A novena is nine days of prayer before a feast, and the Christmas novena is among the oldest and most widely kept, prayed from 16 December to Christmas Eve in parishes and homes across the Catholic world. The Church's Directory on Popular Piety notes that it began as a way of bringing the riches of the liturgy to the people, and asks that it be kept and, where necessary, brought closer to the liturgy of Advent's last days: the O Antiphons, the Gospels of 17 to 24 December and the Magnificat. This guide gives a form that does exactly that, and room for the traditions of your own family or community.

What you need

• A Bible or missal, for the Gospel of each day from 17 to 24 December
• The O Antiphons and the Magnificat (below and in the prayer list)
• A fixed time each evening and, ideally, the Advent wreath or the empty crib to pray before

When to pray it

Every day from 16 to 24 December, at the same hour, most naturally in the evening; from the 17th the O Antiphon of the day is included.

Steps

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   Step 1: Understand what the novena is

   The nine days from 16 to 24 December are the Church's immediate preparation for Christmas: from the 17th the Mass readings leave the general theme of the Lord's coming and tell the story leading up to his birth, and Evening Prayer sings the O Antiphons. The Christmas novena grew out of the people's wish to pray these days together, and it takes many forms, from sung parish Vespers to family devotions with a Hispanic or Italian heritage. What they share is nine evenings of Scripture, prayer and song that walk the last days to Bethlehem. Keep the count: nine days, ending on Christmas Eve.

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   Step 2: Choose the form

   If your parish holds a novena, join it. If you are praying at home, choose one form and keep it for all nine days: either the liturgical form given in the next steps (the day's Gospel, an O Antiphon, the Magnificat▾), or a traditional novena of your family or culture, such as the Novena de Aguinaldos, with its daily prayers and carols, or Las Posadas, in which the household or neighbourhood re-enacts Mary and Joseph's search for lodging each of the nine nights. Any sound form will have Scripture, prayer to the coming Christ, and Mary in it; the Directory asks only that the novena not drift from the liturgy it was born to serve.

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   Step 3: Gather at a fixed hour

   Set a time, the evening meal or just after, and a place, before the Advent wreath or the empty crib. Light the wreath's candles, make the Sign of the Cross, and begin with a short invocation to the coming Lord: the Church's own is 'Come, Lord Jesus'. On 16 December, before the O Antiphons begin, read Isaiah's promise of the child to be born or the Annunciation from Saint Luke. Keep the whole thing to ten minutes so it survives nine busy December evenings.

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   Step 4: Each day: the Scripture, the prayer and the antiphon

   From 17 December the pattern is fixed. Read the Gospel of the day's Mass: the genealogy of Jesus (17th), the annunciation to Joseph (18th), the annunciation to Zechariah (19th), the annunciation to Mary (20th), the Visitation (21st), the Magnificat▾ (22nd), the birth of John the Baptist (23rd), and the Benedictus (24th). Then pray the day's O Antiphon, the Magnificat▾, and the antiphon again, as at Evening Prayer; the How to Pray the O Antiphons guide gives each one. End with a Hail Mary▾ for the Mother who is nearly at Bethlehem, and a carol of Advent, 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel' above all.

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   Step 5: Go to confession within the nine days

   The novena's purpose is that Christmas should find us ready, and the Church's ordinary means of readiness is the Sacrament of Penance. Choose a day within the nine and go, using the Examination of Conscience guide beforehand and the Act of Contrition at the sacrament. Parishes add confession times in the last week of Advent, and the whole household going together on the same evening, then praying that night's novena at home, is a fine tradition. Do not leave it to Christmas Eve, when priests are least available.

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   Step 6: Conclude on Christmas Eve

   The ninth day is 24 December. Pray the novena for the last time in the afternoon or early evening, with the Gospel of the Benedictus and, in place of an O Antiphon, the Church's own first Vespers of Christmas or simply The Angelus▾, which tells the mystery about to be celebrated. Then place the Child in the crib, sing the first carol of Christmas, and go to the Vigil Mass, the Mass during the Night or the Mass at Dawn. The novena ends where the feast begins; that is its whole design.

Tips

• Nine days at the same time each day is the whole discipline. Choose an hour the household can keep and do not move it.
• Many parishes pray the novena publicly at Evening Prayer or before evening Mass; praying with the parish is the fuller form.
• Where a traditional form is kept, the Latin American Novena de Aguinaldos, the Posadas of 16 to 24 December, or an Italian parish novena, keep it; the Church asks only that its Scripture and prayers stay close to the liturgy.
• Put confession inside the nine days so that Christmas Communion is made with a clean heart.

Related devotions

• Liturgy of the Hours
• The Holy Rosary