The First Novena

Detail of “Pentecost” by El Greco

The visible “sending” of the Holy Ghost, which is the special object of the solemnity of Pentecost, belongs to Jesus in His Divine Nature (as it belongs also to the Father) and on this account it enters into the cycle of the feasts of Our Divine Lord. Christ Jesus prayed for this mission. He said to His disciples at the Last Supper: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever.” (John 14:16). He promised to send this Consoler. “When the Advocate has come, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me… If I go, I will send Him to you.” (John 15:26:, 16:7) Jesus, moreover, merited this mission. By His prayer, as by His Sacrifice on the Cross, He obtained from the Father that the Holy Ghost should be given to us. Finally, the sending of the Holy Ghost to the Apostles has no other end than to achieve the establishment of His One, True Church. Jesus had founded this Church upon Peter, but He left to the Holy Ghost the care of bringing it to perfection after His Ascension into Heaven. The Coming of the Divine Spirit was to serve for the glorification of Jesus, for He would fill the Apostles with power whereby they should render testimony to Jesus everywhere, even to the four corners of the earth. It is because this mission of the Holy Ghost to the Apostles truly belongs to Our Lord that St. Paul calls the Holy Ghost “the Spirit of Christ,” “the Spirit of Jesus.”

It is from the gift of love from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the Father, that the Holy Ghost – the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity – proceeds, thus completing the Divine Life in God. For this reason, Holy Mother Church especially attributes to Him all the works of grace and sanctification. The work of the Holy Ghost, in the Church as in individual souls, is to lead all efforts for holiness to their end and perfection. Pentecost is to be renewed in our souls. Each increase of grace is like a new taking possession of our souls by the Holy Ghost, a new embrace of love. As a Divine Guest full of love and kindness, He comes to dwell within us. He remains in our souls as in His temple, to help, strengthen, and sanctify us. He will leave us only if we have mortal sin. But if we let ourselves be guided by Him through the grace and the teaching of Christ’s Holy Church, which He vivifies, He will make Jesus reign in us, and form Jesus in us by the gentle action of His powerful grace, for Our Lord said, “He will glorify Me, because He shall receive of what is Mine, and shall declare it to you.” (John 16:14)

The Novena for Pentecost is the first and most venerable of all novenas. It was instituted by Our Divine Lord Himself: “But wait here in the city, until you are clothed with power from on High.” (Luke 24:49) It was made, out of obedience, by Christ’s own dear Mother, the Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Ghost, whose ineffable beauty drew Him forth. Pope Leo XIII officially decreed an annual Novena before Pentecost in His encyclical on the Holy Ghost, Divinum Illud, of May 9, 1897.

Those who make the Novena in honour of the Holy Ghost, either before Pentecost or at any other time of the year, may gain an indulgence of seven years once on each day of the novena; a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions at the end of the novena.

Novena to the Holy Ghost

Pray especially starting on the day after Ascension Thursday, ending on the Pentecost

First Day:
Almighty and eternal God, Who hast vouchsafed to regenerate us by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given us forgiveness of all our sins, vouchsafe to send forth from heaven upon us Thy sevenfold Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and fill us with the Spirit of Holy Fear. Amen.