Novena to St. Frances Cabrini

Mother Cabrini Age 30

Opening Prayer

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love and root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini. Renew our hearts so that we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
The source of Mother Cabrini’s energy, motivation, and inspiration was her burning love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Utterly confident that she was loved by God, her gratitude propelled her to reach out to each person she met and draw them into a relationship with Christ.

Mother Cabrini wrote: “Jesus… How I wish I could enflame everyone with your holy love!”

Today let us meditate upon the depth of the love Christ has for us. Pause to consider how to can return that love by sharing it with others in word and deed.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may grasp how deeply Jesus loves me, and that I may strive to return his love through service to others. Amen.

In London, early 1900s

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love and root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini. Renew our hearts so that we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
On the 50th anniversary of Mother Cabrini’s canonization, Pope John Paul II referred to her as a missionary of the New Evangelization. He said she brought “new ardor, new methods and new expressions” in carrying the Gospel to all those she encountered.

Mother Cabrini’s energy for evangelization arose from her complete surrender to the will of God. She wrote: “My Jesus, help me! I surrender myself totally to you, to serve you faithfully and to attract many souls to your holy love.”

Today let us meditate upon what we need to surrender to God so that our hearts are open to doing whatever he asks of us.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I learn to trust Jesus as fully as you did. Help me understand what it means to lose my life for his sake. Amen.

In Argentina

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love and root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini. Renew our hearts so that we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
St. Frances Cabrini did not shy away from difficult problems, nor from difficult people. With generosity of spirit she found creative solutions to complex issues.

Her dedication to serving others arose from her deep desire to imitate Christ. She prayed constantly to do his will and to be his hands on earth. In her retreat journal she wrote, “Jesus, strengthen my fidelity and make me great-hearted in generosity.”

Today let us consider what it means to be generous in the eyes of God. In what ways can we better imitate St. Frances Cabrini’s focus on the needs of others?

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35)

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that my heart may grow as wide as the universe. Intercede for me so I may be given the grace to grow in perseverance in generosity. Amen.

Francesca Cabrini age 10

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love. Root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini, that we may be, like her, your hands on earth. Renew us so we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
Mother Cabrini had an enormous desire to hear God’s Word. This led her to cultivate a profound ability to listen for His will. One of her favorite Bible verses was “Speak Lord, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).

Renowned as a woman of action, St. Frances Cabrini was foremost a woman of prayer. She saw every project she undertook as simply the carrying-out of God’s will. She took no credit for any of it and wrote, “God has done it all: I have only been a spectator of God’s work.” This was only possible because she listened so closely in prayer.

Let us contemplate what interferes with our ability to hear God’s will.

“My God, I have always loved your Word from the depths of my being” (Ps. 40:8)

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may listen better and know clearly what God wants of me. Amen.

Missionary Sisters in NYC in 1890

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love. Root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini, that we may be, like her, your hands on earth. Renew us so we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
It was inconceivable to Mother Cabrini to put anything other than Jesus first in her life. “I have been created for God and must live only for him – in whatever way he wants me,” she wrote.

Mother Cabrini never faltered because she never doubted she was doing God’s work. In her retreat journal she noted, “During every hour and every moment I must desire what God wants from me – nothing more, nothing less.”

Today let us consider how much of our daily life is centered on ourselves and our own desires. Let us consider, too, how we can center our days more fully in Jesus.

“Fan into flame the gift I gave you: not a cowardly spirit, but one that makes you strong, loving and wise.” (2 Tim 1:7)

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may learn to place my heart entirely within the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen.

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love. Root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini, that we may be, like her, your hands on earth. Renew us so we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
Mother Cabrini had keen empathy for those who faced difficulty in finding work at just wages, decent housing, or who struggled to access education and health care for their families. Her practical nature demanded that she and the Sisters do something about the oppressive conditions of poverty.

Enterprising, tireless, creative, and industrious, Mother Cabrini provides an example for how we are to act on behalf of the poor.

She wrote, “We must love one another and be gently compassionate to all.”

Let us consider how God is calling us personally to care for the poor. Let us seek opportunities to serve them effectively, both in prayer and in deed.

“Jesus Christ was rich but he became poor, to make you rich out of his poverty. ” (2 Cor. 8,9)

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may become a true friend of the poor. Amen.

Missionary Sisters with Orphans in NYC

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love. Root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini, that we may be, like her, your hands on earth. Renew us so we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
The letters of Mother Cabrini to the Missionary Sisters are filled with advice on growing in humility. She once wrote that she could do great things with three humble souls, but would ruin the missions with a hundred proud ones.

“Humble yourselves and often confess your pride, your secret pretension to be held of some account as a recompense for all your work,” she wrote, “The devil is evil and wise but you will be wiser than he only when you have learned humility.”

Let us meditate today on how attached we are to our desires, so that we may let go of them and cling wholly to whatever Jesus desires for us.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart”
Matthew 11:29

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may grow in humility so that I may grow to be more like Christ.

Last known photo, in Dobbs Ferry, NY in 1914

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love. Root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini, that we may be, like her, your hands on earth. Renew us so we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
St. Frances Cabrini considered reaching out to the suffering as Jesus did to be the highest form of charity. Whether a person’s need was physical or spiritual, Mother Cabrini’s charity was practical, down-to-earth and concrete.

She wrote to the Missionary Sisters, “Know how to alleviate pain, dress wounds, console the troubled, strengthen the weak, with the precious balm of the love of Jesus’ Heart.” Her view was that a missionary had to be prepared to do whatever was needed. There was to be no hesitation.

Let us contemplate how we can equip ourselves better to care for the neediest in our communities. How we can offer compassion and care in effective ways, both close to home and around the world?

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Luke 12:33

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may be given the grace to respond in love to those who suffer.

Cabrini Statue in Battery Park City, NYC

Opening Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for the gift of life and for your servant, Saint Frances Cabrini.

Fill us with the fire of your love. Root in us the same spirit that animated Mother Cabrini, that we may be, like her, your hands on earth. Renew us so we may live as she did, faithful and open to your will. Amen.

Meditation
Mother Cabrini was an unusual woman, especially for her time. She was well-informed on cultural, social and political subjects, an astute businessperson, able to speak with the simplest person on the street and the most esteemed national leader.

She was also a woman of contemplation, humility and hospitality. Her holiness integrated virtue with action, and courage with compassion. She took no credit for the 67 schools, hospitals, and orphanages she founded, saying simply, “God has done it all; I have only been the spectator of His work.”

On this Feast of St. Frances Cabrini, let us remember the many qualities which made her such an extraordinary witness of God’s love. We pray that we, like her, may take as our motto the words of Philippians 4:13:

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Closing Prayer
St. Frances Cabrini, pray that I may grow in love of God and serve him as wholeheartedly as you did.