Carmelite Devotion to St Elijah, the Prophet - click to read

PRAYER TO ST. ELIJAH

Holy Prophet of God Elijah, Leader and Father of Carmelites, intercede

for us and for the salvation of all.

V: Pray for us, O holy Father Elijah.

R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we who believe that the Blessed Elijah Your Prophet and our Father was wonderfully carried up in a fiery chariot, may by his intercession be raised to the desire of heavenly things and rejoice in the society of Your saints. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

After: “Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints”

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New! Year for Priest under the patronage of St John Marie Vianney - click to read the Papal letter

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI proclaims special year for Priests commencing on 19th June 2009 till 19th June 2010 under the patronage of St John Mary Vianney. The year will mark also special celebration of the 150th Anniversary of St John Mary Vianney's death.

An encyclical Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia on St John Vianney written by Pope John XXIII in 1959.

Short biography by Dom Ernest Graft (Monk of Buckfast) - THE CURE OF ARS (ST. JEAN MARIE BAPTISTE VIANNEY, 1786-1859) 1952 edition available from EWTN library.

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Prayer for virtue with Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified - click to read more about her life

I saw a large flowerbed formed of several concentric circles. The first circle was planted with roses; the rose signifies charity and its thorns vigilance.

The second was covered with vines; the grape signifying love and the leaf mildness.

The third was sown with wheat, which signifies hope and confidence.

The center was all of violets, which signify true humility.
And in the center I made a throne, and I set Jesus upon it. And from under His feet comes a spring which says "Everything passes, everything flows by like water."

Beside the throne I plant pansies and ivy. The ivy says to me: "Cling to Jesus unceasingly." And the pansy says to me: "Think only of Jesus."

Lord Jesus, plant all these virtues in the depths of my heart, and by Your own power make them grow."

From "The Thoughts of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified"

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June, a month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love. ( Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)

Prayer suggestion for the month of June:

O Jesus, only Son of God, only Son of Mary,
I offer Thee the most loving Heart of Thy divine Mother
which is more precious and pleasing to Thee than all hearts.

O Mary, Mother of Jesus,
I offer Thee the most adorable Heart of Thy well-beloved Son,
who is the life and love and joy of Thy Heart.

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart
and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and the most glorious
Virgin Mary, His Mother,
in eternity and forever.
Amen. (St Eudes)

After 'Mary's Vitamin' 

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Praying for Priests with St Therese

St Therese founded the apostolate for priests with her novices when she was asked to serve as a spiritual sister for young seminarian, Maurice Belliere, and young priest, Adolphe Roulland. Both priests served Our Lord in dangerous missions, in Algier and China. St Therese in her apostolic zeal consecrated her life for priests, out of love for the souls they were to take care of. The year for priests came to the end, let us pray the beautiful prayer St Therese composed for priests, in particular, for missionaries. 

O my Jesus! I thank you for having fulfilled one of my greatest desires, that of having a brother, a peirst, an apostle...I feel unworthy of this favour. And yet, since you grant your little spouse the grace of working specially for the sanctification of a soul destined for the priesthood, I offer You joyfully all the prayers and sacrifices at my disposal. I ask you, O my God, not to look at what I am but what I should be and want to be, a religious wholly inflamed with Your love. You know, Lord, that my ambition is to make You know and loved. Now my desire will be realized. I can only pray and suffer, but the soul to whom You unite me by the sweet bonds of charity will go and fight in the plain to win hearts for You, while on the mountain of Carmel I will pray that You give him victory. Divine Jesus, hear the prayer I offer You for him who wants to be your Missionary. Keep him safe amid the dangers of the world. Make him feel increasingly the nothingness and vanity of passing things and the happiness of being able to despise them for Your love.  May he carry out his sublime apostolate on those around him. May he be an apostle worthy of Your Sacred Heart...

O Mary! gentle Queen of Carmel, it is to you that I entrust the soul of the future priest whose unworthy little sister I am. Teach him even now how lovingly you handled the Divine Child Jesus and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, so that one day he may go up to the Holy Altar and carry in his hands the King of Heaven.

