St Genesius Novena Day 9

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

But deliver us from evil

Evil corrupts, it distorts, destroys. The evil one seeks to recreate humanity, one marked by despair so individuals will lose the light of life and fall into darkness. Evil has built a city, one usurped from God, and the evil one seeks to populate it, create a metropolis of misery so he will not suffer alone, so his loathing will be deepened by the company of those he has unjustly claimed. Being delivered from evil is to be born to hope, to faith, love and joy. It is to embrace the Eternal Father, to believe in him and in his promises. It is to embrace Jesus Christ who died for us; to abandon ourselves to the Holy Spirit who loves us, guides us, vivifies us with grace and joy. Being delivered from evil is to be recreated into the image of Jesus Christ, the New Man who rose from the dead and has opened the gates of the new City of God to us, the Eternal Jerusalem. Evil creeps in the shadows, in the shadows of the human heart; being delivered from evil means that we allow the light of the Risen Christ open up our hearts in their entirety so there are no more crevices or holes for evil to hide. Being delivered from evil means that we know that we have Christ on our side and no one can conquer us, for we belong to him. In his dying St Genesius understood this, and he could say with all his heart, “Jesus Christ is God and we shall have life in his name”. 

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 8

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

And lead us not into temptation

The world has so much to offer, there are so many wonderful things, many of them can be used not only to improve our lives, but also to bring us closer to God and help us flourish as human beings and as disciples of Christ. But the world is also full of temptations, of things that can lead us away from God, compromise our discipleship and eventually exile us from what God has destined for us in his kingdom. That a demonic intelligence uses the things of this world to lure us away from God and salvation should also make us wary. St Genesius, living the lifestyle of an artist in ancient Rome, knew all about  temptation. The struggle which took place in his soul was one in which the evil one tried desperately to keep him from God and his grace, but grace triumphed. When we pray that we will not be led into temptation we pray for the grace to fight this battle which takes place in our souls; we pray for wisdom and discernment; we pray for courage to stand up to temptation. In humility we are to recognize that God is the warrior, the protector, he is the victor, in him we can resist all the attempts of the devil to ensnare us.

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 7

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

And forgive us our trespasses 
as we forgive those who trespass against us

God’s love is unconditional, his mercy is not. This is a shocking realisation, and it is revealed in the Lord’s Prayer and in the Parables of Jesus. The Eternal Father is generous with mercy, he forgives, but he demands that we forgive also; if we withhold mercy to those who have offended us, the Father will do the same to us. Here is the most dangerous sentiment in the Our Father, the one which seeks to shake us up, bring us to our senses; there is no room for hard hearts and presumption in the kingdom of heaven. Forgiving others can be difficult, we must strive to do so and this prayer is our appeal to God to help us forgive so we too may obtain forgiveness. Every martyr forgives their persecutors, and this is part of their witness – if any of them had withheld forgiveness they would not have been raised up. Like Jesus on the cross, they are to pray for their persecutors, and we must do the same. In forgiving we not only find reconciliation, but we are also set free.

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 6

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

Give us this day our daily bread

“Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”, and when we pray that the Lord give us our daily bread it is not just a prayer for physical food, but for more: for his grace, for what we need. It is also a prayer for the Eucharist - his very life within us. We ask for what we need today, just today. Like the manna in the desert we only need today’s portion, tomorrow will take care of itself. We live as well as we can today, we ask for the Father’s help to do so knowing that our whole lives depend on him. We are not greedy, we let him portion out what we need, when we need it, for he knows best: we have handed ourselves over to him. This is poverty of spirit.

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 5

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

“I have come not to do my will, but the will of my Father”: with these words the Lord Jesus explained why he had come, revealing that he had come in obedience to the will of the Heavenly Father. “Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did  not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbled himself and became like a servant” in obedience to the Father’s will.  Jesus came to bring us life, the fullness of life, and for life to reign obedience to the will of the Eternal Father is necessary: that his will, not ours, be done. The hardest thing for us as human beings to do is to hand ourselves over to the will of another. Fear, pride, insecurity prevents us from doing so. We cherish our free will, indeed we are jealous to preserve it, and we often find ourselves grounding ourselves in an existential stubbornness to ensure that we do not lose control. And yet this is what not Jesus the Messiah did: he abandoned himself to the will of the Father and in doing so he accomplished the great mission of redemption. The lesson is simple: when we abandon ourselves to God, when his will is done in us, his will is being done on earth; and since he desires that we be saved and we flourish, life here will flourish if his will is accomplished “on earth as it is in heaven”. We will not lose anything in living the will of the Father, but we will gain everything, life on earth and heaven too. St Genesius struggled with this, but in the end he surrendered to the will of God, and that is to his glory: it will lead to ours also.

