In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, our Lord charges His Apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, that is, to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. This was to happen nine days later on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. During that time, we are told, that the Apostles dwelt in the Upper Room, together with Our Lady and other women, as well as other disciples. They devoted their time to prayer.
This is the spiritual basis for the Novena of Prayer to the Holy Spirit. In a sense it is the Church's first Novena of prayer.
The Novena of prayer is the spiritual practice of praying consistently and consecutively for nine days. I commend to you the practice of praying to the Holy Spirit for His Gifts and Fruits during Ascensiontide.
The Novena of prayer to the Holy Spirit, that I commend, draws on traditional prayers, and the teaching of the church, to help you pray with understanding for a renewal in the gifts you received at Confirmation. I will publish on this blog the short meditation and prayers for each day. It begins on Friday. If you join me, you are committing yourself to do the following each day:
1. Meditation: (a) one line from a hymn to the Holy Spirit ; (b) a paragraph about the Holy Spirit's gifts or fruits ;
2. One Our Father ; One Hail Mary ; 7 Glory be's (one for each Gift of the Holy Spirit) ;
3. Make an Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit;
4. Pray for the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
This could take as little as 10 minutes so is not overly burdensome.
I will be endeavouring to pray this at 10am each day when I also pray the Office of Terce with my family.
Why does the Novena take this form?
First, the meditation section informs our understanding of what we are praying for. Not only do we need the will to pray, but must understand a little of what we are praying for. Unless we have faith in the Holy Spirit and the Gifts He brings us, those Gifts will lie dormant in us from the time of our Confirmation. So the time of meditation is calling on God's help to illuminate our minds with the truth of what we are asking for.
Then we pray the 'Our Father' because it is the prayer Christ taught His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray. A Hail Mary is prayed because Our Lady was at the heart of that praying community, and also because she is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.
The Glory Be is prayed 7 times because the Gift of the Holy Spirit is sevenfold.
The Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit deepens our devotion to the Holy Spirit and opens our hearts further to Him. This is the heart of the Novena devotion.
Lastly we pray for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which are necessary for enlightening the mind, strengthening our wills and inflaming our love of God.
Fr Ian
We ought to pray and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more fly to Him Who is the never ceasing Fount of Light, Strength, Consolation and Holiness." - Pope Leo XIII
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