Saint Jude

[Woodsy]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I remember seeing thanks printed in my local newspaper to Saint Jude for blessings granted. It seemed to me that, once Saint Jude granted one's need, one had an obligation to share the fact that Saint Jude did so.

As I have recently started attending Mass, I have found flyers about Saint Jude at my church. The flyer says "Novena to St. Jude. Must be said 6 times each day, for 9 consecutive days, leaving 9 copies in Church each day. PRAYER WILL BE ANSWERED ... ON OR BEFORE 9th DAY. HAS NEVER BEEN KNOWN TO FAIL!"
Within the flyer are a Novena, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and a prayer to Saint Jude.
It is my understanding that Saint Jude is the Patron Siant of lost causes.
Are the claims true, that his intercession will cause our hopeless prayers to be answered? I have a lost cause which I would so love to be taken care of. But I am actually afraid to do what is said on the flyer, because I am afraid that my fledgling faith will be wounded if my prayer is not answered.
Also, it seems that if this never fails, everyone would convert to Catholicism after their worst problems were solved by prayers to Saint Jude.
Can anyone shed some light on this topic for me?

 

[Benedicta00]

Hi Tribe,

First understand that the saints pray for God's will to be done, they do not change his mind on things.

You can pray to the saint for a miracle and your prayer will receive an answer. The answer will be what his will is.

You have to place trust in God and accept the answer you receive, remember your always praying for God’s will, what ever that may be. Jesus himself prayed, "not my will but yours be done." That is what strengthens our faith, seeing God work through our prayers even if the answer is not what we thought it would be. You soon come to realize that what we get actually was better than what we asked for.

Remember that you have but one piece of the picture, he has the whole picture, if you are praying for the conversion of another, the other person has free will then their conversion may take time and continual prayer and sacrifice offered for them in order that they may come to accept the grace that God gives them.

They may convert but not until the very last minute, you have to trust that God will answer the prayers even if it does not seem like he is. His saints are praying to for his will to be done. We know it is his will for all to be saved, so just keep praying and trust even when it’s darkest, still trust. That is how our faith grows.

When God created his plan of salvation he included in it all of our prayers, he knows what you seek and he knows what his will is for you, you only need to ask that his will be done in the matter, then you will have peace.

Also if you are asking for certain graces to be bestowed on you, you must be in the disposition to receive the graces, aka being in a state of grace.

I hope this helps.

 

[Woodsy]

Thanks, Michelle, for your thoughtful reply.
The way you state it has been me understanding of how things work. But I am also trying to better understand the things that are attributed to Saint Jude within the context of the flyer.
The flyer seems to be promising that what had been previously thought to be a "lost cause" or hopeless will be resolved by the intercessory prayers of Saint Jude.
I may be misunderstanding, and that is why I am asking.

 

[Benedicta00]

Thanks, Michelle, for your thoughtful reply.
The way you state it has been me understanding of how things work. But I am also trying to better understand the things that are attributed to Saint Jude within the context of the flyer.
The flyer seems to be promising that what had been previously thought to be a "lost cause" or hopeless will be resolved by the intercessory prayers of Saint Jude.
I may be misunderstanding, and that is why I am asking.

That's true, but it should also say "if it be for the good of your soul" or something to that effect, what does its say? Sometimes people will write their own novenas and place it in a Church or where ever. (I found one at a race track once years ago.) It may be a given for the writer that who reads knows that if it be God's will.

 

[Woodsy]

Michelle, thanks again. I may be in danger of seeming particularly dense...
If that's the case, what would make any prayers to Saint Jude unique? How would his intercessory prayers be any different those of any other saint? What would make him uniquely the Patron Saint of Lost Causes?

 

[Benedicta00]

Because that is his speciality.

St Rita is also saint of the impossible. St Theresa little flower has been known to answer such prayers as well.

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

Tribe, is this one of the prayers on your flyer? ( just the first one I found with a quick internet search). If not, do you mind posting the prayers?
I always find it amazing the messages and examples you can find when you look into prayers specially those to the Saints.

http://www.immaculateheart.com/Ave%20Maria/novena_to_St_Jude.htm

DAY ONE:
O blessed apostle St. Jude, who labored zealously among the Gentiles in many lands, and performed numerous miracles in needy and despairing cases, we invoke you to take special interest in us and our needs. We feel that you understand us in a particular way. Hear our prayers and our petitions and plead for us in all our necessities especially . . . . May we be patient in learning God’s holy will and courageous in carrying it out. Amen.
St. Jude, pray for us! My Jesus, mercy!

