Q. 1. What is the Most Powerful Novena, one that gives me a guarantee that it will work? I see the website romancatholicman.com refers to the three Hail Mary Novena as powerful. Then catholicmom.com refers to the Powerful One Day Novena. A Novena website, novenaprayer.com makes reference to the 72 Most Powerful Novena Prayers. And the list goes on. Is the one day Novena more powerful than the 9 days Novenas. It is so confusing. Please help me.

A. 1. Indeed, it is confusing! It is confusing because these websites are not promoting the teachings of the Catholic Church. They are promoting their own personal opinions. Novena comes from the Latin, meaning "nine each." Where is the 9 in the "One Day Novena?" It is not there because the comment is fabricated to draw you to that website.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is known under hundreds of glorious titles. Is the Novena to Our Lady of Fatima more powerful than the Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal? Certainly not. Both Novenas addresses the same person, the Blessed Virgin Mary, but under different titles as to how she revealed herself in time.

Novena Prayers are supposed to be said for 9 consecutive days. Some promote 9 consecutive hours in one day. Some promote every Monday for 9 consecutive weeks. Some promote 54 days, 6 consecutive Novenas of 9 days. In my opinion, this is Satan meddling into the Marian devotion in order to destroy the original devotion of 9 consecutive days. Impatient persons would prefer to do 9 consecutives hours versus 9 consecutive days. They want results now, or yesterday.

The issue at hand is not "How powerful a Novena is" but rather "Will God answer that prayer at the end of 9 days? It all depends on the Divine Will of God. Sometimes prayers are answered - other times they are not. Maybe God determined that it is good for you to continue to carry your cross so you may be sanctified in a certain virtue.

When one decides to devote himself to a spiritual devotion such as a Novena, he must have a right frame of mind. He must approach the Heavenly Throne through Jesus, Mary, the saints or the Angels with a positive attitude. If the prayer is answered, so be it. If it is not answered, so be it. No matter what, at the end of the Novena, on the 9th day, the person must be thankful to God for taking the time to hear his plea. Then the matter should be left in the hands of God.

Seek to understand what benefit you can inherit from bearing a cross. Then the cross shall become lighter to bear.