It may not be a special code filled with espionage and intrigue, but the public acknowledgment of one's prayers being answered is a code of communication between a higher being and people. "The novena involves personal dialogue between people, the saints and God," says Reverend Woods.

And personal it is. When the saints did not respond to one of my mother's prayers, she would punish them by turning their pictures toward the wall or putting the statues in a drawer. (See "Castigando los Santos," La Herencia del Norte, Winter 1995). Whatever it took, my mother was going to make her novena work.

Novena is derived from the Latin root novem, which means nine. Therefore, the novena consists of nine days of prayers. According to Rev. Woods, "The first mention of the nine days, or novena was during the nine days between Pentecost and the Ascension. The nine days of preparation by the Apostles for the resurrection of Christ. Novenas were very popular about 30 or 40 years ago," continues Woods. "The novena was a way of preparing for death. The Jesuits were big promoters of the Sacred Heart novena. If you showed your devotion by praying the novena on the 1st Friday of the month for nine consecutive Fridays, you would die in a state of grace. This was psychologically very important. People were thinking about death, and they were getting ready. Today, our collective culture is in a state of denial about death. We're all going to die someday, but we don't want to think about it. Take the doctor's inability to let us die with dignity. They have us hooked up to machines, they see death as a failure."

But some of the same technology that refuses to let us die is keeping us spiritually alive. In addition to novenas, many Catholic organizations, as well as individuals have set up religious web sites. Woods elaborates. "Once I began putting my sermons on line, I started getting responses from all over. There's a nun who frequently reads my sermons on line in Australia and gives me instant feedback. That could never have happened before."

Woods, like many others, is frequently involved in religious chat groups, and sees this trend growing: "I hear there's even a mock chain letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians circulating the Web," he says.

Whether you're on line or not you can be sure that public acknowledgment to the saints will continue. "Some psychiatrists would describe the novena as nothing more than wish fulfillment, but I find them psychologically very healthy," Woods says. "This interaction with God gives people a sense of empowerment. They have some control over their lives. If novenas didn't work, people wouldn't do them. It gives them hope."

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