Ten Day Devotion to the Holy Spirit (1)

Introductory Prayer (2)
Come, O Holy Spirit! Enlighten my understanding in order to know your commands;
strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; enkindle my will … I have heard your voice,
and I do not want to harden my heart and resist, saying, “Later … tomorrow.”
Nunc coepi! Right now! Lest there be no tomorrow for me.
O Spirit of Truth and of wisdom, Spirit of Understanding and of counsel, Spirit of joy and peace!
I want whatever you want; I want because you want; I want as you want; I want whatever you want …

Consideration
Please refer to meditation for the day.

Concluding Prayer
Holy and divine Spirit! Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your spouse,
bring the fullness of your gifts into our hearts. Comforted and strengthened by you,
may we live according to your Will and may we die praising your infinite mercy.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

References:
(1) Fr James Socias, et al (Eds), Daily Roman Missal, 1989, p2080
(2) St Josemaria Escriva, “Prayer to the Holy Spirit”. In postulation for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization, “HistoricaL Registry of the Founder of Opus Dei 20172, p145)
(3) John Bautista de Mayo, To Jesus Daily Through Mary, Vol 2 (Apr-May-Jun), 2005, pp107-34

2 May 2008
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 1st Day

The First Novena (1)
Immediately after the Ascension the Apostles returned to Jerusalem, and as commanded by their Divine Master, remained in the upper room with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and 120 disciples.
They continued in prayer, expecting the coming of the Holy Spirit, during nine (9) days. From this was derived the practice of preparing for certain great feasts by a novena of prayers and good works.
The novena of Pentecost was first made by the Apostles, so that it is not only apostolic, but may even be called of divine institution, since the Apostles made it in obedience to a formal command of Jesus Christ. How excellent must it be then, and with what devotion we ought to observe it.
Why did Jesus command His Apostles to pray as such? That they might dispose and prepare themselves to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, without which they would have remained forever what they were then: nothing in themselves, useless to others, absolutely incapable of fulfilling their sublime vocation; but with these gifts all would become possible, even easy.
We make this novena with extraordinary fervor for the same reasons, for certainly we are not greater than the Apostles. We are not better able than they were to dispense with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and to fulfill the duties of our vocation; to achieve that degree of perfection required of us, and to save the souls of others both by word and work.
Jesus gave a third motive to encourage a more careful preparation for receiving the Holy Spirit – the wickedness of the world, the miseries and snares in their midst, and the expected persecutions. “In the world you shall have distress; you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake; they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten; they will lay their hands on you and persecute you. (2)
We, too live in days of tribulation and the rage of the wicked against the religion of Jesus Christ. Where shall we see the supernatural courage and prudence to fight these threats? Only from the Spirit of counsel, fortitude, and piety!
Mary and the Spirit (3)
Meditating on the Holy Spirit implies looking at the woman who gave birth to Jesus through the Spirit. To conceive of Christ and the Church without the indispensable intervention of the Holy Spirit is impossible. Thus it is also impossible to think of Mary, the Mother of God, ‘type and outstanding model’ of the Church (4), outside the context of the Spirit.
The profound action of the Holy Spirit in the history of salvation leads us to analyze “the hidden relationship between the Spirit of God and the Virgin of Nazareth, and show the influence they exert on the Church”. (5)
Everything with Mary became, with her free acceptance and collaboration, she owes to her Son Jesus and the action of the Holy Spirit. The Virgin is ‘all holy’ because from the first moment of her existence she was the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’. (4) ‘Full of grace’ means nothing but ‘full of the Holy Spirit’, because it is always the Spirit who brings about communion with the entire Trinity.
“The Father predestined her but the sanctifying virtue of the Spirit visited her, purified her, made her holy and, so to say, immaculate.” (6) Mary’s transformation by the Spirit was so profound as to touch her very essence. “Mary from the beginning was united with the Spirit, author of life; everything that she experienced she shared with the Spirit so that her participation in the Spirit became a participation in being.” (7) This is why Mary was ‘all holy’ from her conception.
The Spirit molded and made Mary into a new creature; but Mary’s ‘original holiness’ was not passive, because from the moment she became conscious of this, she collaborated uniquely with the Spirit to nurture that intense and profound union with God.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit (8)
Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten with your truth our journey [toward the great Jubilee of the Year 2000]. Enable us to witness with ardent faith to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, who died and rose again for our sake. He is the One who always comes. He is the Gospel of God’s love for humanity of fraternal communion, and of unbounded love. He is the new shoot that has blossomed in the soil of history: he alone can bring about a genuine renewal of the Church and of society.
Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!
Come, Holy Spirit. Inflame us with the fire of your love, so we will be able to humbly and courageously discern the good and evil in society. Help us to listen to your words with the docile attitude of the disciples; to be ready, like Mary, the attentive Virgin, to make those words bear fruit in the form of holiness in our personal lives, in our families and in society. Make us receptive to Christ, who knocks on the door of our heart, and transform us into ardent dwelling places of God.
Come, Holy Spirit. Pour out the power of your grace on the Pope and on his bishops, so that, with evangelical wisdom and apostolic courage, they will be able to show everyone how to respond to today’s challenges according to the plan of God. Bestow your seven gifts on all called to work in the Lord’s vineyard: priests, deacons, those consecrated to the service of witnessing your kingdom, Christian families, all the faithful. Work in us, so our lives might be a sign of a new humanity, reconciled in truth and love, to the praise and glory to the Father. Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth! Pope John Paul II