I ask You also to keep him safe beneath the shadow of Your virginal mantle until the happy day when he leaves this valley of tears and can contemplate Your splendour and enjoy for all eternity the fruits of his glorious apostolate...Therese of Child Jesus, unworthy Carmelite religious.

From the letter of St Therese to Fr Adolphe:

Reverend Father,

I feel unworthy to be associated in a special way with one of the missionaries of our adorable Jesus, but since obedience entrusts me with this sweet task, I am assured my heavenly Spouse will make up for my feeble merits (upon which I in no way rely), and that He will listen to the desires of my soul by rendering fruitful apostolate. I shall be truly happy to work with You for the salvation of souls. it is for this purpose I became Carmelite nun; being unable to be an active missionary,  I wanted to be one through love and penance just like Saint Teresa, my seraphic Mother...I beg you, Reverend Father, ask for me from Jesus, on the day He deigns for the first time to descend from Heaven at your voice, ask Him to set me on fire with His Love so that I may enkindle it in hearts. For a long time I wanted to know an Apostle who would pronounce my name at the Holy Altar on the day of his first Mass....I wanted to prepare for him the sacred linens and the white host destined to veil the King of heaven...The God of Goodness has willed to realize my dream and to show me once again how pleased He is to grant the desires of souls who love Him alone.

After 'Praying for Priests with St Therese'

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Merciful Love and Returning Love for Love

"O Jesus, I know that Your Heart is more grieved by the thousand little imperfections of Your friends than by the faults, even grave, which Your enemies commit. Yet, it seems to me, that it is only when those who are Your own are habitually guilty of thoughtlessness and neglect to seek Your pardon, that You can say: 'These wounds which you see in the midst of My hands I have received in the house of those who love Me.' But Your Heart thrills with joy when You have to deal with all those who truly love, and who after each little fault come to fling themselves into Your arms, imploring forgiveness. You say to Your angels what the prodigal's father said to his servants: 'Put a ring upon his finger, and let us rejoice.' O Jesus, how little known is the merciful love of Your Heart!" (St Therese of Child Jesus, Letters, Councels and Souvenirs)

In the encyclicalAnnum Sacrum, Pope Leo XIII declares, "The Sacred Heart is the symbol and image of the infinite charity of Jesus Christ, the charity which urges us to give him love in return." Indeed, nothing is more able to arouse love than love itself. St Teresa of Jesus said: "Whenever we think of Christ, we should remember with what love He has bestowed all these favours upon us...for love begets love. And though we may be only beginners...let us strive ever to bear this in mind and awaken our own love" (Life, 22). The Church offers us the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to stir up our love and asks us "Who would not love Him who has loved us so much? Who among His redeemed would not love Him dearly?" (RB). Jesus said through the Prophet: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee" (Jer 31:30). Devotion to the Sacred Heart, which is devotion to the infinite love of Jesus, should produce this particular effect on us: it should give us an ever increasing comprehension of "the charity of Christ which surpasseth all knowledge" (Eph 3:19). Meditating and contemplating the Heart of Jesus pierced for love of us, may be the way to learn the science of love, a science which no book on earth can teach us, because it is a science that can be acquired only from the open book of the Heart of Christ, our one and only Teacher, as St John of the Cross said: "He thought me a science most delectable". Therefore, the answer to His love is easy: He "loved me and delivered Himself for me...and I most gladly will spent and be spent myself for Him and for the souls that are His treasure" (Gal 2:20, Cor 12:15). Behold the love that raises us above all calculation, all self-love.

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Every Priestly Vocation Passes through the Heart of the Blessed Virgin

We cannot live, we cannot look at the truth about ourselves without letting ourselves be looked at and generated by Christ in daily Eucharistic Adoration, and the Stabat of Mary, "Woman of the Eucharist," beneath her Son's Cross, is the most significant example of contemplation and adoration of the divine Sacrifice that has been given to us. ...the Holy Mother of God remains an indispensable foundation of the whole of priestly life. The relationship with her cannot be resolved in pious devotional practice but is nourished by ceaseless entrustment to the arms of the ever Virgin of the whole of our life, of our ministry in its entirety. Mary Most Holy also leads us, like John, beneath the Cross of her Son and Our Lord in order to contemplate, with her, God's infinite Love: "He who for us is Life itself descended here and endured our death and slew it by the abundance of his Life" (St Augustine, Confessions, IV, 12)....Pope St Pius X said: "Every priestly vocation comes from the heart of God but passes through the heart of a mother." This is true with regard to obvious biological motherhood but it is also true of the "birth" of every form of fidelity to the Vocation of Christ. We cannot do without a spiritual motherhood for our priestly life: Let us entrust ourselves confidently to the prayer of the whole of Holy Mother Church, to the motherhood of the People, whose pastors we are but to whom are entrusted our custody and holiness; let us ask for this fundamental support. ( Pope Benedict XVI's Message on the Day of Prayer for Priests for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, May 30, 2008.)

