Mary’s most precious gift for her children has to do with the Spirit.Pentecost Novena, Day 8
Introductory Prayer:
Come, O Holy Spirit: enlighten my understanding in order that to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; enkindle my will … I have heard your voice, and I don’t want to harden my heart and resist, saying “later … tomorrow.” Nunc coepi! Now! Lest there be no tomorrow for me!
O, Spirit of truth and wisdom, Spirit of understanding and counsel, Spirit of joy and peace! I want what you want, I want it because you want it, I want it as you want it, I want it when you want it.
Reflection:
Perhaps the quickest way to grow in love for and openness to the Holy Spirit is by asking Our Lady for help. Spiritual writer Jacques Philippe, in his book In the School of the Holy Spirit, has this to say:
Mary’s whole life was a perfect act of consent to all the operations of the Spirit in her, and this led her to a more and more ardent and ever higher degree of love. … I think that of all the gifts that Mary grants to those who recognize themselves as her children, and who “take her into their own homes” following the example of St. John, the most precious is a share in her total availability to grace, her capacity to let herself be led by the Holy Spirit without resisting.
Closing 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.
These prayers are taken from the Holy Spirit devotion of St. Josemaria
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Father Cantalamessa: If Mary was tempted, it was above all beneath the Cross
According to St. Luke, Jesus ascended into heaven after “appearing to [the apostles] during forty days” (Acts 1:3) after his Resurrection. This means that the time between Jesus’ ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is nine days (not including the day of Jesus’ ascension). Many Christians through the ages have seen these nine days of prayer as a model, and thus developed devotions that consist of nine days (or months, or even hours) of prayer for a specific intention or to a particular saint. This number was seen as divinely inspired and so “novenas” (from the Latin word, novem, meaning “nine”), were viewed as a uniquely powerful way to pray.
