On the Feast of St. Andrew

Subtitle: The novena I prayed and why I don't pray novenas.

Last November, I was newly pregnant and absolutely terrified.  I've written about the endless nausea which literally lasted to the very last day and the very last minute even.  I've written about inadequate insurance coverage - and do NOT get me started on how providing free birth control pills is about taking care of women's health because maternity coverage, by and large, stinks.  It stinks.  So if we are talking about women and choices we would be equally concerened about both choices.  I've written less about the deep, dark cloud that settled over me last November.  I couldn't eat, get out of bed, or care for myself or my chidlren. Ironic, considering I was in the process of getting all I ever wanted.  

I happened to read this post by Sarah during the darkest November I had ever known. So much of it resonated here - 'the miracle baby... I thought I'd never get to hold'.  So, desperate for comfort, I began to pray the St. Andrew Novena.

And here is why I don't pray novenas often.  These is an element of superstition in the way some are worded that is troubling to me, especially since I totally buy into it.  

It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (30th November) until Christmas will obtain what is asked. 

"Well... if 15 times a day is good, I'll pray it 60 and I'll get a super baby!"

You see where I'm going, missing the point.  But I prayed and prayed and prayed through the dark days of December, in the middle of the night, in cold parking garages adjacent to the performance hall where my daughter was dancing, lying on the floor of the bathroom sick and worried.

I continued to pray after Christmas right up until the day of our sonogram where I saw our healthy, wiggling baby girl.  And for the first time, I was overwhelmed with joy.  The sonographer couldn't continue the exam because I couldn't stop laughing.

This morning, I began to pray the St. Andrew novena again.  I didn't get through 15 repetitions.  I didn't get through one before my voice faltered as I gazed upon our sleeping baby daughter.  Our dream come true.  Every prayer answered.