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St Genesius Novena Day 4

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

Thy Kingdom come

Who is the Lord? St Genesius had to answer that question as his heart pondered over the teachings of Christ he had heard. And where is his kingdom? Is it confined to heaven? Or is it also here on earth? Living in the age we do we are told that the world is secular: religion and faith have no place here, they may exist within the private realm of individuals but only to remain there. Yet in his teachings Jesus intends us to begin to make the kingdom of God present here on earth, not that this will be the kingdom – this world will pass away, but to make this world a place of preparation for the world to come. In praying that the kingdom may come we recognise that the world belongs to God and his children, we pray that his kingdom may be present in this world, in his children who live as citizens of that kingdom here and now in anticipation of, and preparing for, the eternal kingdom in the next life. The kingdom of God cannot be excluded from this life though men and women oppose it. It is the mission of the Church to make the kingdom of God present here, and as members of the Church that is our mission. How do we do so? Through prayer, yes. But first through our own lives conformed to the values of the kingdom of God, and then in our apostolic work winning souls for Christ, citizens of the kingdom who in turn join us in our mission.

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 3

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

Hallowed be thy Name

The Name of God is holy. After he revealed it to Moses, the Jewish people venerated it so much they would not utter it for fear that they would become too familiar with it. They praised God’s name, cherished it and sought to proclaim it through their lives. They sought to offer everything in order that that holy name would be glorified and honoured. St Ignatius of Loyola had the same desire when he chose for the motto of the Society of Jesus: “For the greater glory of God”. Our lives are meant to glorify God, and in giving such glory to God’s name we are blessed and glorified in turn. May his name be held holy, may it be glorified and praised: such should be the prayer of the Christian; and so too the prayer of the artist. Gifted by God with tremendous creative talents, indeed sharing in the creative work of God the Father, the supreme Artist, human artists should seek to honour him with their work, inspire others to honour him and so win glory for themselves, for they will be immersing themselves in the work of the divine in doing so. St Genesius tried to do this. On stage following his conversion he sought to raise the work of drama into a work of praise and he won eternal glory for his efforts.

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 2

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

Who art in Heaven

Our true home is in heaven where God is: as children of the Eternal Father, as brothers and sisters of Christ, the house of God is our house, life there is our eternal destiny. Too often we can get caught up so much in the affairs of the world, building our home here, that we can forget that we must also be engaged in preparing for our home in heaven. Indeed we forget that what we do here, all that we do here, should be oriented towards our eternal home, also oriented towards helping our brothers and sisters set their sights on God’s house. God is in heaven, and he calls us to himself. He assists us to live lives that are full, meaningful and heroic, so we may enter into his kingdom as heirs, as his children, as citizens. St Genesius understood this. Though he may have been a slave of Rome, in faith he knew he was free-born in heaven through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whatever may ail us here in life, whatever our cross, whatever the world has done to us or thinks of us, our true home is in heaven where God is, and as we seek to be citizens of that kingdom, we may begin living that citizenship here on earth.

Novena Prayers

St Genesius Novena Day 1

Meditating on the Lord's Prayer with St Genesius

Our Father

The greatest revelation is not merely realising that God exists, but that he is our Father. It is easier to accept that a being greater than us may well exist than to accept that this being has a relationship with us, one more intimate than just being our Creator. To know that we are children of God, adopted through redemption and called to share eternal life in the House of our Divine Father, this is wondrous indeed. This was a revelation to St Genesius, it changed his life. The gods of Rome used humans as pawns in their intrigues against each other, in reality God sent his Son to earth as one of us and to offer his life as a sacrifice in atonement for our sins, to heal a breach between the human and the divine. This led Genesius to proclaim Christ and to lay down his own life for this truth rather than renounce the relationship he now had with God. May all remember that we are children of God; may we call the Eternal Father our Father, live our lives in the context of our relationship with him.

Novena Prayers