References:
(1) cf Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp272-4
(2) cf Luke 21:12, 25; Mark 13:9
(3) cf Theological-Historical Commission, The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life, 80-81, 1997
(4) Second Vatican Council. Lumen Gentium, 53
(5) Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation, Marialis cultus, 27
(6) St John Damascene, Homily on the Dormition, I, 3
(7) Theopanes of Nicea, Discourse on the Mother of God, 30
(8) Pope Paul II in Pray Always 2, Pauline’s Publishing House


3 May 2008
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 2nd Day

Proper dispositions to receive
The gifts of the Holy Spirit (1)
God, says St Augustine, desires to bestow the gifts of the Holy Spirit abundantly upon us; but he wills that we should rightly dispose ourselves to receive them. How then shall we do this?
The example of the Apostles will teach us best. They retired into an upper chamber, where they passed their time in recollection and silence. They meditated on all that Jesus had taught them, especially on the attributes and operations of the Holy Spirit.
If I desire to receive an abundant outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I must, during this novena, keep myself recollected. I ought to be more fervent in my norms, to guard my senses, and to avoid every irregular affection which tend to the least sin, the chief obstacle to interior peace and reception of God’s gifts.
The Apostles joined their recollection to continual and earnest prayer, mindful of their Divine Master’s words, “How much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him? (2) Their prayer was efficacious and pleasing to God because they were united in the same words, asking the same favor.
This, too, Jesus had taught them – “If two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.” (3)
During this novena we, too, must add to our ordinary devotions some especially addressed to the Holy Spirit. God will surely hear and answer these prayers. We recall Saint Luke’s words – “All these were persevering with one mind in prayer.” (Acts 1:14)
Convinced of the power of Mary over the heart of Jesus, the Apostles strove to increase their fervor by her example and begged her to make up for their imperfections, and to present their humble petitions to her Son. They persevered in prayer “with Mary the Mother of Jesus” (cf Acts 1:14).
Many of the Church Fathers also expressed the opinion that the powerful intercession of Mary helped hasten the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let us all seek her intercession – to beg of her to aid our efforts, to be in our midst, and to present our desires to her Divine Son. That she may obtain for each of us the grace not to forfeit any of the special graces which God may intend to bestow on the Feast of Pentecost.

