So, while they do exist, I know I struggled to find a novena to Saints Louis and Zélie Martin online, so I've decided to write my own.
Novena to Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin
Saint Louis and Zélie Martin, you were parents to one of the greatest saints of modern times, you always gave God the first say, and you practiced an amazing resignation to His holy will.
I ask you both to please come to my aid, help me in my needs; I place my worries at your feet.
Please pray for this special intention of mine (list intention), please beg God, on behalf of
your loyalty and love of Him, and on behalf of your saintly children, to grant my request.
I have full confidence in your intercession. God answered so many of your requests; you asked for a missionary and behold your daughter has been declared a patroness of missionaries! And He blessed all your living children with vocations just as you requested Him to. I beseech you, in your mercy, to hear me, to pray for me, and to take me into your arms and guide me to heaven in the end. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be...
Meditations for each day of the novena, something to ideally ponder throughout your day, and at least spend five minutes reflecting on and praying about:
Day One:
Both Zélie and Louis Martin chose to give God the first say and strived for the more perfect way. It wasn't to be God's will, and they resigned themselves to this fact, but the great love for the religious life was held forever in their hearts, and was likely the reason they fostered so many vocations in their children. In one of her letters, Zélie recalls her visit to her Sister on her wedding day, and said, "I compared my life to hers, and I cried even harder. In short, for a very long time, my mind and my heart were only at the Visitation Monastery.…I would have liked to hide my life with hers."
May God grant us a true love for the religious life as well, for that vocation so we may foster that desire in those we may come in contact with who have such vocations, and for the priests and religious in our lives; may we truly look up to them and respect them who hold such high positions in the Church. Let us not forget it is truly the more perfect way and is a very noble calling.
Day Two:
Louis and Zélie Martin fostered in their children a great love for prayer and doing their religious duty. Even with a large family and many duties managing their businesses, they both managed to take time away to pray, and both took the time to go frequently to Mass and occasionally go on pilgrimages. In fact, Zélie Martin went to Masse even when in such great pain she was at risk for screaming out.
How often do we strive to make time in our busy schedules to pray?
How often do we excuse our negligence by saying we're too tired or busy?
What sacrifices do we make to be able to fit a conversation with God into our lives?
Day Three:
Zélie was prompted by God in even the seemingly tiniest details of her life.
In fact, when Zélie and Louis met, she heard a voice say to her, "This is he whom I have prepared for you." And three months later, they were married. She was not hesitant to obey
what she perceived as God's will. How often do we hesitate to obey God's will?
How often do we struggle to trust Him?
Day Four:
The couple had a great love for celibacy, and did not immediately consummate their marriage.
They lived a Josephite marriage for ten months before, prompted by a priest, they decided to embrace the begetting of children. This love for celibacy, however, likely fostered in their children
a great love for the same. How often are we striving to be pure in mind, body, and soul?
How often do we slip and watch shows or read books that are occasions of sin?
Are we modest in dress and speech? Do we convey this purity to those around us?
Day Five:
This saintly married couple were constantly having to practice heroic resignation to God's will,
especially when losing their children. As holy as they were, as aware as they were of heaven, they were still very human, and still felt keenly the pain of loss. Zélie wrote, “You see, my dear sister, it’s a very good thing to have little angels in Heaven, but it’s no less painful to lose them. These are the great sorrows of our life.”
Day Six:
When Zélie's end was approaching, she was torn. She did not want to leave behind her children who needed her still. Louis Martin was also thoroughly depressed about the prospect of losing his wife, something Zélie points out in one of her letters, commenting on his loss of interest in activities he once loved.To be a saint does not mean to not have feelings, but, in the end, ultimately they were resigned. She died a holy death and her husband carried on, caring for her children and continuing the task they were hoping
to do together.
Day Seven:
Louis Martin was a faint symbol of the Father in Heaven to his children. He was just and yet merciful. He insisted on orderliness and resented any sign of masculinity in his daughters, but at the same time showered them with affection and love. In a letter to Marie, he said, "I press you all to my heart, as I love you, and entrust you to your mother in Heaven" Such affectionate phrases were quite common from his lips and pen, and his children never doubted his love for them and had great respect for him.
Day Eight:
Louis Martin's sacrifice of his children to religious life was not an easy sacrifice for him to make.
Yes, it filled him with immense joy and pride, but his heart still felt its weight.
There will be times when we, likewise, though asked to something very good,
will be torn by emotions. We must strive to imitate Louis Martin and make the sacrifices required
for the greater glory of God and for the good of our own soul.
Day Nine:
Louis Martin was a very intelligent and capable man crippled by mental illness in his last years, something that greatly humbled him. Saint Thérèse recounted an event when her father announced to his children upon his return from the church of Notre-Dame, “I received such graces and consolations that I made this prayer: My God, it is too much, yes I am too happy; I shall not get to Heaven like this, I wish to suffer something for Thee—and I offered myself as a…” He did not say it, but it was easily figured out. He offered himself up as a victim. And he lived out this victimhood with love.
After his death, Thérèse remarked in her autobiography that, one day, she said to her Lord after holy communion, “Thou knowest, dear Lord, how earnestly I have desired that the trials my father endured should serve as His Purgatory. I long to know if my wish is granted. I do not ask Thee to speak to me, I only want a sign. Thou knowest how much opposed is Sister X. to Céline's entering; if she withdraws her opposition, I shall regard it as an answer from Thee, and in this way I shall know that my father went straight to Heaven.’ Miraculously, this prayer of hers was answered, the first tiny miracle alluding to her father’s sanctity.
Sources:
A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, 1864-1885 (Kindle Locations 322-323). ST PAULS / Alba House. Kindle Edition.
Piat, Rev. Fr. Stephane-Joseph. The Story of a Family: The Home of St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Images from: http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/component/fwgallery/galleries?Itemid=
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