May 24, 2023 Reflection – Novena to the Holy Spirit Day 6
Novena to the Holy Spirit, Day 6 May 24, 2023 Dear Family of Mary!Novena to the Holy Spirit, Day 6 Our Lady speaks about the Spirit’s plan for each of us: May 25, 1998 “Dear children! Today I call you, through prayer and sacrifice, to prepare yourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Little children, this is a time of grace and so, again, I call you to decide for God the Creator. Allow Him to transform and change you. May your heart be prepared to listen to, and live, everything which the Holy Spirit has in His plan for each of you. Little children, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you on the way of truth and salvation towards eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call.” In this message, Our Lady makes it very clear that we need to be led by the Holy Spirit into the plan that the Father has for each one of us. We have been created by God to be a gift! Our life is a gift to us! And who we are as a person is a gift to our families, our communities and our world. Each one of us has been given a certain array of qualities and abilities that shape how we can be a gift for others. But we have also been given free will! So it is important that we seek the plan that God has for each one of us, so that we can be that gift of love, just like Jesus was. The Holy Spirit can lead us in that process, that plan for our lives, if we ask Him to come and guide us. But we must pray, and prepare ourselves, as Our Lady says, for the Holy Spirit to speak to us about it! He will speak! He comes to dwell in our hearts, and can become our most welcome guest, the one who travels with us on the road to holiness and love. The Holy Spirit knows that plan for our lives, and He can lead us on “the way of truth and salvation towards eternal life” if we ask Him to do it! Jesus ascended so that the Holy Spirit could come and do just that! He will come to show us the plan for our life! The Paraclete, the Fount of Love (A prayer by St. John Henry Newman) My God, I adore You, as the Third Person of the Ever-Blessed Trinity, under the name and designation of Love. You are that Living Love, wherewith the Father and the Son love each other. And You are the Author of supernatural love in our hearts. “Fons vivus, ignis, charitas.” (Fount of life, fire and love!) As a fire You came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost; and as a fire You burn away the dross of sin and vanity in the heart and light up the pure flame of devotion and affection. It is You who unite heaven and earth by showing to us the glory and beauty of the Divine Nature, and making us love what is in Itself so winning and transporting. I adore You, O uncreated and everlasting Fire, by which our souls live, by which alone they are made fit for heaven. Amen The Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, didst promise to send the Holy Ghost to finish Thy work in the souls of Thy Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me, that He may perfect in my soul the work of Thy grace and Thy 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 Thy 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 Thee, 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, 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 Thy true disciples and animate me in all things with Thy Spirit. Amen. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c)Mary TV 2023