Day 9: The Fruits of the Spirit

The ninth and last day of the Holy Spirit Novena, the eve of Pentecost in the traditional reckoning, turns from the seven Gifts to the twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit. The Gifts are infused dispositions by which the soul is made responsive to the Spirit's promptings; the Fruits are the visible effects of the Spirit's work in the soul, the harvest of grace that the Spirit produces over the seasons of the Catholic life. Today we give thanks for the harvest already given and ask for its increase.

Today's invocation

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. Amen.

Today's meditation

Saint Paul, in the Letter to the Galatians, names the principal Fruits of the Holy Spirit: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). The Catholic Latin tradition, reading the same passage with additional fruits supplied by the Vulgate, lists twelve: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church preserves this twelve-fold list at paragraph 1832.

The Fruits are the external sign of the Spirit's internal work. A soul deeply formed by the Holy Spirit, even if quiet and hidden, will manifest these qualities in the daily life: in conversation, in the bearing of difficulties, in the love of family and neighbor, in the patience under provocation, in the joy that does not depend on outward circumstance. The Catholic faithful are sometimes able to identify, by the presence or absence of the Fruits, where the Holy Spirit has been at work and where the soul has been resisting Him.

Today's intention and act of thanksgiving

Today, before bringing your final intention to the Holy Spirit, give thanks for the Fruits of the Spirit that are already present in your life. Be specific. Even in the most difficult season of the spiritual life, there is some fruit: some quiet joy, some patience that did not come from your natural temperament, some peace in the midst of the day's worry. Name the fruits you can recognize and thank the Holy Spirit for them.

Then bring your principal intention to the Spirit one final time, with thanksgiving for the work He has done in you over the nine days of the novena. Holy Spirit, I give You thanks for the work of these nine days. Whatever You have begun in me, complete it on the day of Pentecost. Renew Your gifts in my soul. Make Your fruits abundant in my life. I commit my intention to Your unfailing care.

Reflection

The novena ends, but the Spirit's work continues. The Catholic faithful do not pray the Holy Spirit Novena once and consider the matter complete; they pray it annually before Pentecost, and the cumulative effect of many years of the same novena is the slow, deep formation of the soul in the Spirit's presence. Many Catholics keep the simple invocation Veni Sancte Spiritus as a daily prayer, and many add the brief invocation Come, Holy Spirit at the start of any difficult conversation or significant decision throughout the year.

The Acts of the Apostles gives us the picture of what the Holy Spirit produces in a community deeply formed by Him: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:44-47). The Catholic Church in every age is called to be this kind of community. The novena's prayer is, ultimately, that the Holy Spirit would form us into this kind of Church in our own time.

Pentecost is at hand

If you are praying this novena in the traditional time (between Ascension and Pentecost), tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday, the great feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the universal Catholic Church. Make a good preparation for Pentecost: confession in the days surrounding the feast, attentive reception of Holy Communion at the Mass of Pentecost, the praying of the Veni Creator Spiritus on the morning of the feast.

For other novenas in the Catholic tradition, see the novenas hub. For the broader theological context, see the Communion of Saints and the Apostles' Creed.

Closing prayers

Pray seven times each: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Come, Holy Spirit. Renew the face of the earth. Renew our lives in Your sevenfold gift. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.