Day 7 - Novena to the Holy Spirit for a New Pentecost for the Church

Day 7 Novena Reflection

On the Solemnity of Pentecost in May of 1986, St John Paul II issued an encyclical letter on the Holy Spirit called "The Lord and Giver of Life".

In a section discussing the teaching of Jesus on the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John, John Paul wrote,

"In transmitting the Good News, the Apostles will be in a special way associated with the Holy Spirit."

THEY STILL ARE

He then reminded us that Jesus taught,

"When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning...."

John Paul continued,

"In the witness of the Spirit of truth, the human testimony of the Apostles will find its strongest support... it will also find therein the hidden foundation of its continuation among the generations of Christ's disciples and believers who succeed one another down through the ages."

We are numbered among those believers now. This is the Third Millennium of Christianity.

The ministry of the Apostles continues, in and through the Church that Jesus founded.

We don't really leave that Church when we leave the church building on the Lords Day.

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

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We live our lives in that Church, as members of the Body of Jesus Christ. He lives His life now, through us.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to baptize the Whole Christian Church anew in the Holy Spirit, including the domestic church of the Christian family.

May we become the witnesses so desperately needed in a barren age which has lost its soul.

Come Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church.

Novena Prayer to the Holy Spirit for a New Pentecost for the Church

Beloved Father, through the life, death and resurrection of your only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, we have become your adopted sons and daughters.

Through Baptism we are now members of His Body, the Church.

Our Savior Jesus taught us that "whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

We thank you that promise includes each one of us.

As members of the family of Jesus we now turn to you in prayer.

Before He ascended to you, Jesus told His early followers to wait in Jerusalem, seeking the outpouring of Holy Spirit. They did as he directed, gathering together with the Mother of the Lord.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell upon them all, clothing them with power - and equipping them to continue the work and ministry of Jesus Christ.

This once frightened group of men and women then "turned the world upside down with their message." (Acts 17:6)

Led by the Holy Spirit, they left the upper room, and went into the whole world. They proclaimed the Gospel, and did what Jesus did, spreading and revealing His Kingdom.

We ask now for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church in this age, a New Pentecost.

Too often we have acted like the disciples who Paul met in Ephesus who "never even heard that there was a Holy Spirit". (Acts 1)

Come Holy Spirit, come into the Church of Jesus Christ and Awaken her! Fill her Bishops, priests, deacons, ministers - and all her leaders - afresh.

Baptize the whole Body of Christ. Heal the divisions within the Body of Christ.

Come Holy Spirit, Come. Send forth your Fire on the earth!

We also ask for a fresh outpouring on the domestic church of the Christian family.

In an age rejecting the truth of Gods loving plan for the family, Holy Spirit, transform Christian families into a sign of the Kingdom, through your power. Make them into the little platoons which will lead a great Awakening of Christianity and turn the world upside down.