Preparations continue at Galway Cathedral for the 42nd annual Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which begins on Monday, February 2.
Speaking ahead of the nine days of prayer, Fr John Gerard Acton reflects on what moves him most each year: the petitions and thanksgivings entrusted to Our Lady by those who come to pray.
Thousands of handwritten prayers are placed before the icon annually. Some brief, others carefully considered and composed, yet together they reveal something rarely visible in public life: the inner concerns of the people of the city and county. Fr Acton describes them as “a measure of the heartbeat of Galway.” They speak of parents anxious for their children, of worries about health and work and of gratitude for the strength received in difficult moments. These pages form a record of ordinary lives seeking mercy and meaning beyond what headlines can ever convey.
For Fr Acton, the Novena serves as a needed pause in the rush of daily living. “The Novena is an opportunity to press stop,” he says, “to press the brakes in a world that feels as if it is moving too fast.”
This year’s theme, “Let us go to the house of the Lord,” invites people into a place where life can be faced with honesty and where faith grows through real experience. The speakers carefully chosen for this year’s Novena reflect that conviction. Among them is John Buckley, whose daughter was murdered in 2015 and whose long journey toward forgiveness has become a witness to faith lived in the shadow of great sorrow.
Each day of the Novena will include preaching, communal prayer, and opportunities for reconciliation. Together, these nine days offer a space where the people of Galway can bring their fears, their hopes, and their gratitude before God, trusting that every prayer forms part of the living heart of the community.
