Today, we
celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, the very birth of the Church and the
definitive end of the Easter season. And, in doing so, we implore the Holy
Spirit today to descend upon this church as He did, over 2,000 years ago, in
the upper room with Mary and the Apostles as tongues of fire.
For today we celebrate the very power of this often neglected, but never forgotten, Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity and we renew our consecration, in a special way, to Him as we have been for the past 9 days with our Novena.
And, while we may have a more difficult time relating to Him because He does not have a name like Son or Father, He is indeed, still powerful, because He is, indeed, God, which is why the gifts that He bestows are so important and so necessary to our spiritual life and to our growth in holiness.
For, if we think about it, God Himself, though He does not have to, bestows upon us, if we are willing to accept them, 7 amazing gifts, He gives us wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude and fear of the Lord and those gifts bring forth even more, they bring forth 12 fruits, those being charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chastity.
If you ever wondered how the saints did what they did, knew what they knew, and endured what they endured, look at these gifts, for it is these gifts that made them saints, it was their devotion to the Holy Spirit that brought them to holiness. In fact, St. John Vianney said: “Without the Holy Spirit, the martyrs would have fallen like the leaves from the trees.”
All of us have been around somebody in our lives whom just being near them, we knew there was something different about them, that they almost exuded holiness, in spite of their own humility. That’s the Holy Spirit, for while we cannot see Him, we know He is there, for while Mary and the Apostles did not see Him, they knew He was there, not just by the tongues of fire, but by the strong driving wind.
And though every single one of us will or has been sealed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, sometimes we lose our strength, sometimes we lose our way and we no longer experience them as strongly as we once had. Yet, also in the words of St. John Vianney, “when we feel we are losing our fervor, we must instantly make a novena to the Holy Spirit to ask for faith and love.” For, as he also says: “A soul in which the Holy Spirit dwells is never weary in the presence of God; his heart [he says] gives forth a breath of love.”
That is why all of us should have a great devotion to the Holy Spirit, all of us should pray the novena not just in preparation for Pentecost, but in preparation to receive the gifts at any time, creating a mini-Pentecost no matter the day, the month or the time.
There is a great prayer, one of which I pray daily, and which I leave you with today, from a man by the name of Cardinal Mercier, a Belgian Cardinal from the 1900’s, it is a prayer that, as he says, is the secret to sanctity and happiness.
He prefaces the prayer by saying “every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to all the noises of the world in order to enter into yourself. Then, in the sanctuary of your baptized soul (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit), he says, speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:
O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore you. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that you desire of me and to accept all that you permit to happen to me. Let me only know your will.”Amen.
For today we celebrate the very power of this often neglected, but never forgotten, Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity and we renew our consecration, in a special way, to Him as we have been for the past 9 days with our Novena.
And, while we may have a more difficult time relating to Him because He does not have a name like Son or Father, He is indeed, still powerful, because He is, indeed, God, which is why the gifts that He bestows are so important and so necessary to our spiritual life and to our growth in holiness.
For, if we think about it, God Himself, though He does not have to, bestows upon us, if we are willing to accept them, 7 amazing gifts, He gives us wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude and fear of the Lord and those gifts bring forth even more, they bring forth 12 fruits, those being charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chastity.
If you ever wondered how the saints did what they did, knew what they knew, and endured what they endured, look at these gifts, for it is these gifts that made them saints, it was their devotion to the Holy Spirit that brought them to holiness. In fact, St. John Vianney said: “Without the Holy Spirit, the martyrs would have fallen like the leaves from the trees.”
All of us have been around somebody in our lives whom just being near them, we knew there was something different about them, that they almost exuded holiness, in spite of their own humility. That’s the Holy Spirit, for while we cannot see Him, we know He is there, for while Mary and the Apostles did not see Him, they knew He was there, not just by the tongues of fire, but by the strong driving wind.
And though every single one of us will or has been sealed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, sometimes we lose our strength, sometimes we lose our way and we no longer experience them as strongly as we once had. Yet, also in the words of St. John Vianney, “when we feel we are losing our fervor, we must instantly make a novena to the Holy Spirit to ask for faith and love.” For, as he also says: “A soul in which the Holy Spirit dwells is never weary in the presence of God; his heart [he says] gives forth a breath of love.”
That is why all of us should have a great devotion to the Holy Spirit, all of us should pray the novena not just in preparation for Pentecost, but in preparation to receive the gifts at any time, creating a mini-Pentecost no matter the day, the month or the time.
There is a great prayer, one of which I pray daily, and which I leave you with today, from a man by the name of Cardinal Mercier, a Belgian Cardinal from the 1900’s, it is a prayer that, as he says, is the secret to sanctity and happiness.
He prefaces the prayer by saying “every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to all the noises of the world in order to enter into yourself. Then, in the sanctuary of your baptized soul (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit), he says, speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:
O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore you. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that you desire of me and to accept all that you permit to happen to me. Let me only know your will.”Amen.
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