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Novena for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Day 3

10 min
Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

Novena for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Opening prayer:

We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy Cross You have redeemed the world. Through this sacred sign of our salvation, hear the prayers I bring before You, and let the Cross be my strength, my refuge, and my glory. Amen.

Read the meditation and offer the intention of the day.

Day 3: The price of our redemption

On the Cross Christ paid a debt He did not owe to free a people who could not pay. He purchased us not with silver or gold but with His own precious Blood, as St. Peter declares. Each time we look upon it we are told the measure of our worth in the eyes of God, who counted us worth His own life. The Cross is the receipt of a ransom so great that no sinner may ever again think himself beyond saving.

O Lord Jesus, who ransomed us not with gold but with Your own precious Blood, we thank You for the redemption won on Calvary. Let the price You paid teach us our worth in Your eyes, and may gratitude for so great a gift make us live no longer for ourselves but for You. Amen.

Today's intention:

In thanksgiving for the redemption won on Calvary.

Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis,

sanctificétur nomen tuum.

Advéniat regnum tuum.

Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie,

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.

Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem,

sed líbera nos a malo.

Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum.

Benedícta tu in muliéribus,

et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta María, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatóribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostræ.

Amen.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.

Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper,

et in sǽcula sæculórum.

Amen.

Closing prayer:

O Lord Jesus, lifted high upon the Cross to draw all things to Yourself, grant that I may never be ashamed of Your Cross but carry my own with love. May the wood of suffering blossom for me into the tree of life. Amen.

Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

About this prayer

A nine-day novena for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, adoring the wood of our redemption and learning to glory in the Cross of Christ.

History

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, kept on September 14, honors the Cross by which Christ redeemed the world. Tradition holds that St. Helena, mother of Constantine, discovered the True Cross in Jerusalem around 326, and a basilica was built on Calvary. What was an instrument of shameful death became the throne of glory, the sign in which the Church finds her boast and her hope.

How to pray it

Pray once each day for nine consecutive days. Begin with the Sign of the Cross and the opening prayer, prayerfully read the meditation and offer the day's intention, then conclude with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, and the closing prayer.

Portuguese text of the *Adoramus te, Christe* in the opening prayer and on Day 2: Opus Dei, *Devocionário*, Via Sacra — [opusdei.org](https://opusdei.org/pt-br/prayers/section/?section1=198&section2=)

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