9 June 2011: Decenary to the Holy Spirit -- 8th Day

Introductory Prayer

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 of peace! I want whatever you want; I want because you want; I want as you want; I want whenever you want ...

Ref: St Josemaria Escrivà, “Prayer to the Holy Spirit”. In Postulation for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization, “Historical Registry of the Founder of Opus Dei” 20172, p145.

Crosses and humiliations will bring great delight

In order to sustain our fervor till the end of the novena, let us meditate on the great ends for which our Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit upon his Apostles and disciples. First, after his Ascension, he begins to comfort and encourage them in all the trials of life, especially in the hard labors of their apostolate.

“A little while now and you will not see me” (Jn 14:19) “... I will not leave you orphans” (Jn 14:18) “... I will ask the Father and he shall give you another Paraclete to be with you always.” (Jn 14:16-7)

His promise fulfilled, the Apostles began to preach, but were beaten and cast into prison. Far from being disheartened, they rejoiced. The Holy Spirit worked the same miracle for the first Christians amidst the dreadful persecutions. St Luke writes, “the Church ... was filled with the solace of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31).

We, too must expect many trials, difficulties, and contradictions on fulfilling our duties. If the Holy Spirit is with us, we shall endure them not only with resignation but also with joy. Crosses and humiliations will become our greatest delight. How diligently, then, must we seek and entertain this blessed Spirit!

God’s second end in sending the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles was to shed upon their souls the clear light of faith; and to give them a more perfect understanding of the truths Jesus had only partially revealed.

Jesus said on the eve of his death: “I still have many things to say; but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will teach you all truth ... and declare the things that are to come.” (Jn 16:12-3)

What the Holy Spirit did for the Apostles and early Christians he will do also for all who strive to attract him into their hearts. For this reason, on all important occasions the Church begins by imploring the Holy Spirit’s light and assistance; reciting frequently either the ‘Veni Creator’ or the ‘Veni Sancte Spiritus’.

Do we invoke the Holy Spirit with our lips and heart?

Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp287-9

Trusting God in all things

I do not understand your anxieties ...; why do you insist in tormenting yourself over the future, when your faith teaches you that the future is in the hands of a Father who is infinitely good, who loves you more than you love yourself and who understands your interests far better than you?

Have you forgotten that everything that happens is directed by the orders of divine Providence? But if we know this how can we hesitate to remain in a state of humble submission to all that God wishes or permits?

How blind are we when we desire anything other than what God wishes. He alone knows the dangers which threaten us in the future and the help which we shall need. I am firmly convinced that we should all be lost if God gave us our desires, and that is why, as Augustine says, God, in his mercy and compassion for our blindness, does not always grant our prayers, and sometimes gives us the contrary of what we ask as being in reality better for us.

Rightly understood, how many troubles and useless anxieties injurious to our peace of heart and spiritual advancement would not this one principle dispel! Shall I never succeed with the help of grace in instilling into your mind, still more into your heart this principle of faith, so sweet, so consoling, so loving, so pacifying?

When one is illuminated by heavenly light, one thinks very differently from most men, but what a source of peace, what power one finds in this way of thinking and looking at things! Let us study to give all our care and intention to the task of conforming ourselves in all things to the holy will of God despite interior revolt.

That revolt in itself must be accepted in obedience to the will of God, which permits it in order to accustom us to remain at all times and in all circumstances before him in a state of sacrifice and with a self-abandonment full of confidence.

Ref: “The Fire of Divine Love: Readings from Jean-Pierre de Caussade”, Edited by Robert Llewelyn, 1995, p37

Mary, Docile Resting Place of the Spirit

Everything that Mary became, with her free acceptance and collaboration, she owes to her son, Jesus, and the action of the Holy Spirit. The Virgin is the ‘all holy’ because from the first moment of her existence she was the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (“Lumen Gentium”, 53). “Full of grace” means nothing other than “full of the Holy Spirit”, because it is always the Spirit who brings about communion with the entire Trinity.

“The Father predestined her, purified her, made her holy and, so to say, immaculate”, (“Homily on the Dormition”, I, 3) wrote St John Damascene. Mary’s transformation by the Spirit was so profound from the beginning as to touch her very essence.

Theophanes of Nicea, a Byzantine author of the fourteenth century writes: “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” (“Discourse on the Mother of God”, 30). This is the real reason why Mary was ‘all holy’ from the first moment of her existence.

Mary was molded and made into a new creature by the Spirit. This “original holiness” of Mary was not something passive, however, because from the moment she became conscious of this she collaborated in a unique way with the Spirit to nurture that intense and profound union with God.

The Spirit guided Mary her entire life, especially in the most salient moments of her existence, just as he leads the children of God (cf Rom 8:14); and as he guided Jesus in the desert (cf Lk 4:1).

Ref: cf Theological-Historical Commission, “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”, 1997, pp80-81

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.

Ref: Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ (Editors), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p2080

Struggle -- “Humility and obedience are the indispensable conditions for acquiring good doctrine.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 132)

Our Lady -- “O Mother, Mother! With that word of yours, ‘Fiat’ -- ‘Be it done’ -- you have made us brothers of God and heirs to his glory. Blessed are you! (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 512)

• Our Lady of Ligny, near Bar le Duc in Lorraine. This image is very famous for the frequent miracles wrought there. — Triple Couronne, n. 57. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Ligny. Near “Bac-le-Duc”, Lorraine, France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html);(www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Ligny (Loraine, France) and Our Lady, Mother of Grace. (“Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia”, 1991, p630)
• Our Lady of Mentorello, Italy. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (“Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia”, 1991, p630)
• “Madonna della Mentorello”. Italy. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady, Virgin Mother of Grace. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Mother of Grace. Celebrated May 8 by the Augustinians. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Mother of Grace. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady "Mother of Grace" (Mentorella, Italy). (http://mariedenazareth.com)
• Mary, Virgin Mother of Grace. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)

• St Ephrem, deacon and Doctor of the Church: An orator and holy monk, he had a great devotion to Our Lady. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1544)