The Impossible Is Possible

Elizabeth Leon introduces the Novena for Impossible Requests and shares the unexpected way her heartfelt prayers were answered.

Two-thousand twenty-two was an impossible year. It was supposed to be a year of celebration: my book had been published, my ministry launched, and my word of the year was “Rejoice.” Instead, a season of teenage rebellion became months of accusations and slander by my daughter and two adults in her life. I received false claims of abuse, mockery on social media, and attacks of parental alienation with my daughter to the point that I could no longer parent her. Anything I said or did was met with refusal, rejection, or silence. After months of fighting for what I believed was right, I conceded defeat and my daughter left to live with her father in another county on August 15, the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She did not speak to me for months.

The day she left, my heart shattered. It didn’t feel like just the Agony in the Garden, but a full crucifixion of my motherhood. Everything I had tried to do for her for sixteen years was dead and I didn’t know how to survive. I was Job lamenting that all my plans were at an end (see Job 17:11). I sobbed and wailed for weeks in grief—missing her, fearful for her future, and slowly releasing her entirely to our merciful Lord and his merciful mother. In total surrender, I placed her and the wreckage of our family again and again into Jesus’ Sacred Heart and the arms of our Blessed Mother. I begged the Lord for what seemed impossible: a miracle of her restoration and to bring her home.

null

Impossible is God’s specialty. Earlier that year, when the rebellion and accusations were just revving up, I learned about the Impossible Novena. Sometimes called the “Novena for Impossible Requests,” the Impossible Novena is a set of daily prayers we offer through our Lady for three specific “impossible” requests. While the origins of the novena are unclear, the nine-month novena begins on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, and concludes on December 25, the Nativity of our Lord. Through the novena, we accompany Mary during her nine months carrying Jesus in her womb as she awaits the fulfillment of the Angel Gabriel’s announcement and her response in Luke 1:37 that “nothing will be impossible for God.” Every day for nine months, we offer the following prayers for our three “impossible” petitions:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! 
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.

V - Pray for us, most holy mother of God. 
R - That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Virgin of the Incarnation, a thousand times we greet thee, a thousand times we praise thee for thy joy when God was incarnated in thee. Because thou art so powerful a Virgin and Mother of God, grant what we ask of thee for the love of God.

State intention #1.
Repeat the above prayers and state intention #2.  
Repeat a third time and state intention #3. 

In conclusion, offer the Memorare, the Hail Mary, and the final prayer below:

Remember, O most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I cry, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. 
Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. 

Hail Mary, full of Grace ...

Blessed and praised be the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, in Heaven, on earth, and everywhere. AMEN. 

null

Beginning March 25, 2022, I began to pray earnestly with Mary for my daughter’s healing and conversion every day through the Impossible Novena. I clung to it as our situation got bleaker and bleaker. When I was forced to let her go on August 15, my petitions began to include my plea that the Lord protect her and bring her home. I prayed day in and day out for nine months. On Christmas Day, the last day of the novena, my prayers were answered, but not in a way I could ever imagine.

null

My daughter overdosed on December 25. She survived but spent the next ten days in the hospital, during which time her father decided she could not live with him anymore. And she came home. Her horrific overdose, on the last day of the novena, was the turning point in her healing. Sixteen months later, she is still home, flourishing, and our relationship is restored. She has not returned to her faith yet, but I will keep praying the Impossible Novena year after year because … nothing is impossible for God.

null

I know that you too have intentions in your heart that feel impossible. You too have longings or heartache that feel too big or too much. Mountains that you have waited years to be moved. Heartache that feels beyond hope.

Join me in praying the Novena for Impossible requests this year. Your prayers may be answered in ways you can never imagine, but they will be answered. We know Mary will carry them to our Lord and He will act. You are his beloved daughter, and … nothing is impossible for God.

Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.