Día tres de la Novena de Aguinaldos, versión en inglés

La celebración de la Navidad en Colombia tiene una particularidad especial: la Novena de Aguinaldos, una práctica religiosa y cultural que se lleva a cabo durante los nueve días previos al 24 de diciembre.

(Lea también: ¿Cuál es el Evangelio para hoy 18 de diciembre y de qué habla? Le contamos).

Esta tradición, que incluye oraciones y villancicos, es un momento de preparación espiritual para el nacimiento de Jesús. Las familias y amigos se reúnen alrededor del pesebre, compartiendo no solo la fe sino también platos típicos de la temporada como natilla, buñuelos y otros pasabocas.

En su esfuerzo por preservar esta tradición, EL TIEMPO proporciona los pasos a seguir y la forma de rezar la Novena, con especial énfasis en el tercer día, correspondiente al 18 de diciembre, siguiendo las indicaciones de la Arquidiócesis de Bogotá.

Además, reconociendo la importancia de esta tradición para los colombianos, especialmente aquellos que viven en países de habla no hispana, ofrecemos una traducción de la Novena. Esta acción busca mantener vivas las costumbres nacionales entre la diáspora colombiana, permitiéndoles celebrar esta práctica cultural y religiosa sin importar dónde se encuentren.

(Siga leyendo: Oración a San José para la novena de aguinaldos y Navidad 2023).

Before starting the prayer, it is usual to start singing a carol with maracas, tambourines, or clapping to accompany the rhythm and announce the beginning of the novena.

This first part aims to bless the nativity scene before starting the Aguinaldos prayers. As it is customary in the country to install the traditional nativity scene in homes, plazas, parks, etc., the Archdiocese proposes this form before starting the novena.

Once the family is gathered, the father or mother says:

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

Dear family:

During these days we will frequently contemplate this nativity scene in our home and meditate on the great love of the Son of God, who wanted to dwell with us.

Let us ask God that the nativity scene placed in our home, enlivens our Christian faith in us and helps us celebrate these Christmas festivities more intensely.

Let's listen with faith to the words of the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke (Lk 2, 4-7a).

In those days, Joseph, who was from the house and family of David, went up from the city of Nazareth, in Galilee, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, in Judea, to with his wife Mary, who was pregnant. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. Word of the Lord.

Lord God, our Father, who loved the world so much that you gave us your only Son born of the Virgin Mary, deign to bless this birth and the Christian community, our family, present here, so that the images of this birth help us to deepen our faith in adults and children and to live the virtues of the home in which Jesus was welcomed with love.

We ask this through Jesus, your beloved Son, who lives and reigns forever and ever.

In the end, everyone present, making the sign of the cross, says: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R: Amen.

Most benign God of infinite charity, who loved us so much and gave us your son as the best token of your love, so that, made man in the womb of a virgin, he was born in a manger for our health and remedy. I, on behalf of all mortals, give you infinite thanks for such a sovereign benefit.

In return for it, I offer you the poverty, humility, and other virtues of your humanized son, and I beg you for his divine merits, for the discomforts in which he was born, and for the tender tears he shed in the manger, that you prepare our hearts with profound humility, with burning love, and with such contempt for everything earthly, that the newly born Jesus, may have in them his cradle and dwell eternally. Amen. Pray three times Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

From the Gospel of Saint Luke 2,51-52

He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and grace before God and men. Word of the Lord.

In the Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family number 177, we are taught: God places the father in the family so that, with the valuable characteristics of his masculinity, "he is close to the wife, to share everything, joys and sorrows, tiredness and hopes. And that he is close to the children in their growth: when they play and when they are busy, when they are carefree and when they are distressed, when they express themselves and when they are taciturn, when they take the plunge and when they are afraid, when they take a wrong step and when they find their way back; a present father, always."

In the home of Jesus, the paternal figure of Saint Joseph tells us so much today: how much humanity needs a revitalization of the father figure in which children find life and hope.

God the Father of love: you have given us in the paternal and exemplary figure of Saint Joseph a master of interior life and commitment to the Holy Family. Make those who today have been called to be Fathers be signs of your love and your presence in homes. Help those who have failed in their duties to recover their call to be true fathers. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As we give thanks for the gift of being Fathers, let us ask the Lord that:

In imitation of Saint Joseph, our fathers be secure and firm references in their homes.

Make those who have failed in their paternal duties with patience and perseverance, be able to rebuild their lives and be a light in homes.

(De interés: ¿Qué representa el pecado original de Adán y Eva? Según la iglesia católica).

Sovereign Mary, for your great virtues and especially for your humility, you deserved that all a God chose you for his mother. I beg you to prepare and arrange my soul and that of all those who at this time make this novena, for the birth of your adorable Son.

Oh sweetest Mother, communicate to me something of the profound recollection and divine tenderness with which you pleased him so that we are made less unworthy to see him, love him, and adore him for all eternity. Amen. The Ave Maria is prayed three times.

Oh Most Holy Joseph, husband of Mary and putative father of Jesus. Infinite thanks I give to God because he chose you for such high ministries and adorned you with all the gifts proportionate to such excellent greatness. I beg you for the love you had for the divine Child, embrace me in fervent desires to see him and receive him sacramentally while in his divine essence I see and enjoy him in heaven. Amen. The Our Father, the Ave Maria, and the Glory Be to the Father are prayed.

, Oh sweetest Child Jesus, that you said to the venerable Margaret of the Most Holy Sacrament, and in her person to all your devotees, these words so comforting for our poor burdened and suffering humanity: "Everything you want to ask, ask for it through the merits of my infancy, and nothing will be denied to you."

Full of confidence in You, oh Jesus, who are the same truth, we come to expose all our misery to you.

Help us to lead a holy life, to achieve a blessed eternity.

Grant us, by the infinite merits of your Incarnation and your infancy, the grace of which we need so much. We give ourselves to you, oh omnipotent Child, confident that our hope will not be frustrated, and that by virtue of your divine promise, you will accept and favorably dispatch our supplication. Amen. Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit is prayed three times.

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