Centenary Celebrations Marked With Novena of Prayer
In celebration of the centenary, Blackburn Cathedral have release a Novena of Prayer - a Christian tradition of devotional prayer consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine consecutive days.
The Novena of Prayer is presented as a 32 page booklet – which can be collected in printed format from the Cathedral or is available to view and download online. It features readings, reflections and a prayer each day. The word Novena comes from the Latin novem, meaning ‘nine’.
It is intended that the Novena is prayed for the nine days that follow the Centenary, from Friday 13th until Saturday 21st November which falls before the Cathedral’s Centenary Thanksgiving service, taking place on Sunday 22nd November.
Speaking of the release of the Novena, the Interim Dean of Blackburn Revd. Canon Andrew Horsfall said:
For a hundred years, people have come through the doors of this Cathedral to pray. They have come in joy and in sorrow, to celebrate and to grieve, to give thanks and to seek help, and here they have found a place to meet with God.
It is in that spirit of prayer that we offer this Novena of Prayer, as together we give thanks for the past century. In our prayer and worship we are given a glimpse of the Kingdom of God, and so it is right and fitting that our celebrations conclude with a Service of Praise on the feast of Christ the King.
The reflections themselves draw on two sources; The first is the words above the Cathedral’s famous West Doors: ‘This is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven’.
The second is the Eucharistic Preface for Christ the King, which describes God’s Kingdom in seven different ways.
Each day offers a reading from the Gospel according to John, together with a reflection from one of the Cathedral clergy, and a prayer.
Canon Horsfall continued…
You are warmly invited to pray with us over these nine days, whether here in the Cathedral, at home, or wherever you find yourself.
My hope is that this will draw us all deeper into our calling as Christian people: to root all we do in prayer, so that we may have the courage and conviction to make God’s Kingdom known to all who enter our doors.
As we mark our centenary year, let us do so in prayer, giving thanks for all that has gone before, and looking forward in renewed hope that many people will find this place to be the House of God and the Gate of Heaven, and so be made members of the body of Christ, which is nothing less than the Kingdom of God.
View the Novena of Prayer online or download to your device.
