When you miss a day of a novena

[Josephine87]

What do you do?  I'm always tempted to give up because it's not "perfect".  Do you just pray the previous day and current day's prayers?

[Stubborn]

Take your best guess and start again from there.

[Archer]

Don't treat Novena's like superstitions. Remember, God knows what we need before ask Him.

Probably just pick up where you left off and finish from there.

[MundaCorMeum]

It depends on the novena and how many days I miss.  If it's a novena that is tied to certain dates (i.e. the St. Andrew novena), and I only miss a day or two, I just keep going, without making up the prayers.  We do that one every year as a family, but I don't think we've ever gotten the 15 prayers in each day.  We just keep trucking along, knowing that no prayer is ever wasted.  If it's tied to a particular date, but is shorter, like the Pentecost novena, and I miss more than a day or 2, I just quit and try again next year    If it's not tied to a date....oh, who am I kidding!  I've never successfully completed a novena perfectly.  I just make a decision, purely based on emotion: am I going to muddle through this, or quit?  Then, I stick with that decision and run with it.  I'm sure there's a flow chart, buried deep in my missal, that would tell me how to proceed in each case of failure....


Currently, I am finishing up my Advent devotional book...that should tell you plenty about how good I am at novenas

[Non Nobis]

I have been inconsistent in how I handle missing a day of a novena.  Sometimes I've just let it go and gone on... and at other times I have said it twice twice later.  But I think one thing to remember is that whatever the merit of meeting the goal of "9 days in a row", the prayers you are saying are pleasing to God even one by one. Discipline is a way of showing our love, but God counts our effort too. Thinking "give it up because it's not going to 'work' now" is superstitious and missing the point of prayer. But it's also superstitious to think you absolutely MUST finish it. There is more than one way to pray.

If there is a definite date involved (not just 9 days) waiting until next year is certainly an option.

[diaduit]

My rule of thumb is if I miss a day due to genuine circumstances e.g unexpected visitors calling, unforeseen circumstances that take you away from your home and the time slips by and you forget, then I do an extra one the next day and count it as a novena.  But if I am on the sofa at 10 pm grumbling how tired I am but don't make an effort into getting it done then I don't count it as a full novena.
As a friend said to me once, God isn't peeping around a corner waiting to catch you out , if you slip up (I'm talking venial sin etc) He isn't shouting to Himself, ' hahaaaaa I got you there' triumphantly.

[Josephine87]

Thank you all for your helpful perspectives!

[serviam1996]

Just say yesterday’s prayer along with today’s prayer. That’s what I do in case I forget a day.

[mikemac]

Just say yesterday’s prayer along with today’s prayer. That’s what I do in case I forget a day.

That's what I did a couple of days ago when I missed a day for the Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes.  I don't know if that's what we are suppose to do but it seems right.

[Xavier]

Yes. We try to do the 9 days (or hours etc) consecutively only in order to develop a consistent prayer rhythm in our spiritual lives; this can be very helpful for us if we do. For similar reasons, it's good to have set times for prayer; but that doesn't mean we can't pray at any time - certainly, we can. God is not a rigorist, but a loving Father - if we miss a day, we can say an extra one on the next day. Some of the books for certain prayers say this expressly. It's good to try not to miss as far as possible, but if we do, we can make it up.

[Non Nobis]

And then when you miss the novena altogether (me) you can at least pray on the feast day!

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us