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Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - click to read

The Church invites us today to contemplate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the source and cause of all His gift to us, the source of His mercy. "Behold this Heart which has so loved men" said Jesus to St Margaret Mary. The Church repeats these words today, teaching us that it is truly "in the Heart of Jesus, wounded by our sins, that God has designed to give us the infinite treasures of His love" (Collect). "Cogitationes cordis ejus" we sing in the Introit meaning that "the thoughts of His Heart are to all generations: to deliver them from the death, to feed them in the time of famine". Indeed, the Heart of Our Lord is always in search of souls to save, to free from the snares of sin, to wash in His Blood, to feed with His Body. The Heart of Jesus is always living in the Eucharist to satisfy the hunger of all who long for Him, to welcome and console all those who, disillusioned by the vicissitudes of life, take refuge in Him, seeking peace and refreshemnt, the world cannot give. Jesus Himself is our support on the hard road of life: "Take up My yoke upon you and learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls". We cannot eliminate sorrows from our live; yet if we live for Jesus we can find in His Sacred Heart the repose for our weary soul. We may return our love through devotion to His Sacred Heart, for the principal object of this devotion is the love of Jesus, an uncreated love with which He, as the Word, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, loved us from all eternity, and from all eternity willed to become incarnate for our salvation. It is also the created love with which, as Man, He loved us even to the death of the Cross, meriting for us to love Him in return: "We have learned to recognize the love God has in our regard, to recognize it, and make it our belief"(1 John 4:16). Here we find the most profound significance of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Carmelite Saint, Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart had such a thorough understanding of this meaning that she made this devotion the center of her life. It was revealed in the process of her canonization that she "saw the Heart of Jesus as the center, the source of the love with which the divine Word, in the bosom of the Father, loved us from all eternity, and merited for us in time the power to love Him in return, on earth and in heaven, by our sharing in this love."

Let us pray with St Bonaveture: "O Jesus, by a divine decree, a soldier was permitted to pierce Your sacred side. As the blood and water came forth, the price of our salvation was poured forth, which flowing from the mysterious fountain of Your Heart, gives power to the Sacraments of the Church to bestow the life of grace, and becomes for those who live in You, a saving drink of living waters, bubbling up to life eternal. Arise, my soul, beloved of Christ, watch unceasingly, place your lips there, and quench your thirst in the Saviour's fount...What a joy for me! You and I have but one heart. Heaving found this divine Heart, which is Yours and mine, O Most sweet Jesus, I beseech You, O my God; receive my prayers in that sanctuary where You are attentive to them and, even more, draw me entirely into Your Heart"

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Beatification of Fr Jerzy Popieluszko - click for link

Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko was a Polish priest who was a staunch anti-communist and associated with the strikers of the Solidarity Union. In his sermons, he interwove spiritual exhortations with political messages, criticizing the Communist system and motivating people to protest. During the period of martial law in Poland, the Catholic church was the only force that could voice protest comparatively openly, with the regular celebration of Mass presenting opportunities for public gatherings in churches. Fr Popiełuszko's sermons were routinely broadcast by Radio Free Europe, and thus became famous throughout Poland for their uncompromising stance against the regime. Communist secret police (SB) tried to silence and intimidate him. When those techniques did not work, they fabricated evidence against him; he was arrested in 1983, but soon released on intervention of the clergy and pardoned by an amnesty.

