Praying for ‘family first’ in Limerick as hundreds gather for Novena

THE POET Langston Hughes once wrote that the rain, however miserable, sings us lullabies. This time, it is the choral hum trickling from the Redemptorist Church that has put Friday morning’s drizzle to sleep.

As hundreds ambled into the Mount St Alphonsus church for 10am Mass, a gush of summer droplets fell on the eager worshippers, like floating feathers and not like heavy hail.

There was no rush to avoid the rain, as dozens posed for pictures and took questions from this reporter. This is the calm nature of the Novena.

But it is this nine days of prayer that brings comfort to many locals, who are afforded an opportunity to write their deeply-personal petitions with the hope to be heard not just by the masses, but by God also.

The theme of this year’s Novena is “celebrating family”, in preparation for Pope Francis’ visit to Dublin for the triennial World Meeting of Families this August.

And celebrating family with her granddaughter Amelia was Caroline O’Doherty, from Old Cork Road.

“I come here every year and we look forward to it every year now, in fairness,” said Caroline while holding young Amelia.

“We are praying for anybody and anyone. But we are praying for family first because it is important. Parents are getting older and we are doing it for them, really.”

Tom and Breda Healy, from Adare, have been coming to the annual celebration since the beginning, they told the Leader as they mounted the steps of the church. But why is it so special to them?

“There is great comfort if you have something to pray for,” Breda said. “We are praying for our family and our deceased parents.”

Fr Seamus Enright, the Redemptorist rector said that the nine-day celebration reflects the spiritual relationship with the city.