Prayers for Pentecost

Act of Consecration to the Holy Ghost

On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself soul and body to Thee, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Thy purity, the unerring keenness of Thy justice, and the might of Thy love. Thou art the Strength and Light of my soul. In Thee I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve Thee by unfaithfulness to grace, and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against Thee. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Thy light and listen to Thy voice and follow Thy gracious inspirations. I cling to Thee and give myself to Thee and ask Thee by Thy compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore Thee Adorable Spirit, helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Thy grace that I may never sin against Thee. Give me grace O Holy Ghost, Spirit of the Father and the Son, to say to Thee always and everywhere, Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, Creator Blest (Veni, Creator Spiritus)

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O comforter, to Thee we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;
Thou, finger of God's hand we own;
Thou, promise of the Father, Thou
Who dost the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our sense from above,
and make our hearts o'erflow with love;
with patience firm and virtue high
the weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread,
and grant us Thy peace instead;
so shall we not, with Thee for guide,
turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
the Father and the Son to know;
and Thee, through endless times confessed,
of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven. Amen.

Note: There is an indulgence associated with the above prayer.

Prayer for the Help of the Holy Ghost by Saint Anthony of Padua

O God, send forth your Holy Ghost into my heart that I may perceive, into my mind that I may remember, and into my soul that I may meditate. Inspire me to speak with piety, holiness, tenderness and mercy. Teach, guide and direct my thoughts and senses from beginning to end. May your grace ever help and correct me, and may I be strengthened now with wisdom from on high, for the sake of your infinite mercy. Amen. 

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The Solemnity of Pentecost!

Today is one of the most holy days in the year - Pentecost Sunday (also known as Whit Sunday)! As the Catholic Dictionary of Fr. John Hardon summarizes, today's holy day "commemorat[es] the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles. It takes its name from the fact that it comes about fifty days after Easter. The name was originally given to the Jewish Feast of Weeks, which fell in the fiftieth day after Passover, when the first fruits of the corn harvest were offered to the Lord (Deuteronomy 16:9), and later on the giving of the law to Moses was celebrated."

Our celebration is based on a greater gift than that of the Two Tables of the Law to Moses - today we celebrate the Apostles and Our Lady receiving God Himself - the Holy Ghost. As the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 1, illustrates, there were 120 people praying for the Holy Ghost. And just as the heavens opened and a dove descended in the Baptism of Jesus, the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary at Pentecost. How truly remarkable and breathtaking it would have been if we were there to see tongues of fire falling from the sky. But that is what happens to each of us, though invisibly, at our own Confirmation. The same Spirit is within those that have been confirmed in the Catholic Church. We have the Holy Ghost and we have the responsibility to go out and be beacons of the light of Christ, just like the Apostles did.

The word "Pentecost" means "fifty days" because today's celebration is fifty days after the celebration of the Lord's triumphant Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Pentecost, traditionally after the completion of its Octave, officially ends the Season of Pascaltide.  There is a Plenary Indulgence available today.

Dom Gueranger provides us with this account of the liturgy of Pentecost Sunday:

The Christian Pentecost, prefigured by the ancient one of the Jews, is of the number of the feasts that were instituted by the apostles. As we have already remarked, it formerly shared with Easter the honour of the solemn administration of Baptism. Its octave, like that of Easter, and for the same reason, ended with the Saturday following the feast. The catechumens received Baptism on the night between Saturday and Sunday. So that the Pentecost solemnity began on the vigil, for the neophytes at once put on their white garments: on the eighth day, the Saturday, they laid them aside. 

In the middle-ages, the feast of Pentecost was called by the beautiful name of ‘The Pasch of roses,’ just as the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension was termed the ‘Sunday of roses’. The colour and fragrance of this lovely flower were considered by our Catholic forefathers as emblems of the tongues of fire, which rested on the heads of the hundred and twenty disciples, and poured forth the sweet gifts of love and grace on the infant Church. The same idea suggested the red-coloured vestments for the liturgical services during the whole octave. In his Rational (a work which abounds in most interesting information regarding the mediæval liturgical usages), Durandus tells us that, in the thirteenth century, a dove was allowed to fly about in the church, and flowers and lighted tow were thrown down from the roof, during the Mass on Whit Sunday; these were allusions to the two mysteries of Jesus’ baptism, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost.

When we read the Old Testament we realize that it mirrors and foreshadows the New Covenant in Christ. In the Old Testament, Jews celebrated Pentecost as the important feast to commemorate Moses receiving from God the Tablets of the Law.  Yet, for us who are Christians, we celebrate today an even greater gift - receiving the Third Person of the Trinity, God Himself, into our souls!

And the account of the Descent of the Holy Ghost holds another important lesson - prayer is necessary. After praying fervently for nine days did Mary and the apostles receive the gift from on high. And it was when Jesus was praying after His baptism that the Heavens opened. And it was during prayer when Jesus was transfigured on Mt. Tabor. Today we recall that the Holy Ghost descended during prayer. Let us keep the importance of prayer in mind. Prayer is after all necessary for salvation.

It was through the Spirit that the Apostles, the men that ran in fear during the Crucifixion, were given the courage to bring Jesus Christ to the whole world. They would not just bring Him to the people of Judea but to Gentiles (i.e. non-Jews) - to the whole world.

Pentecost also shows us the reversal of Babel as The Church's Year of Grace by Father Pius Parsch explains:

One final question: why the miracle of tongues? In answer, recall the story regarding the tower of Babel. Puffed up by pride, men attempted to build a tower that would touch the heavens. To punish their sin, God confused their speech. Sin causes confusion and division. Now Christ came to gather all men into His Church and thereby to unite them to Himself. This should result in creating but one family of nations again. To this blessed state the miracle of tongues points. Yes, even we as individuals have a gift of tongues which all men can understand. It is the gift of love infused into us by the Holy Spirit. Love unites, love is a common language, by means of love we can speak to all nations.

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Begin the Original Novena

Today is the start of the Novena leading up to Pentecost. It is called the original Novena because the first novena in history was of the apostles and Mary praying for 9 days for the Holy Ghost leading up to Pentecost.

The following is taken from EWTN:

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true disciples and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.

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