3 June 2011: Decenary to the Holy Spirit -- 2nd Day

Proper dispositions to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit

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?” (Lk 11:13) 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.” (Mt 18:19)

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 St 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.

Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp274-6

Mary, docile resting place of the Holy Spirit

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 ‘Annunciation’, 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.” (“Martin Luther, Werke, Kritsche Gesamtausgabe, Weimar, 1883” -- in reference 4 [‘supra’])

Ref: Cf Theological-Historical Commission, “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”, 81-2, 1997

Oh Holy Spirit, Fill Our Hearts

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 the 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.

Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp213-4

To fight once more -- “Our Lord, with his arms outstretched, is continually begging for your love.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 404)

On the nine First Fridays

“I promise you, in the excessive mercy of My heart, that its all-powerful love will grant all those who communicate on nine consecutive first Fridays of the month the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my disfavor nor without receiving their sacraments. My Divine heart will be their secure refuge in their last moments.” (“Letter number 86 of St Margaret Mary to Mother Saumaise”)

Ref: A F Makalinao, “Apostle of the Sacred Heart”, p20

The First Friday Mass and Communion

The Church’s devotion to the Sacred Heart includes the First Friday Mass and Communion of reparation, the Thursday night Holy Hour in memory of Our Lord’s bitter agony in Gethsemane, the liturgical feast for the Sacred Heart, and the Consecration and Reparation.

The Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial became the first center of this devotion which later spread to other houses of the Visitation Sisters. St Claude de la Colombiere, the Jesuit spiritual director of St Margaret Mary, was instrumental in spreading the devotion especially to young people.

In the 1840’s, Fr Gautrelet, also a Jesuit, started the Apostleship of Prayer. Fr Ramiere, another Jesuit formally organized it. Pope Pius IX approved it in 1849. The leadership and direction of the Apostleship remain under the Superior General of the Society of Jesus.

During the twentieth century, almost all popes greatly promoted and wrote decisive decrees about this meritorious devotion. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the whole human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and referred to it as the ‘greatest act of my pontificate’.

He also encouraged the faithful to have a personal consecration to the Sacred Heart, ‘the symbol and sensible image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love one another’. On the feastday of the Sacred Heart, Pope Leo XIII stated that everyone should pray the ‘Act of Consecration’ published with his encyclical, ‘Annum Sacrum’.

Popes Pius X and Benedict XV continued to enthusiastically foster and encourage the growth of this devotion. Pope Benedict XV officially proclaimed Margaret Mary a saint.

In a letter to Fr Mateo Crowley-Boevey, who initiated the movement of enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in homes of Christian families, Pius X said he was not only asking him, but was ordering him, to give his life for this valuable devotion to invigorate Christian morality in the family.

In his encyclical “Miserentissimus Redemptor”, Pius XI stressed the importance of reparation to the Sacred Heart as a duty of all Christians. For all the indifference, ingratitude and outrages of people, including consecrated ones, Jesus requested the faithful to 1) make a communion of reparation, and 2) do the Holy Hour where they should offer acts and prayers of reparation.

Ref: A F Makalinao, “Apostle of the Sacred Heart”, pp30-31

First Communion of Bernadette Soubiros -- On this day in 1858, Bernadette made her First Communion in the Hospice chapel, Lourdes. (G Menotti, “Lourdes”, p15)

• Our Lady of “Sosopoli”, in Pisidia. This image distilled a miraculous oil as is testified by Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, in a letter read at the second council of Nice, assembled for the defence of holy images. — Art. 4, of the Council of Nice. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Sosopoli. Pisidia, Italy 14th century. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) ; (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (http://mariedenazareth.com)
• “Madonna della Sosopoli / Sasopoli”. Italy. 14th Century. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Star, at Aquileia, in Italy. This church is so-called, because it is affirmed that a star was seen in open day on the head of St Bernardine of Siena, when, preaching at Aquileia, he applied to the Blessed Virgin that passage of the Apocalypse where it is said that there were twelve stars on her head. — See his life in Surius. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Star. Aquiles / Aquileia, Italy. 15th Century. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Grace (Montreal, Canada) (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• “Notre Dame de Grace”. Montreal, Canada. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Holy Letter. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady, Health of the Sick (Kevelær, Germany). (www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Stone. (http://mariedenazareth.com)