A most powerful novena

This Easter Sunday, 99 people can expect to have a "Perpetual Novena to Santo Niño" booklet after Mass at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church in Jugaban, Carigara, Leyte. Who these 99 people will be are up to the will of God. A daughter in Cebu has just bought 100 pieces of the booklet and another daughter is expected to bring them to me this week.

Only 99 people will get to have the booklets because I am keeping one for myself, to replace the one that I have which is already torn and worn from use in my daily novenas with my wife. In 2020, I also bought 100 booklets from the Santo Niño store in Cebu City but only 97 people here got their copies.

As it turned out, the sales clerk at the Santo Niño store must have missed her count and packed only 98. And since I had to have one, only 97 got copies. Naalkanse ko og duha ni Santo Niño da. But never mind. The blessings I got were many times over and beyond what I paid for, or got for my money.

You see, the novena to the Santo Niño is a most powerful novena. When first I gave them out in 2020, it was only a matter of days before the COVID-19 pandemic descended on the world and turned the lives of all people upside down without exception. While the people in Carigara suffered from the lockdowns, they were generally spared the terrible toll.

And I would like to believe that even if just 20 of the 97 people who got copies of the novena actually prayed it in earnest, that would have been sufficient to make God take notice. I mention the number 20 because I have no illusions regarding us Filipinos. We love things free and would not hesitate to take a free novena even if no prayer follows thereafter.

But I also believe that of those 97 who got copies, "syaro walay 20" that would actually pray. And it is this 20 or so that I think made the big difference with their prayers. For it can take even less for God to take notice. "For whenever two or more if you are gathered in his name, there is love." And where there is love, there is God.

Now that I expect to receive a fresh 100 copies and hope to distribute 99 on Easter Sunday, I hope more than 20 this time, out of the 99 who will get it, will truly pray in earnest. Those who do will never regret it. As I said, the novena to Santo Niño is a most powerful prayer. What makes it powerful is that the Santo Niño listens.

The mistake people who pray often make is to expect every wish that accompanies every prayer to be granted. No. That is not how prayers work. God understands our wishfulness because he knows we are human, that we ask too much. That is why he listens. But he does not give everything we ask. He knows what is best.

Therefore, when you pray, do not hesitate to ask. God understands that. What you should not do is expect to be given in the time and manner that you wish. It does not happen that way. You will only get frustrated. Angry even. Just tell God that having given him an earful of your wishes, you surrender fully to his will and would accept whatever he gives.

And you will never be disappointed. In fact, you will discover how truly great the wisdom of God is. You can only shake your head in disbelief at why you never thought about asking God what he had decided to give. When you realize that what you have been given is so much more than you asked, you will learn to truly appreciate prayer.

When you begin to appreciate prayer, the more powerful and effective they become. You no longer expect to be given the way you want to be given. You become confident that whatever is in store for you is all for the best. The novena to Santo Niño is full of asking, so you may tire of asking, so you may learn to surrender. With surrender comes understanding.