Several months later, in October 13th, 1984, a car accident was set up to kill Jerzy Popiełuszko but he managed to escaped it. The alternative plan was to kidnap him, and it was carried out on October 19th, 1984. The priest was brutally beaten to death by three Security Police officers. Then, his body was dumped into the Vistula Water Reservoir near Włocławek from where it was recovered on October 30, 1984. The cult of Fr Popieluszko developed rapidly in Poland soon after his tragic death and he is venerated as a martyr. To read the post commemorating him click HERE

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The Invitation to the Banquet - Second Sunday after Pentecost

"A certain man made a great supper, and invited many" (Lk 14:16-24). This is God who makes the supper, the great supper is His Kingdom where souls will find full abundance of spiritual blessings while on earth, and eternal happiness in the next life. This is the real meaning of the parable, but we may also see in the supper and in the man preparing it, the figure of the Eucharistic banquet and of Jesus, inviting men to partake of His Flesh and Blood. The Church sings: "The table of the Lord is set for us, Wisdom [the Incarnate Word] has prepared the wine and laid the table" (Roman Breviary). Jesus Himself, when announcing the Eucharist, addressed His invitation to all: "I am the Bread of life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me, shall never thirst...Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die" (Jn 6:35.49.50). St John Chrysostom says: "He whom the angels look upon with fear, and dare not gaze upon steadfastly because of His dazzling splendour, becomes our Food; we are united to Him, and are made one body and one flesh with Christ" (Roman Breviary). Jesus could not offer man a more precious banquet than the Eucharist, yet, how do men answer His invitation? Many just shrug their shoulders, with skeptical smile on their lips: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Jn 6:53), others are too attached to earthly goods or pre-occupied with business affairs and refuse His invitation: "I have bought a farm and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee, hold me excused" "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them; I pray thee, hold me excused" they say. Others are so immerse in pleasures of senses, that they lost their taste for the things of the spirit, and go their way, not even asking to be excused.

All these excuses are for things that in the end vanish as quickly as mist before the sun and still are preferred to Christ's Gift, the Bread of Angels and the pledge of eternal life. But even those who follow Christ's invitation but accept it coldly, almost through force of habit, and they are those whom Christ has invited to follow Him and whom He has called by the sweet name of friend. How often Jesus finds the hearts of His friends filled with thousands thoughts, trifles, and wordily affections, while there is so little room for Him, the divine Guest! Yet, everything should be reserved for Him. Let us say sorry to our Beloved for every unnecessary and useless thought and trifle that took our heart and make us forget Him even while approaching the Banquet Table. And let us say how much we desire to love him and have Him always imprinted in our hearts.

Let us pray with St Augustine: "O Sacrament of mercy! O seal of unity! O bond of charity! He who wishes to live, finds the home and the dwelling where he can live. O Lord, I approach Your table with faith, there to become incorporated in You in order to be vivified by You" and "Grant, O Lord, that I may be inebriated with the riches of Your house, and let me drink from the torrent of Your delights. Since You are the fountain of life, there with You, and not elsewhere, is the source of my life. I will drink of it in order to live; I will not rely upon myself and be lost; I will not be satisfied with what I have and die of thirst; I will approach the source of the spring where the water never fails".

Based on 'Divine Intimacy' meditations.

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On Prayer With Our Lady

"God will never forget us and there is something you and I can always do. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus and his Holy Mother in our hearts, and share that joy with all we come in contact with." (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1994)

It is beautiful to gather and pray together. Perhaps you know two or three people who might be willing to pray the Holy Rosary in a group with you. You could sing as part of your praying, or rest in silence in contemplative prayer between decades. Group prayer does not require everyone to be spontaneous with prayer intentions or to pray aloud. "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Mt 18:20).

After 'A Moment with Mary'
Picture of Mary in prayer by Albrecht Durer

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...Our Lady accompanies us every day in our prayer. In his last Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, our beloved Pope John Paul II presented her to us as "Woman of the Eucharist" throughout her life (cf. 53).

"Woman of the Eucharist" through and through, beginning with her inner disposition: from the Annunciation, when she offered herself for the Incarnation of the Word of God, to the Cross and to the Resurrection; "Woman of the Eucharist" in the period following the Pentecost, when she received in the Sacrament that Body that she had conceived and carried in her womb... (Pope Benedict XVI "Marian Thoughts")

Credits: text after 'A Moment with Mary', the picture represents main altar in St James' Cathedral in Innsbruck with miraculous image of Our Lady with the Child by Lucas Cranach .

