The Order of Augustinian Recollects begins, once again this year, the novena to Saint Ezequiel Moreno, an Augustinian Recollect saint and protector of those who suffer from cancer. For nine days, the Augustinian-Recollect family unites in prayer to ask his intercession for the sick, their families, and those who accompany them, and to renew trust in God amid illness and suffering.
One and the same novena, many ways of living it. Recoletos.org offers different options so that each person can pray it wherever they are: on a mobile phone, as a family, by listening on the main digital platforms, by receiving it each day by email, or by submitting the name of someone who is ill so that a contemplative community may pray especially for them.
Saint Ezequiel Moreno, alongside those who suffer from cancer
The novena proposes, over nine days, to journey through some of the great features of the life and spirituality of Saint Ezequiel Moreno: his vocation, his missionary self-giving, priestly service, fidelity to the will of God, prayer, his love for the Virgin Mary, and his dedication to the poor and the sick.
From the outset, the prayer invites you to present a specific intention before God and especially commends “all the sick, in particular the terminally ill and those who suffer from cancer.”
This is not a devotion foreign to the saint’s own experience. Saint Ezequiel personally knew illness and faced, for more than a year, cancer in his mouth and nasal cavities. The novena recalls how he lived that suffering with fortitude and deep trust in God. Novena San Ezequiel Moreno copy (1).docx For this reason, generations of the faithful have turned to his intercession, especially when cancer enters a family and hope, strength, and companionship become necessary.
Download the novena to Saint Ezequiel Moreno in PDF
Those who prefer to follow the novena in writing may do so through two PDF versions.
On the one hand, an interactive PDF will be available, specially prepared to carry the novena on a mobile phone or tablet and to be able to pray it at any time and place.
A print-ready version is also offered, intended for those who prefer to have it on paper, use it in a religious community, parish, prayer group, or pray it with the family.
The content maintains the traditional structure of the novena: prayer for every day, the meditation corresponding to each day, the petition for the grace one wishes to obtain, and the final prayer. Each day also makes it possible to draw near to a different aspect of Saint Ezequiel’s life and turn it into a concrete invitation to prayer.
Pray the novena on Hallow with thousands of people
The novena can also be lived as an accompanied prayer experience. More than 7,000 people already pray it through Hallow, the Catholic prayer app.
On Hallow, the novena is led by Carlos Santa and Friar Alfonso Dávila, an Augustinian Recollect, who give voice to these nine days of encounter with God through the intercession of Saint Ezequiel Moreno.
In this way, the mobile phone ceases to be only a communication tool and also becomes a small space of silence, listening, and prayer.
Also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube
To help the prayer reach as many people as possible, the novena can also be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and the main podcasting platforms.
At home, while travelling, in the hospital, or beside someone who is ill, a few minutes are enough to make each day an opportunity to pause, listen, and trust.
Because the novena does not depend on the format. What truly matters is to enter into prayer.
Receive the novena in your email every day
Another option is to receive the novena daily by email.
Through the form available on Recoletos.org, anyone can sign up to receive each day the corresponding content of the novena. For nine days, the prayer will arrive directly in your inbox as a simple invitation to set aside a moment for God.
It is an especially useful option for those who wish to live the novena consistently and let each day set its own spiritual rhythm.
A prayer that becomes communion
But Christian prayer is never only individual. Prayer is communion.
Therefore, alongside the novena, the Order of Augustinian Recollects offers the possibility of sending intentions and the names of those who are going through cancer through the Prayer Center for those sick with cancer.
By filling out the form, those intentions will be entrusted to the Contemplative Augustinian Recollect Sisters, who will pray for the sick and their families.
It is a profoundly ecclesial way of accompanying: perhaps we cannot be physically beside every sick person, but we can speak their name before God and entrust them to a community that sustains their life through prayer.
Saint Ezekiel Moreno Prayer Center
Trust in the intercession of Saint Ezequiel Moreno
Nine days. Different formats. Thousands of people. One single prayer.
From Recoletos.org we invite you to pray the novena to Saint Ezequiel Moreno, share it with those who may need it, and present before God the name of those who today are going through illness.
You can read it, print it, listen to it, receive it in your email, or pray it accompanied by thousands of people. You can do it alone, with your family, in a community, or beside the bed of someone who is ill.
What is essential remains: to trust in God and turn to the intercession of Saint Ezequiel Moreno, protector of those who suffer from cancer.
Saint Ezequiel Moreno, pray for the sick, strengthen their families, and help us to remain always trusting in the love of God.