Mary, docile resting place of the Holy Spirit (4)
The Spirit guided Mary her entire life, especially in the most salient moments, just as he leads the children of God (see Rom 8:14) and as he guided Jesus in the desert (see Lk 4:1). At the time of the Anunciation, sustained and inspired by the Spirit, she freely consented to become the mother of the Word.
She “responded with all her human and feminine ‘I’, and this response of faith included both perfect cooperation with ‘the grace of God that precedes and assists’, and perfect openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, who constantly brings faith to completion by his gifts” (John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, encyclical letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary, 25 March 1987).
She cooperated with the Spirit in the visit to her cousin Elizabeth when, inspired by the Spirit, she ‘prophesied’, interpreted the history of salvation according to the ‘logic’ of God, and proved to be the ‘humble one of God’ always disposed to fulfill the Lord’s will.
The Magnificat is the inspired expression of her sentiments. This became possible because she “had personal experience through the Holy Spirit who illuminated and instructed her …” [In this way] “she learned from the Holy Spirit the great knowledge that God did not want to manifest his power in any way other than elevating that which is low and lowering that which is high.” (5)

Oh Holy Spirit, Fill Our Hearts (6)
The Cenacle in Jerusalem opens before the eyes of our faith, the upper room from which the Church came and in which the Church ever remains. It was exactly there that the Church was born as the living community of the people of God, and as a community conscious of its mission in the history of man.
During these days the Church prays: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love!” These words are very often repeated, but today they sound with particular ardor.
Fill the hearts! Reflect what is the measure of the human heart, if only God can fill it through the Holy Spirit! The marvelous world of human science opens up before us with its manifold branches. Your self-consciousness certainly develops side by side with this science of the world. You certainly have often put the question to yourself, “Who am I?” I would say that this is the most interesting question. The fundamental question. With what measure is man to be measured? Shall we measure him by the physical powers at his disposal? With the senses which enable him to make contact with the outer world? Or measure him by the gauge of intelligence, ascertained through various tests and exams?
The answer given today, the answer given by the liturgy of Pentecost indicates two gauges: ‘the need to measure man with the measure of the heart’ … In the language of the Bible, the heart signifies man’s ‘spiritual inner part’, it particularly means the ‘conscience’ … So we must measure man according to the gauge of the conscience, with the measure of the spirit open to God. Only the Holy Spirit can fill up this heart, ie, lead it to self-realization through love and wisdom.

References:
(1) cf Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp274-6
(2) Luke 11:13
(3) Matthew 18:19
(4) cf Theological-Historical Commission, The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life, 81-82, 1997
(5) Martin Luther, Werke, Kritsche Gesamtausgabe, Weimar, 1883 – in reference 4 (supra)
(6) cf Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II, pp213-4