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Feast of Corpus Christi - click to read

Devotion to the Sacred Heart should bring us to a life of intimate union with Jesus who, we know, is truly present and living in the Eucharist. The two devotions - to the Sacred Heart  and to the Eucharist - are closely connected. The Sacred Heart explains the mystery of the love of Jesus by which he becomes bread in order to nourish us with His substance, while in the Eucharist we have the real presence of the same Heart living in our midst. It is wonderful to contemplate this Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His infinite love, but it is even more wonderful to find Him always near us in the Sacrament of the altar. Jesus lives not only in heaven where His sacred humanity dwells in glory, but He lives also on earth wherever the Eucharist is reserved. In speaking of the Eucharist, Our Lord says to us: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt 28:20). In Holy Communion, then, this Heart beats within us, it touches our heart; through the love of this Heart, we are fed with His Flesh and with His Blood, so that we may abide in Him and He in us. "In the Eucharist," says Benedict XV, "this divine Heart governs us and loves us by living and abiding with us, so that we may live and abide in Him, because in this Sacrament.....He offers and gives Himself to us as victim, companion, viaticum and the pledge of future glory." Jesus said: "He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh my Blood abideth in Me and I in him" (Jn 6:57). The word "abideth" means that our union with the divinity of Christ does not cease after the sacred species are consumed. The three divine Persons dwell continually in souls in the state of grace; but there is also a certain enduring union with Jesus' sacred humanity, even when Christ is no longer substantially present in the one who has received Holy Communion, He is there by the influence of His operative presence and by the effusion of His grace. (Fragments from "The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist" - Ven Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, OCD)

Encyclicals on the Holy Eucharist were written by Pope Leo XIII Mirae Caritatis and Pope Paul VI Mysterium Fidei

Homilies of Pope Benedict XVI on the solemnity of the Corpus Christ may be read HERE and HERE

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May and devotions to Our Blessed Lady

St John Berchmans SJ, when asked what devotion would be most agreeable to Our Blessed Lady, replied: 'Any devotion, however small, provided it is constant'

St Louis de Montfort says: If we desire a ripe and perfectly formed fruit, we must possess the tree that bears it. If we desire the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, we must possess the tree of life which is Mary. If we desire to have the Holy Spirit working within us, we must possess his faithful and inseparable spouse, Mary the divinely- favoured one whom, as I have said elsewhere, he can make fruitful. (Treatise on  True Devotion to Mary)

After 'Mary's Vitamin' and 'A Moment with Mary', respectively
Vintage holy card, circa 1700, from Westfries Museum collection, Belgium

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Feast of the Queenship of Mary with St Mary Magdalene dei Pazzi

O Mary, anyone who looks at you is comforted in any anxiety or tribulations or pain, and is victorious over any temptation. Anyone who does not know something about God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who does not find mercy in God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone whose will is not in conformity, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who falters on account of weakness, let him have recourse to you who are all strong and powerful. Anyone in constant struggle, let him have recourse to you who are a tranquil sea...Whoever is tempted,...let him have recourse to you, who are the mother of humility, and nothing drives away the devil more than humility. Let them, one and all, have recourse to you, O Mary! (Colloquies)

To read previous post dedicated to St Mary Magdalene dei Pazzi, please click HERE

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The Mystery of the Trinity

"O incomprehensible God, Your greatness is eternal, and Your goodness ineffable. I see the three divine Persons flowing one into another in an indescribable, inscrutable way, and I rejoice in this sight. The Father flows into the Son, the Son into the Father, and the Father and the Son flow into the Holy Spirit. Eternal God, You are unspeakably good, You who, out of goodness, communicate to a creature, aware of its nothingness, some knowledge of Your eternal Being; but although this communication is wonderful, it might be called in all truth a mere nothing, in comparison with what You really are. " (St Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi)

