Novenario in North Carolina: Fr. Bruce Bavinger, SJ

Hello, all. I am Bruce Bavinger, SJ, of the Maryland Province, and working in Wilson and Rocky Mount, North Carolina. So good to see the contributions of Mark McGregor, SJ and Javier San Martín, SJ, as well as those of Bill Ameche, SJ, Shay Auerbach, SJ, Ricardo Greeley, SJ and Paul Brant, SJ. The insights and perceptions of their articles encourage and energize me.

Mark’s piece on Las Posadas reminds me of the great period of graces that is ahead, especially for the Hispanic people and those walking with them. I even want to call them “December graces,” since the birth of Christ and the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe give a “magic” to the coming month, for gathering together, strengthening family, and building and rebuilding community.

In one of my communities, where the need for increasing leadership and participation in ministries is a key goal this year, we’re using an idea that Bill Ameche once told me about, that of the “novenario,” or gathering in prayer for nine days prior to Our Lady’s feast on December 12th. The nine days, usually with rosary and a few special prayers, are already celebrated by some as a personal devotion, but as a parish community activity, it offers a chance for people to “have church” in their homes, with members of the parish and with others whom the hosts, acting in a sense as “leaders,” invite. (In doing this, we’re building somewhat on a strength, because many of the current leaders pray the rosary as a group weekly in each other homes.) For each night of the novenario, a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be brought to the house for the 7pm prayer, the host will lead one of the mysteries of the rosary, with the other mysteries, prayers, and hymns led by others present. The host will keep the statue of Our Lady in the house overnight and bring it to the next house the following day’s prayer. We were able to get three women and their families who had never hosted such an event before to volunteer to hold the prayer in their homes.

The tradition of the Posadas, from December 16th to 23rd, of which Mark spoke offer us a further chance to increase involvement in the parish. Posadas have already been celebrated in both of my parish communities for a number of years. This year, in the community that is doing the novenario, we can again look for new folks to hold a Posada for the evening at their homes. We are also going to make one or perhaps two of the Posadas into a broader community activity in the parish hall with several people in charge.

Let me share a note with you about my other community, where healing and unity are the key goals for the year. I’m currently meeting individually with the head of each ministry to find out how things are going there, what is helping, what is hurting. In these conversations, there may be mentioned a person with whom there is difficulty, or a practical misunderstanding that can be resolved more easily. From there, I want to bring together one or two pairs of people where there is little trust, and help call them into a different place, as far as possible. After that we may have a general meeting of all the ministers around a positive theme, perhaps the theme of increasing participation in the ministries. We really need the magic of December grace to change hearts. Please pray that through Mary’s intercession and the blessing of Christ born among us, this grace may be granted!