Day 1: The Spirit in the Church

The first day of the Holy Spirit Novena begins where the Apostles began: in the upper room of Jerusalem, in obedience to the Lord's instruction, waiting in prayer for the gift the Father had promised. We begin in this same disposition: we ask nothing yet of our particular intentions, but we open the heart to the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who is at work in the Church and in every baptized soul.

Today's invocation: Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today's meditation

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the Holy Spirit is "the third Person of the Blessed Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is consubstantial with them, and who has been bestowed on the Church by Christ" (CCC 685, 691). The Holy Spirit was at work in creation, in the prophets, and in the Incarnation itself: the Annunciation account in Luke 1:35 records the angel's word to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." The same Spirit who overshadowed Mary at the Incarnation overshadows every Catholic soul at Baptism, and the same Spirit who anointed Christ at the Jordan anoints every confirmed Christian as participant in the prophetic, priestly, and royal ministry of Christ.

The Apostles in the upper room knew this only in promise. They had received from the Lord the assurance: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). They did not yet know what the gift would be like; they only knew that it had been promised, that they were to wait, and that they were to wait in prayer with Mary and the women. We begin the novena in this same posture.

Today's intention

Bring to the Holy Spirit today the principal intention for which you are praying this novena. Be specific. Holy Spirit, I bring before You today this matter on which I am asking Your light and Your grace. Then ask for the broader gift: that the Holy Spirit would renew in your soul what was given at Baptism and Confirmation, and would prepare you to receive Him more fully on Pentecost.

Reflection

The Holy Spirit's work in the Catholic Church is comprehensive. The Catechism gives the principal categories: "the Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may bear much fruit" (CCC 737).

The Catholic faithful sometimes lose sight of how completely the Christian life is the Spirit's work. The reading of Scripture is the Spirit's gift (the Spirit who inspired the Scriptures inspires our reception of them). The reception of the sacraments is the Spirit's gift (each sacrament is the Spirit's effective sign of grace). The growth in virtue, the perseverance in trial, the love of neighbor, the love of God Himself: all of this is the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul that has been opened to receive Him. The novena is the season of asking that this work be intensified.

Closing prayers

Pray seven times each, in honor of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Come, Holy Spirit. Renew the face of the earth.