Novena to St. John the Baptist: Nine Days with the Forerunner of the Lord

St. John the Baptist, you prepared the way of the Lord and pointed to the Lamb of God.
Pray for me in my need: (name your intention).
Help me to repent, to speak the truth with courage, and to let Jesus increase in my life. Amen.

But the angel said to him: Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John:
And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity.
For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people.

And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.

And demanding a writing table, he wrote, saying: John is his name. And they all wondered.
And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.

And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea.
And saying: Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
And the same John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

I indeed baptize you in the water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world.

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

We beseech thee, O Lord, that this venerable feast of the holy John the Baptist thy Precursor and Martyr may bring us as its fruit help toward our salvation. Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.