Rachel's Vineyard Retreat Novena
for Healing for Those Suffering After Abortion

OPENING HYMN:  (Hosea)

Come back to me with all your heart. Don�t let fear keep us apart. Trees do bend, though straight and tall; so must we to others call.

Refrain: Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life.

The wilderness will lead you to your heart where I will speak. Integrity and justice with tenderness you shall know. (Refrain)

You shall sleep secure with peace; faithfulness will be your joy. (Refrain)

PRIEST/DEACON:

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

All: Amen.

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Come Holy Spirit.

Replace the tension within us with a holy relaxation.

Replace the turbulence within us with a sacred calm.

Replace the anxiety within us with a quiet confidence.

Replace the fear within us with a strong faith.

Replace the bitterness within us with the sweetness of grace.

Replace the darkness within us with a gentle light.

Replace the coldness within us with a loving warmth.

Replace the night within us with Your day.

Replace the winter within us with Your spring.

Straighten our crookedness. Mend our brokenness. Fill our emptiness. Dull the edge of our pride. Sharpen the edge of our humility. Light the fires of our love. Quench the flame of our greed. Let us see ourselves as you see us, that we might see You as You have promised us. It is You who calls us to this night and to Your work. It is You who invites us to be Your hands and Your lips. As we reflect upon Your word, make us joyful messengers of Your good news and help us model ourselves so that our lives will convince others that true Christian joy is the result of giving ourselves into Your hands so that we might serve others. Amen.

READING  A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 6:53-56

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

ANTIPHON  Psalm 147

PRIEST/DEACON: Praise the Lord for He is good.

People: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

LITANY

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, Our Father in Heaven, have mercy on us. God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, compassionate Son of the living God: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you went about preaching repentance and curing all kind of sickness and disease: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you drove out evil spirits and healed the afflicted: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you cured the woman who suffered for years from hemorrhages when she dared to touch the tassel of your cloak: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you forgave a paralytic his sins, and commanded him to take up his bed and walk again: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you restored the sight of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar of Jericho as he sat by the roadside: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you raised to life your dear friend, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, after he had been dead four days: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you did not condemn the woman caught in adultery when others wanted to stone her to death: ~Hear us and help us, we humbly pray.

Lord Jesus, you revealed yourself as Messiah to the woman at the well and gave her living water to drink. Increase our faith and help us to worship the Father in spirit and in truth: ~Hear us and help us we humbly pray.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, ~Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, ~Graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, ~Have mercy on us.

Jesus, gentle and humble of heart,

~Touch our hearts and make them like your own.

NOVENA PRAYER

Lord Jesus, healer of our souls and bodies, during your life on earth, you went about doing good, healing every manner of sickness and disease, strengthening, curing, comforting, and consoling. Healer of our broken souls and bodies and enemy of death and disease, in these troubled times when abortion has taken the lives of millions of innocents and left devastated men, women and families in its wake, we call upon your Mercy and ask you to lay your healing hand on all those attending the upcoming Rachel�s Vineyard Retreat. By your grace, may they forgive themselves and others. Restore them to wholeness in mind, body and spirit that they may praise you without ceasing and serve you by becoming courageous witnesses of the truth about abortion and Your Mercy. Guard and protect these retreatants, their families and the Rachel�s Vineyard team and their families from all evil as they prepare for the retreat and when they all come together to work in the Vineyard. Blessed are you Lord; you comfort the brokenhearted. Amen.

BLESSING

Priest or Deacon: May God the Father bless you and keep you, + God the Son lay his healing hands upon you, God the Holy Spirit strengthen and console you. May the Holy and Undivided Trinity guard your bodies, save your souls, and bring you in safety to your heavenly home.

Amen.

CONCLUDING HYMN

We sing now to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Mothers. We ask her intercession for the healing and conversion of all retreatants, and for the team, that they will be effective ministers of Our Lord�s love and compassion.

Immaculate Mary (Lourdes Hymn)

Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing. You reign now in heaven with Jesus our King.

Refrain: Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria!

In heaven the blessed your glory proclaim: On earth we your children invoke your fair name. (Refrain)

We pray for our Mother, the church upon earth. And bless, Holy Mary, the land of our birth. (Refrain)