Novena Of Grace In Honor Of St Ignatius Of Loyola

Repeat this prayer for nine successive days.

Suscipe (Prayer by St Ignatius)

T

ake, O Lord, and receive

all my liberty, my memory,

my understanding and my entire will. All I have and call my own. Thou hast given all to me, to Thee, O Lord, I return it. Everything belongs to Thee; do with it as Thou wilt. Give me only the love of Thee and with it Thy grace, that is enough for me. Amen.

With St Ignatius we pray:

S

oul of Christ, sanctify me.

Body of Christ, save me.

Blood of Christ, inebriate me.

Water from the side of Christ, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

O Good Jesus, hear me.

Within Thy wounds hide me.

Suffer me not to be separated from Thee.

From the malignant enemy defend me.

In the hour of my death call me.

And bid me come unto Thee,

That with all Thy saints,

I may praise Thee

Forever and ever.

Amen.

St Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.

PS: The first novena happened between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer.

O

n 22 July 2025, Tuesday, we begin the first day of our Novena of Grace in honor of St Ignatius of Loyola. For the next nine days, we are invited to enter more deeply into the heart of Ignatian spirituality by praying with one of his most beloved prayers known mononymously as the Suscipe—“Suscipe, Domine, universam meam libertatem…” ("Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty...").

The Latin word Suscipe is not just a request for God to passively receive something. It is a compound verb that carries a rich and layered connotation, far more than just “receive.” It implies active reception, embrace, and even a taking of responsibility. Over these nine days, we will journey word by word, phrase by phrase, allowing each to speak to our own lives.

Each day, we will focus on one key word from the Suscipe. With each word comes an invitation to pause, to reflect, and to pray for a specific grace—a gift that only God can give. We are invited to beg for these graces in a spirit of surrender, freedom, and deep intimacy with God, just as St Ignatius did through his prayer of offering, entrusting, and relinquishing all to the Divine.

Part of the power of this prayer lies in how it disposes the heart—slowly drawing us into a posture of interior freedom and availability to God's will.

May this novena be a time of sacred encounter—a space of grace that gently orients the heart toward humble openness and trusting surrender to the Lord. Fr JM Manzano SJ