Preparing Our Hearts for Pentecost
Dear Parish Family and Friends,
I pray for Christ’s joy for you as we journey the final few weeks of the Easter Season!
Outside, the days are getting increasingly more beautiful, while the Church begins to direct us intently towards Pentecost on May 24. In the final weekend beforehand, we celebrate the Ascension of Christ.
Even though Jesus is leaving His disciples to ascend back to heaven, He promises a still greater grace: the coming of the Holy Spirit, who will not merely be around us, but Who will dwell within our very beings! Jesus commands them to pray and wait for the Spirit’s coming, and after those 9 fearful days of prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit falls upon them with consuming love and power, animating them and propelling them forward to proclaim the Gospel (even to death!) with unshakable joy.
For the past 2000 years, the Holy Spirit has continued to move us forward in our mission, and each year, the joyful urgency presses upon us afresh: We need more of the animating power and love of the Holy Spirit!
Please pray with me in these final days of preparation for Pentecost.
I am inviting everyone to please join me this week in praying the Church's very first novena, the Novena to the Holy Spirit. It is the most ancient novena in the Christian tradition, and the only one requested in scripture by Jesus Himself. To my knowledge, it is also the only novena formally prescribed by the Church for us to pray.
My favorite version is available at ewtn.com - search "Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts," or go directly to: www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-309
The novena runs from Friday, May 15 through Saturday, May 23, the Vigil of Pentecost. If you are reading this for the first time after the May 15, feel free to do a quick catch up and join in for the remaining days. (See chart below for reference)
Dear family, Pentecost is not merely a feast we observe. It is an encounter with living God for which we are asked to fervently prepare. Please join me, after the model of the first disciples, in these days prayer (and yes, even a loving fast as you are so led!), invoking the Holy Spirit to pour out on us afresh.
Come, Holy Spirit!
Fr John Rumpza
Please see the following chart for when to pray each day of the Pentecost Novena!
Day 1 - Friday, May 15: Fear of the Lord
Day 2 - Saturday, May: 16 Piety
Day 3 - Sunday, May: 17 Fortitude
Day 4 - Monday, May: 18 Knowledge
Day 5 - Tuesday, May: 19 Understanding
Day 6 - Wednesday, May 20: Counsel
Day 7 - Thursday, May 21: Wisdom
Day 8 - Friday, May 22: Renewal of All Gifts
Day 9 - Saturday, May 23: Preparation for Pentecost
(Vigil)Pentecost Sunday - May 24!