Today we shall begin a Novena for Matt Talbot’s intercession. A novena is a series of prayers said over 9 days and is rooted in Sacred Scripture in the 9 days that the Apostles and Mary prayed between the time Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven and the Holy Spirit’s descent on Pentecost).

We Catholics pray to (or through) saints and others believed to be in Heaven solely for their power to intercede for us. Saints have no other power than intercession. If a prayer is granted, it is because God willed it and granted it. The saint only interceded for us. Kind of like if you asked me to pray for you because of something going on in your life.

Why a novena to Matt Talbot? Well, although not a saint (YET), he had been declared a “Venerable” by the Church in 1975. That is the first step towards canonization. Matt, when canonized, will probably be declared the Patron Saint of Alcoholics. In the sidebar of this blog there are a list of links in the “Catholic Resources for Alcoholics”, among them are several on him. One of the best places to get to know him is at the Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center .

Anyway, Matt Talbot died on June 7, 1925. As today is May 30, today we begin the novena which would then end on the anniversary of his death. This is traditional for novenas, although you can say a novena at anytime of the year. One traditionally starts a novena 9 days prior to the feast day as your prayers are joined by everybody else that is also saying the novena.

The next post begins the novena.

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