Typically a novena refers to when you pray the Rosary over a period of nine days. A 54 day novena is made up of 6 novenas. Pray the first half (the first 27 days) in petition for your needs. Then pray the second half (the last 27 days) in thanksgiving for your blessings, regardless of whether your petitions have been granted.
This traditional devotion was revealed by Our Lady of Pompeii to Fortuna Agrelli in 1884. It carried with it the promise of extraordinary graces for those who pray it with faith and perseverance.
As you pray for 54 days, cycle through the the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries (no Luminous mysteries). On the first day, meditate on the Joyful mysteries, the second day the Sorrowful mysteries, the third day the Glorious mysteries, the fourth day Joyful, etc. Keep this cycle no matter what day of the week it is.
When praying the 54 day novena, it's helpful to already know how to pray the rosary. Once you know that, then the novena is the same thing, with more prayers added in at the beginning and end, and also around each decade.
If you're already familiar with the Rosary, then this helpful guide provides the full text of all the additional prayers you need.
This guide is formatted with the first page as an introduction. The following nine pages are split into three sections. Pages 2-4 are the Joyful mysteries, pages 5-7 are the Sorrowful mysteries, and pages 8-10 are the Glorious mysteries. So, simply put, each day you pray, you only need 3 pages.