That last line is the most powerful: May we be patient in learning God’s holy will and courageous in carrying it out.
It fits perfectly into what Shelb5 said. We must always remember that when God answers our prayers the answer we receive may not always be the one we wanted to hear.

 

[Woodsy]

O glorious Apostle, St Jude Thaddeus,
True relative of Jesus and Mary.
I salute you through the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Through this Heart I praise and thank God for all
the graces He has bestowed upon you.
Humbly prostrate before you, I implore you through
the Heart to look down upon me with compassion.
Oh, despise not my poor prayer,
let not my trust be confounded.
To you God has granted the privilege of
aiding mankind in most desperate cases.
Oh, come to my aid that I may praise the
mercies of God.
All my life I will be grateful to you and will
be your faithful client until I can thank you
in Heaven.
Amen.


(Must be said 6 times each day
for 9 consecutive days,
leaving 9 copies in church each day.

Prayer will be answered on or before 9th day
Has never been known to fail!)

 

[Benedicta00]

Tribe,

Like I said, it's a given that we know that if this be Gods will he will answer because of the saint's intersession. Say the novena and do what St. Padre Pio tells us to do..."Pray, hope and don't worry." God's will is what you are after, no? If you knew what you asked was against his will, would you still ask or want it granted?

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

I work for a newspaper, and we get tons of "Thank you St. Jude classified ads placed each week!

 

[B4Eddie]

Tribe,

This looks like the "chain letter" flyer that somebody keeps putting in churches everywhere.

I would not take it too seriously, as it is closer to conjuring than to prayer.

Why would we pray to a saint through Jesus? The idea that Jesus would be our mediator with a saint is not only silly, but idolatrous. The saints are prayint to Jesus on our behalf, not the other way around.

If saint Jude doesn't give the desired answer, then what does the tract say to do?

Report it to your pastor. Seek his advice on the matter.

O glorious Apostle, St Jude Thaddeus,
True relative of Jesus and Mary.
I salute you through the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Through this Heart I praise and thank God for all
the graces He has bestowed upon you.
Humbly prostrate before you, I implore you through
the Heart to look down upon me with compassion.
Oh, despise not my poor prayer,
let not my trust be confounded.
To you God has granted the privilege of
aiding mankind in most desperate cases.
Oh, come to my aid that I may praise the
mercies of God.
All my life I will be grateful to you and will
be your faithful client until I can thank you
in Heaven.
Amen.


(Must be said 6 times each day
for 9 consecutive days,
leaving 9 copies in church each day.

Prayer will be answered on or before 9th day
Has never been known to fail!)

 

[Benedicta00]

Tribe,

This looks like the "chain letter" flyer that somebody keeps putting in churches everywhere.

I would not take it too seriously, as it is closer to conjuring than to prayer.

Why would we pray to a saint through Jesus? The idea that Jesus would be our mediator with a saint is not only silly, but idolatrous. The saints are prayint to Jesus on our behalf, not the other way around.

If saint Jude doesn't give the desired answer, then what does the tract say to do?

Report it to your pastor. Seek his advice on the matter.

Sorry Eddie I read your post wrong :o . edit.

I agree the pray does not sound right...

 

[Woodsy]

If saint Jude doesn't give the desired answer, then what does the tract say to do?

It seems to me to say that if you don't get what you prayed for, you're the first one that's failed in the entirety of recorded human history. :o

 

[Benedicta00]

Some prayers that do say that are perfectly valid. One has to take them in context. You will receive an answer. If you say a novena to a saint for 9 days, you will have the prayer answerd, prayer, any "Christian" prayer does not fail. that is what this means.

 

[B4Eddie]

Sorry Eddie I read your post wrong :o . edit.

I agree the pray does not sound right...

LOL! I have mis-read things too. A number of our Evangelical/Fundamentalist bretheren have assumed that the chain letter is official Catholic doctrine and have used it against us. Thanks for the Edit.

Eddie

 

[MariaRegina]

My Dearest Eddie in Christ:

Christ is in our midst!

The St. Jude chain letter has been around since at least 1960, but desperate people will do desperate things. With all the thank you ads in the newspaper, I guess some people are getting answers to their prayers.

I guess with the theologically faulty language aside, the Good Lord knows our needs and has mercy on us in spite of ourselves. Several priests way back in the 1970's told me to toss any of those superstitious prayers to St. Jude. I've seen far worse versions than the one you posted.

Found anything interesting in the other posts? If so, please let me know. I'm staying at this discussion forum right now, it's one of the best.

Your Sister in Christ,

Elizabeth