Day 3: A Family Novena Celebrating Venerable Patrick Peyton's Birth

The annual Family Novena Celebrating Venerable Patrick Peyton’s Birth, January 9–17, is a wonderful opportunity to seek Father Peyton and Our Blessed Mother’s intercession. Families face many challenges and even navigating everyday life requires daily prayer. The Rosary, especially prayed as a family, is a powerful prayer; we honestly cannot think of a better way to begin a new year and build a habit of daily prayer, than with this Rosary Novena. 

New to the Rosary? Our free downloadable Novena booklet includes all instructions and prayers to help you not feel intimidated or to become discouraged. Remember there are no mistakes in our sincere prayer. Maybe you can start with a prayer, or a decade of the Rosary then keep adding more each day. It will get easier each time until it quickly becomes a peaceful and positive part of the day that you and your family look forward to.   

Luminous Mysteries

On Thursdays, we pray the Luminous Mysteries. As you begin, pray the Daily Opening Prayer, read today's opening meditation, and then proceed to the reflections and prayers for each mystery. Read one mystery and reflection at each Our Father and spend a few quiet moments reflecting on it.

Today's Novena prayers and meditations are included below. You can also access a PDF version of the full text of the Novena in our Prayer Resources Library:

Download Novena Booklet (English)

Download Novena Booklet (Spanish)

Opening Prayer

O Jesus, as Mary stood at the foot of the Cross, You entrusted Her to us as our Mother.

The Holy Spirit inspired Mary’s faithful servant, Father Patrick Peyton, to proclaim throughout the world the power and promise of family prayer. He believed and testified that “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together.”

Through Mary and Father Peyton’s intercession, we ask this favor for our family ____________________. Lord Jesus, we beseech You to help our praying of the Rosary unite our family in love and joy. Amen.

Meditation

Father Peyton called families to pray together. He understood that they would need to take time each day to cultivate their relationship with God in order to become His disciples. In the Luminous Mysteries, we meditate on Jesus' public ministry and learn from Him what it means to be a disciple. We discover that discipleship always involves the Cross, but that it will lead to the glory of the Resurrection. We do not have to be afraid of the cost of discipleship because Jesus walks ahead of us and Mary, His Mother and ours, accompanies us. As a family, let us never forget Her words to the servants at Cana: "Do whatever He tells you."  

The First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism in the Jordan

When [Jesus] came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased." (Mark 1:10-11) 

Blessed Mother, when Jesus presented Himself to John to be baptized, He identified Himself more closely with us. By virtue of our baptism, we are called to holiness, to identification with Jesus. Help us to discover how we can live our baptismal vocation in the context of family life. 

The Second Luminous Mystery: The Wedding at Cana

When the wine failed, the Mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." (John 2:3) 

Blessed Mother, You recognized the needs of the newlyweds and presented them to Your Son. Like Father Peyton, may we always trust in Your maternal love for us.

The Third Luminous Mystery: The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15) 

Blessed Mother, where Jesus is, the Kingdom of God is present. Jesus was always the object of Your love and contemplation, so the Kingdom of God reigned in Your heart. May our family allow the Kingdom of God to reign in us through a vibrant faith and a willingness to say "I'm sorry" if we sin. 

The Fourth Luminous Mystery: The Transfiguration

After six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them, and His garments became glistening, intensely white... (Mark 9:2-3) 

Blessed Mother, after telling the disciples that He would have to suffer, Jesus revealed His glory to Peter, James, and John. He knew that the memory of His transfiguration would console them during His Passion. May our family set aside time to be alone with Jesus, so that we might be faithful in moments of trial. 

The Fifth Luminous Mystery: The Institution of the Eucharist

When the hour came, He sat at table, and the Apostles with Him. And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:14-15) 

Blessed Mother, thirty-three years ago, Jesus had given His body to You and You had given Yours to Him when He became incarnate in Your womb. At the Last Supper, He gave Himself to the Church forever! Teach us to honor Him in the Eucharist and to offer our hearts to Him in the little sacrifices we make for each other every day. 

Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Patrick Peyton

Dear Jesus, Father Peyton devoted his priestly life to strengthening the families of the world by calling them to pray together every day, especially the Rosary. His message is as important for us now as it was during his life on earth. We beg You, therefore, to hasten the day of his beatification so that Your faithful people everywhere will remember his message that The Family That Prays Together Stays Together, will imitate him in his devotion to Your Mother and ours, and will be inspired by his holy life to draw ever closer to You with childlike confidence and love. Amen.

Additionally, we invite you to pray with Family Rosary during our daily 11:30 am ET Rosary live on Facebook (You don't need a Facebook account to view). We will be airing the Rosary and Novena over the weekend, also at 11:30 am ET, so we can continue to pray together. Not a convenient time? The live Rosary and Novena prayers remain available each day as recordings at the same link. 

Thank you for praying with us! Just discovering this Rosary Novena? Start on Day One at any time of the year!