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the mystery of God's intimate life, and as creatures we had no right to know it. However, God in His goodness, has willed to raise us to the dignity of sons, of friends, therefore, He made it known to us, not by the Prophets, but by His only begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is one with Him. The Son of God said: "I will not now call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you" (John 15:15). The "all things" is precisely the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity which Jesus, the Son of God, has seen and heard in the bosom of the Father. The Evangelist says: "No man hath ever seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1:18). Jesus came to reveal to us the mystery of the intimate life of God; He spoke of Himself as the Son of God, equal to the Father in all things: "He that sees me, seeth the Father also," because "I am in the Father and the Father [is] in Me" (John 14: 9,11). He spoke to us of the Holy Spirit, without Whom we cannot attain eternal life: "Unless a man be born again of the water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" (John 3:5), and He promised us that He Himself, with the Father, would send us the Spirit who proceeds both from Him, the Word, and from the Father: "It is expedient to you that I go, For...if I go, I will send  Him to you" (John 16:7); "I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete....the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16). By repeating these words, Jesus teaches us that it is good for us to fix our gaze on the sublime mystery of the Blessed Trinity: to admire, to praise, and to return love to this One Triune God, who loves us so much that he wishes to bring us into the secrecy of His own intimate life.

Let us pray with St Catherine of Siena: "O Eternal Trinity! Who can reach You to thank You for the incomprehensible gifts and unlimited favours You have showered upon me, as well as for the doctrine of the truth You have taught me? Answer me, O Lord!...Enlighten me with Your grace, so that by this very light, I may thank You."

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The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is the plenitude of God's gift to men. On Christmas Day, God gives us His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus, the Mediator, the Bridge connecting humanity and divinity. During Holy Week, Jesus, by His Passion, gives Himself entirely to us, even to death on the Cross. He bathes us, purifying and sanctifying us in His Blood. At Easter, Christ rises, and His Resurrection, as well as His Ascension, is the pledge of our own glorification. He goes before us to His Father's house to prepare a place for us, for in Him and with Him, we have become a part of the divine Family; we have become children of God, destined for eternal beatitude. But the gift of God to men does not end there; having ascended into heaven, Jesus, in union with the Father, sends us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Holy Spirit loved us to the point of giving us the Word so loved us as to give us the Holy Spirit. Thus the three Persons of the Trinity give Themselves to man, stooping to this poor nothing to redeem him from sin, to sanctify him, and to bring him into Their own intimacy. Descending upon the Apostles under the form of tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit shows us how He, the Spirit of love, is given to us in order to transform us by His charity, and having transformed us, to lead us back to God. Our supernatural life has developed under the action of the Holy Spirit; it is caught up in the life-giving transforming current of His love. In this way we understand how the Feast of Pentecost can and should represent a new out-pouring of the Holy Spirit in our souls, a new visit in which he fills us with his gifts:

Veni Creator Spiritus - mentus tuorum visita,

Imple superna gratia - que to creasti pectora,

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,

And in our hearts take up Thy rest,

Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid,

To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

Let us pray with Sr Carmela of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D: "Come, O life-giving Spirit, to this poor world and renew the face of the earth; preside over new organizations and give us Your peace, that peace which the world cannot give. Help Your Church, give her holy priests and fervent apostles. Fill with holy inspirations the souls of the good; give calm compunction to sinful souls, consoling refreshment to the suffering, strength and help to those who are tempted, and light to those in darkness and in the shadow of death"

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Today we start Novena to the Holy Ghost for the Seven Gifts - click to pray

The novena in honor of the Holy Ghost 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 Ghost 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.

How to pray the Novena

Each day the meditation and prayer for the particular day is said, followed by one (1) Our Father, one (1) Hail Mary and seven (7) Glory be to the Fathers, the Act of Consecration and the Prayer for the Seven Gifts. (From Novena's text)

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Pentecost 1883, Our Lady's smile

One Sunday, during the novena (Whit Sunday, 1883), Marie went into the garden, leaving me with Leonie, who was reading near the window. After a few minutes, I began to call softly: "Marie! Marie!" Leonie, accustomed to hear me moan like that, paid no attention, so I called louder, until Marie came back to me. I saw her come into the room quite well, but, at first, I did not recognize her. I looked around myself. I glanced anxiously into the garden, still calling: "Marie! Marie!"

What unutterable anguish that forceful struggle was, and Marie perhaps suffered even more than her poor little Therese. Finally, after vain efforts to make me recognize her, she whispered a few words to Leonie, and went away pale and trembling.

