Deepertruth: Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, Founder of The KofC Day 1

Novena to Blessed Michael Mcgivney, The Founder of Knights of Columbus. Day 1.  

Day 1 – The Founder’s Family of Faith Behold, children are a gift of the Lord;

(Ps 127:3) Intention:

For the domestic church, the church of the home, seedbed of love and vocation. 

Virtue: Openness to God’s will. Although they lived a century before St. John Paul II, Patrick and Mary McGivney embodied the late pope’s message on the domestic church:

“Family, become what you are”

Formed and blessed by God, the family is the place where parents are privileged to bring forth children and serve as the frst examples of human love, unity and fraternity, amid daily joys, sacrices and suering.

Father McGivney knew the grace of cooperating with God’s will, bringing 13 children into the world, as well as the grief that came when six of those children died as infants.

Patrick and Mary had left Ireland’s potato famine for America and were married in Waterbury, Conn.

Their frst child, Michael Joseph, was born Aug. 12, 1852, and baptized a week later.

Petitions For a deeper appreciation of the importance of family life, that our domestic church may serve as a model of faith, hope and charity.

Grant our prayer, Lord, through the intercession of Blessed Michael McGivney. For holy marriages founded on God’s love, that husbands and wives may have the grace to generously accept the gift of new life. Grant our prayer, Lord, through the intercession of Blessed Michael McGivney