It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s and converted to the Catholic faith (I’ll tell you more about that someday) that I even heard the word, “Novena”. There’s nothing mysterious about it, though, it’s just a nine-day prayer. The Novena that starts today is in honor of the Holy Spirit and it ends on Pentecost. (Pentecost, in case you don’t know, is the day we celebrate when Jesus sent His Holy Spirit down onto His followers, just as He said He would, which happened 50 days after His resurrection.)
More about this Novena:
“The novena in honor of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas since it was first made at the direction of Our Lord Himself when He sent His apostles back to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. It is still the only novena officially prescribed by the Church. Addressed to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the light and strength and love so sorely needed by every Christian.”
I’ll share part of an email with you that I sent to our bible study friends.
“Anyone want to pray this with me? I’m starting today with Mass and beginning this Novena, I’ll be praying that God will help me through a bit of a spiritual funk I’ve been in lately. Crap. Why is my first thought to pray something for myself? Scratch that. Instead I’ll just be praying the Novena, period, not with any special request. I’ll try letting God be God for a change!”
I hope you’ll comment and let me know if you’re in, too, it will be good to know who else is praying it along with me. (Kent and our friend, David, are in, hopefully you are, too!)
Novena in honor of the Holy Spirit.
photo credit, Creative Commons 2.0
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