Soon my dear Leonie carried me to the window. There I saw the garden, but still I did not recognize Marie, who walked slowly, held out her arms, smiling at me, and calling me tenderly: "Therese, dear little Therese!" That last attempt failed again, my dear sister came in again and knelt at the foot of my bed in tears. She turned towards the statue of Our Lady, and pleaded her with the fervor of a mother who begs for her child's life. Leonie and Celine joined Marie in prayer, and that cry of faith forced open the gates of Heaven.

I too turned to my Heavenly Mother, finding no relief on earth and nearly dead with pain, begging Our Lady from the bottom of my heart to have pity on me.  Suddenly, the statue came to life! The Virgin became very beautiful, so divinely beautiful that I shall never find words to describe her. The expression of Our Lady's face radiated an ineffable gentleness, goodness, and tenderness, but what touched me to the very depths of my soul was her gracious smile. Then, all my pain vanished; two big tears welled up in my eyes and flowed silently.

Ah, they were indeed tears of unmixed heavenly joy. "Our Blessed Lady has come to me, she has smiled at me. How happy I am, but I shall tell no one, or my happiness might disappear!" Such were my thoughts. Then, without any effort, I lowered my eyes, and I recognized my darling Marie. She looked lovingly at me, seemed very agitated, and she appeared as if she doubted the grace that I had just received.

Ah, indeed thanks to her prayers I had received the most unfathomable favor - a smile from the Blessed Virgin! Seeing my eyes fixed on the statue, she said to herself: "Therese is cured!" Yes, it was true. The Little Flower had come back to life again - a bright ray from Our Lady's glorious Sun had warmed and set her free forever from her cruel enemy. "The dark winter is past, the rain is over and gone," and the Virgin Mary's Little Flower became so strong that five years later she opened wide her petals on the fertile mountain of Carmel. (Story of the Soul, ch. 3)

 credit: after A Moment with Mary

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The Holy Spirit, sweet Guest of the Soul

In the encyclical 'Mystici Corporis' Pope Pius XII says 'the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church', and because soul means 'principle of life', therefore, the divine Paraclete is the One who gives life to the Church. As the soul is the principle of life in the body, so the Holy Spirit is the principle of life in the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit was in Christ's soul to direct Him in accomplishment of His redemptive mission, because Jesus wished the Church to participate in it. Since the Church continues Christ's work, she needs the same impetus which guided His soul; she needs the Holy Spirit. Jesus merited His Spirit for us on the Cross; by His death, He atoned for all sin, the obstacle to the action of the Holy Spirit, and when He had ascended into heaven, He sent Him to the Apostles, who represented the whole Church. Now, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, He intercedes continually for us, he is always sending the Holy Spirit to the Church, as He promised. The Holy Spirit operates in the Church, just as He once did in the blessed soul of Christ. He gives her impulse, moves her, and drives her to accomplish God's will, thus enabling her to fulfill His mission, the continuation down through the ages of the redemptive work of Christ. As we read in the encyclical Mystici Corporis, the Holy Spirit "is communicated to the Church abundantly, so that she herself and each one of her members may become, day by day, more like our Redeemer". Thus, the Holy Spirit exercises His influence not only in the Body of the Church, but also in each soul in which He dwells as the "sweet Guest". But if the Holy Spirit is an impulse of love that comes into us to sanctify us and bring us to God, why do we not all become saints? The Holy Spirit, with the Father and the Son, has created us free beings and he wishes us so; therefore, in coming to us, He respects our liberty and does no violence to it. He enters our soul and posses it only when we give Him free access. As St Teresa of Jesus liked to insists: "God does not force anyone, He takes what we give Him, but He does not give Himself wholly to us, until we give ourselves wholly to Him" (Way, 28). If our will would open the doors wide, the Holy Spirit would take us under His direction, and, with His help, we would become saints.

Let us pray with St John Eudes: "O Divine Spirit, I give myself entirely to You. Take possession of my soul. direct me in everything, and grant that I may live as a true child of God; grant that, born of You, I may totally belong to You, be totally possessed, animated, and directed by You"

credit: based on 'Divine Intimacy' meditaitons

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