Thursday, January 11, 2018

Novena for the intercession of St. Othmar


Daily prayer:
Dear St. Othmar, your love for Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd made you a good shepherd for your brothers and God's people. Yet because of your goodness and justice, you were unjustly imprisoned. Pray for me, who am so helpless and alone. Intercede with God for me that He bring visible and speedy help to those in danger of unjust imprisonment. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive  the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and  sufferings, particularly -
(make your request here)
- and that I may praise  God with you and all the saints forever. I promise, O Blessed St. Othmar, to be  ever mindful of this great favor granted me by God and to always honor you as  my special and powerful patron.  Amen

Day 1
Dear St. Othmar, your love for Jesus Christ gave you the resolve to take on the responsibility of abbot over the cell of St. Gall. This community was not organized into a monastery, but you chose to form it into one for the better spiritual perfection of your new spiritual sons. You did not have to take on this additional care for souls, especially since these souls were already living a religious life. But you wanted the best for them and to produce the best for God. Be a shepherd and father also to me, who am in need of the love and guidance of Christ my Savior. Do not pass over my poor, fearful soul, but take me under your fatherly robes and care for me when I am forsaken by the world and even at times by family and friends.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me. 

Day 2
Blessed St. Othmar, you were never afraid of the judgments of your fellow men as long as you were pleasing to God and useful to souls. You restored the Rule of St. Columban at your monastery despite the weakness of those contented by the corrupted practice. When that was not enough to bring harmony among your spiritual sons, you did not hesitate to replace the founding rule with the Rule of St. Benedict despite the expected opposition among the monks. Your courage aided the spiritually of your monastery and prepared you for the greater trial to come. Grant that I may imitate your courage and your single-hearted focus on God's glory, so that I might also accept every unjust criticism, trial, judgment, or action with complete resignation to the will of God. 
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.

Day 3
Good St. Othmar, your love modeled the love of Our Holy Savior especially in your care for the sick and for children.  During your time at St. Gall, you no only built a monastery and reformed the monks, but you also built a school, a  hospital, an almshouse, and the first leprosarium in Switzerland.  "Whatsoever you do to one of these least brethren of Mine," says the Lord, "you do to Me."  He further added, "Let the little children come to Me."  You taught your monks to bring this kind of goodness and love into the world no matter the cost in time, labor, resources, or mental taxation.  You taught them that to imitate the Good Master is worth any cost.  Pray for me, St. Othmar, that I may never regret any good that I have done in the name of Christ, even if it should cost me dearly in this world.  Teach me to look for a reward for my labors not in this life, but in the next.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me. 

Day 4
Diligent St. Othmar, when Karlmann, the brother of King Pepin, offered you the opportunity to request royal support for your monastery, you took the long and difficult task of making this request upon yourself.  Your zeal for the Lord's Vineyard made you ready to take every difficulty upon yourself that could help your children grow in wisdom and grace.  Your guilelessness and trust came from your long association with Goodness and Truth Himself, Jesus Christ.  Although this trust would be used against you by the world, you remained a living icon of what it means to imitate Christ, to be the salt of the earth, and to let your light shine before men.  Counsel me, O holy abbot, who have been likewise sorely betrayed by the injustice, selfishness, lies, and treachery of the world.  Help me to remain steadfast in my trust in God.  Help me to believe that it is still possible to love my neighbor as myself, and even to love and pray for my enemy.  May I still be willing to bear every hardship to improve the spiritual and temporal conditions of those entrusted to my care.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me. 

Day 5
Just and upright St. Othmar, after your long journey to the king and a favorable reception, the worldly Count Warin and Count Ruodhard used their power and their guile to try and steal some property from the Monastery of St. Gall.  Despite their power and their threats, you refused to allow injustice to prevail and the work of the Lord to be hindered.  You openly and fearlessly spoke against them and refused to bow to their demands.  Again, your courage and boldness came from your faith in God as your providential Defender and your just Judge.  Pray for me that I might also have the courage in every trial to uphold justice and right despite the threats and temptations of the world, no matter the cost to myself.  May I never regret defending the sanctity of God by upholding the just ordering of society.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me. 

Day 6
Faithful St. Othmar, because you fought for justice for your monastery and defied the worldly counts, they waylaid you on your journey home and made you their prisoner.  They made false accusations concerning you to cover their crime and their selfish motives.  How frustrated, powerless, and discouraged you must have felt at times, trapped in the dungeon of Bodmann Castle.  Yet you found true the exhortation of St. Paul, "When I am weak, it is then that I am strong" because Christ Jesus was with you.  Beg God for me, I pray, that I might have the same grace and strength to face lies, slander, violence, and imprisonment.  Help me to open my heart to the same peace and confidence that you experienced through your faith in Our Redeemer.  He is the Light in every darkness, and though I walk in the darkness of the valley of death, I shall fear no evil in Him.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.

Day 7
Long-suffering and patient St. Othmar, after a couple of months the wicked counts removed you to the island of Werd in the Rhine to try to discourage you even more and tempt you into giving in to their demands.  Here you were even more isolated and any chance of rescue even more hopeless.  Yet you did not give in to their unjust demands.  How lonely and desolate you must have felt at times.  But God was your rock and your shelter, and you rejoiced to share in the suffering of Christ your Lord, knowing that He was with you, giving you your daily bread and the strength to persevere.  Be with me, my friend and father, who likewise face imprisonment and am already often a captive to my fear.  Be with me in prison when I face all the temptations of the Devil and my enemies to worthlessness, despair, and sin.  Teach me to remember that Jesus is with me and in me as long as I keep my heart pure and faithful, and that His love and mercy abide forever.  In Him, I can do all things.  May He be my only hope and consolation when the world fails me.

St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.

Day 8
Happy St. Othmar, after six months of imprisonment and persecution you died a holy death still in the clutches of your captors.  What joy you must have experienced to leave this corrupt and sinful world behind.  How peacefully you must have faced death knowing that you upheld justice and truth to the end.  Although your captors were victorious over you for a short time on earth, the story of your virtue and leadership soon defeated their plans even here, to say nothing of the verdict of Eternal Justice.  Taken into Heaven, you prayed for the conversion of your enemies and to progress of your spiritual children at St. Gall.  You became a greater power for good by your death even than you had been in your life.  Intercede with Almighty God for me that I might persevere to the end in my faith and righteousness.  Help me to remember that it is always darkest just before the dawn--the dawn of the Sun of Justice, Christ Jesus Our Lord.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.

Day 9
Dear St. Othmar, just as God granted you an inexhaustible spring of virtue and grace to face the trials of your life, He also honored you in the eyes of the Christian faithful with wondrous miracles.  During your life, the barrel from which you distributed food and alms to the poor was sometimes seen to contain more than naturally possible.  It became as bottomless as your generosity.  After your death, devout men rowed to the island of Werd to recover your body and give it Christian burial.  Not only was your body incorrupt, but as they rowed back with their holy burden in the hot sun, their barrel of wine never grew empty.  These barrels have become the symbol of your generosity, which is a reflection of God's generosity in Christ.  Give to me of those bottomless graces that God has entrusted to you.  May I overflow as fully with virtue, love of God, and good humor as you did during your earthly life.  May I learn from you to hope in Christ and imitate Him in all things, no matter my situation in life.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me. 



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