4 May 2008
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 3rd Day

Invoking the Holy Spirit (1)
The Holy Spirit bore witness to Jesus in the most striking manner by proving to the world that Jesus is the Son of God, Saviour of men, Judge of the living and the dead. He led men to worship a crucified God, and to crucify all the concupiscences of their own flesh.
He made the cause of Jesus to triumph over all the malice of whoever opposed the preaching of his Gospel. He gave courage to women and children, making them despise a cruel death and suffer the most fearful torture for the love of Jesus.
Jesus had foretold these marvellous effects of the operation of the Holy Spirit, who was to guide the Church after his Ascension. He had solemnly promised to send him to the Apostles, telling them that without his help they could do nothing; with it they would work miracles of conversion and sanctification.
He desired, nevertheless, that they should ask for him and be disposed to receive him by constant and fervent prayer. The same conditions apply to us if we hope to produce any fruit in our labor for souls.
Experience must have taught us that, without the help of the Holy Spirit, all our efforts are in vain and fruitless. Hence, comes the practice introduced in the Church since she began, and in prayer groups, of invoking the Holy Spirit before every important undertaking; even before all ordinary actions of the day.
After saying, “He will give testimony of me”, Jesus promptly added, “and you will give testimony in Jerusalem, in all Judaea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
They made known their Master’s name in all the world, and caused him to be adored despite all the opposition of men and devils. They destroyed the idols, and overthrew the temples of the heathens’ false gods. They changed the world from pagan to Christian, and founded the Church of Jesus Christ, which [more than] twenty centuries have neither changed nor shaken.
Those who worked all these miracles were twelve poor, weak and ignorant fishermen. Why did Jesus choose such instruments? 1) To prove that it is a divine, not a human, institution, claiming therefore our obedience and submission; and 2) that our weakness and unworthiness should not deter us from undertaking great things for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Mary and the Spirit at the foot of the Cross (2)
The Spirit was not only present at the birth of Christ, but also accompanied Mary during the growth of Jesus, even in the most difficult and mysterious moments when she had need to ‘meditate’ and interiorize these events so that she could become more deeply aware of their importance and significance (see Lk 2:19, 49-51).
“I am convinced that no man can exist capable of suffering as much as the Virgin suffered.” (3) Even at the foot of the Cross Mary had need of special assistance from the Spirit. She did not leave when faced with the harshness of the death of the Son, but pronounced her ‘yes’ in the Spirit and became the mother of those for whom Christ offered his life.
In the “Upper Room”, afterwards, Mary invokes the Father with her supplications until he sends his Spirit: “But since it had pleased God not to manifest solemnly the mystery of the salvation of the human race before he would pour forth the Spirit promised by Christ, we see the apostles before the day of the Pentecost ‘preserving with one mind in prayer with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren’ (Acts 1:14); and we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Anunciation.” (4)
The Virgin, completely penetrated and transformed by the Spirit, is ‘vivified’ by him and ‘redeemed’ even from corporal decay and ‘assumed’ into heaven. By her sublime holiness and radical transformation through the Spirit, Mary had already, during her life, a “spiritualized body, that is, one transformed by the Spirit”. (4)
She was so completely penetrated by him ‘who is the Lord and gives life’ that she possessed the source of immortal life. The Virgin had that life in the Spirit while she lived on earth, although hidden. However, when her earthly life ended, she radiated immortality in the same way as Christ did after his death. (5)

The Spirit, Mankind and the Cosmos (6)
The Apostolic Constitution Gaudium et Spes of Vatican II pictures the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world as a mysterious agent of evangelization that leads all and everybody to the achievement and fulfilment of the mystery of Christ.
He acts in the heart of all to enable them to adhere to the Paschal mystery (GS 22);
He accompanies the life of the Church and guides the evolution of all the evangelical ferments towards the Good: “The Spirit of evolution of God, who, with providence, directs the course of time and renews the face of the earth, assists this development” (GS 26);
He urges interiorly and incessantly the heart of the human person (GS 11); leads history to its fulfilment.
It is the Holy Spirit that touches man’s heart to renew and lift, opening human feelings to a filial relationship of prayer. Thus, the cultic and cultural wealth can be assumed and clarified in a liturgy of the Spirit within the Catholic Church. Cosmos and history are introduced into the dynamics of the whole liturgical symbolism, anticipating the new creation and the new humanity.
Well-known is the expression of Saint Ambrose, quoted also by Saint Thomas: “Every truth, and whoever says it, comes from the Spirit.” …

References:
(1) cf "Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus", 1964, pp276-8
(2) cf Theological-Historical Commission, "The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life", 82-3, 1997
(3) Nicholas Cabasilas, "Homily on the Assumption", 11
(4) "Lumen Gentium", 59
(5) Nicolas Cabasilas, op cit, 10-11
(6) cf "The Spirit is Lord and Gives Life", Pauline's Publising House, 1997, p22


