We ask you, humbly, to help.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

Day 8 - Novena to the Holy Spirit for a New Pentecost for the Church

Day 8 Novena Reflection

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read, "The Church is one because of her source: "the highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit."

The Church is one because of her founder: for "the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross,... restoring the unity of all in one people and one body."

The Church is one because of her "soul": "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church's unity."

"Unity is of the essence of the Church"

The Catechism quotes these words of a second century father of the Church, Clement of Alexandria:

"What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her "Church."

Free RCIA classes for Students and Catechists from Catholic Online School

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to bring healing to the divisions within the one Body of Christ and the divisions within the domestic church of the Christian family.

Come, Holy Spirit, source of healing and unity, MAKE US ONE.

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.