.

That work was to be carried on by all the men and women who had learned the truth of Christ, who had experienced the joy of His love, and who wanted to share their great discovery with all other men.

Twelve men began the conquest of the world. All of us are expected to carryon that conquest.

They dreamed that every new convert would be a fellow apostle, would speak of Christ with enthusiasm, would show forth in their Chris like lives virtues that were more powerful than wordy arguments, would live the constant miracle of purity and humility and unselfish service of God's children.

The world today waits for the coming of these successors of the Apostles. Year after year young men are ordained priests and older men are consecrated bishops to do the apostolic work.

But the world needs these children of the Apostles, the lay man and woman to, carry Christ with them into homes and businesses, into schools and offices, to bear Christ within them wherever they go, wherever they are.

To Saint Jude the apostle we who are the sons and daughters of the Apostles say:

God, who through Thy blessed Apostle Jude hast brought us into the knowledge of Thy name, grant that by advancing in virtue we may set forth his everlasting glory, and by setting forth his glory we may advance in virtue. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.