5 May 2008
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 4th Day

The Apostles persevered in prayer (1)
Prayer was the chief occupation of the Apostles and disciples during the nine days after the Ascension. (Acts 1:14) How did they pray? With great faith, a keen sense of the presence of God; consequently, with great exterior and interior recollection. Since his Ascension, Jesus was no longer visibly present with them.
As man, Jesus was parted from them, but as God, they knew he was still in their midst, seeing, hearing everything. They, therefore, observed the greatest reverence and modesty in all they said and do.
Behold here the first conditions of acceptable prayer. Attended by a lively faith and firm conviction that God sees and hears us. His eye pierces the recesses of our hearts; reads our most secret thought.
Do we have this faith? If so, we will always be modest and reverent; attentive to our words. It follows that, if we pray without this reverence and attention, we have little faith, our prayers can avail but little.
The prayer of the Apostles and disciples was accompanied by a deep humility and great confidence. Their humility proceeded from the remembrance of their past infidelities, and consciousness of their own weakness and inability to accomplish the work entrusted to them. On the other hand, this very weakness led them to place great confidence in the efficacy of prayer, which their Divine Lord had told them would obtain all their desires and supply all their needs.
“The prayer of him that humbles himself shall pierce the clouds”, says the Wise Man. Have our prayers often failed for want of humility? And yet what motives we have for humility! Our past sins, frequent infidelities, and uncertainty of final perseverance. If we keep them constantly in mind, we shall always pray with a humble and contrite heart; and will increase both our confidence and fervor.
The Apostles prayed with perfect resignation regarding when it might please God to send his Holy Spirit. They knew he would be granted to their prayers; but being ignorant of the day and hour, they resolved to persevere for as long as it should please their Lord. Their perseverance was rewarded. On the tenth day they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit in full.
Have we perhaps, implied certain conditions to our prayers with regard to time? We have abandoned it because our prayer was not granted at once. Our failure in resignation and perseverance is the cause of our prayer remaining unanswered – our own fault.

In virtue of the Spirit,
Mary becomes Mother of God (2)
All of Mary’s greatness is in the fact she is the “Mother of God”; the central point of all the Virgin is in herself and relative to believers. The Spirit is present and effective in a most precise way in this divine maternity. We are indebted to the Spirit for that event.
Let us pause and meditate on ‘how’ Mary ‘virginally’ becomes the Mother of God. The Holy Spirit, in the present economy of salvation, is always the ‘precursor of Christ’. Without the previous descent and activity of the Spirit, there can be no visible presence of the Word.
‘The Anunciation to the Virgin’ is the most evident and most important event in this process of the divine economy./ This salvific fact in which ‘our salvation began’ already represents a pentecost.
The Spirit descends on Mary in an effective way to make the Son of God a human being. Mary
asked, ‘How can this be …?’ How can I virginally conceive a baby? The angel replied: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’ (3)
The Creed professes that Jesus ‘was born of the Virgin Mary by the work of the Holy
Spirit’. The Holy Spirit, ‘he who gives life’ descends on Mary; surrounds her. It is he who has made known the Word of God.
In the fullness of time, the Son of God, is made man in the womb of the Virgin. Fathers of the Church affirm: “When Mary gave her answer to God, she received the Spirit, who molded in her that flesh equal to God.”
Why, we may ask, does this ‘becoming flesh’ of the Word, his becoming man, take place in the very womb of Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth? Why has such involvement between a human creature and the Holy Spirit never happened at any other time in human history? In Mary all this took place with the least resistance.

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (4)
O Lord Jesus Christ, who before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in Your apostles and disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that he may perfect in me the work of Your grace and your love.
Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may not cling to the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal.
Grant me the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of your divine truth.
Grant me the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven.
Grant me the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with you and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that hinder my salvation.
Grant me the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect like the saints.
Grant me the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable.
Grant me the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him,.
Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true disciples and animate me in all things with your Spirit.
Amen.

References:
(1) cf "Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus", 1964, pp279-80
(2) cf Theological-Historical Commission, "The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life", 83-4, 1997
(3) Luke 1:35
(4) Rev James Alberione, SSP in "Pray Always", Pauline's Publishing House