The original Novena
For nine days before Pentecost the Church prays Veni Creator Spiritus… All novenas – intense prayers for nine days concerning a special petition – have their origin in the original novena of the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary praying together in Jerusalem after Jesus, on the Mount of Olives, ascended to the right hand of the Father. He had been “appearing to them for forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God“ (Acts 1: 3) after His Crucifixion and Resurrection and had “commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father promised – which, He said, ‘you heard from Me. For John immersed with water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach ha-Kodesh not many days from now‘“ (Acts 1: 4-5).
“Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Shabbat day‘s journey). When they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying – Peter and John and Jacob and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; Jacob son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judah son of Jacob. All these with one mind were continuing together in prayer – along with the women and Miriam, Yeshua‘s mother, and His brothers.“
Acts 1: 12-14
Veni Creator Spiritus… Come Creator Spirit…
The presence and promises of the Holy Spirit in salvation history
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the surface of the water.“
Genesis 1: 1-2
“Then ADONAI Elohim formed the man out of the dust from the ground and He breathed into his nostrils a breath of life – so the man became a living being.“
Genesis 2: 7
“Disfigured by sin and death, man remains ‘in the image of God,‘ in the image of the Son, but is deprived ‘of the glory of God,‘ of his ‘likeness.‘ The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that ‘image‘ and restore it in the Father’s ‘likeness‘ by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is ‘the giver of life.‘
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Articles 705 – 711
Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In Abraham’s progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This progeny will be Christ himself, in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will ‘gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.‘ God commits himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beloved Son and ‘the promised Holy Spirit . . . [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.‘
Theophanies (manifestations of God) light up the way of the promise, from the patriarchs to Moses and from Joshua to the visions that inaugurated the missions of the great prophets. Christian tradition has always recognized that God’s Word allowed himself to be seen and heard in these theophanies, in which the cloud of the Holy Spirit both revealed him and concealed him in its shadow.
This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law. God gave the Law as a ‘pedagogue’ to lead his people towards Christ. But the Law’s powerlessness to save man deprived of the divine ‘likeness,‘ along with the growing awareness of sin that it imparts, enkindles a desire for the Holy Spirit. The lamentations of the Psalms bear witness to this.
The Law, the sign of God’s promise and covenant, ought to have governed the hearts and institutions of that people to whom Abraham’s faith gave birth. ‘If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, . . . you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.‘ But after David, Israel gave in to the temptation of becoming a kingdom like other nations. The Kingdom, however, the object of the promise made to David, would be the work of the Holy Spirit; it would belong to the poor according to the Spirit.
The forgetting of the Law and the infidelity to the covenant end in death: it is the Exile, apparently the failure of the promises, which is in fact the mysterious fidelity of the Savior God and the beginning of a promised restoration, but according to the Spirit. The People of God had to suffer this purification. In God’s plan, the Exile already stands in the shadow of the Cross, and the Remnant of the poor that returns from the Exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church.
‘Behold, I am doing a new thing.‘ Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant, the people of the poor, who await in hope the ‘consolation of Israel‘ and ‘the redemption of Jerusalem.‘“
“Then a shoot will come forth out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch will bear fruit out of His roots. The Ruach of ADONAI will rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and insight, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of ADONAI.“
Isaiah 11: 1-2
“The angel spoke to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great and will be called Ben-Elyon. ADONAI Elohim will give Him the throne of David, His father. He shall reign over the house of Jacob for all eternity, and His kingdom will be without end.‘ Miriam said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am not intimate with a man?‘ And responding, the angel said to her, ‘The Ruach ha-Kodesh will come upon you, and the power of Elyon will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One being born will be called Ben-Elohim.“
Luke 1: 30-35
“I will put a new Spirit within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow My laws, keep My ordinances and practice them. They will be My people and I will be their God.“
Ezekiel 11: 19-20
“So it will be afterward, I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh: your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Also on the male and the female servants I will pour out My spirit in those days.“
Joel 3: 1-2
“When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And tongues like fire spreading out appeared to them and settled on each one of them. They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak. Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound came, the crowd gathered. They were bewildered, because each was hearing them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘All these who are speaking – aren‘t they Galileans? How is it that we each hear our own birth language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phyrgia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome (both Jewish people and proselytes), Cretans and Arabs – we hear them declaring in our own tongues the mighty deeds of God!‘ And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, ‘What does this mean?‘ Others, poking fun, were saying, ‘They are full of sweet new wine!‘
Acts 2: 1-14
But Peter, standing with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed them…
The festival of Shavuot
All those Jewish people from various nations gathered in the city of Jerusalem were pilgrims, as Shavuot is one of those major festivals for which the people of Israel would travel to Mount Zion and come together at the Temple. But why would some people think that the apostles were drunk with “sweet new wine“? Well, Shavuot, Pentecost, is a merry festival celebrating and offering up the first harvest of the year – a festival where one would indeed drink “sweet new wine“.
“ADONAI spoke to Moses saying: ‘Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and tell them: When you have come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you are to bring the omer (about six pints of barley flour) of the firstfruits of your harvest to the kohen. He is to wave the omer before ADONAI, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Shabbat, the kohen is to wave it. On the day when you wave the omer you are to offer a male lamb without blemish, one year old, as a burnt offering to ADONAI. The grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil – an offering made by fire to ADONAI for a soothing aroma. Its drink offering with it shall be a quarter of a gallon of wine. You are not to eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day – until you have brought the offering of your God. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Then you are to count from the morrow after your Shabbat, from the day that you brought the omer of the wave offering, seven complete Shabbatot. Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you are to count fifty days, and then present a new grain offering to ADONAI. You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to ADONAI. You are to present, along with the bread, seven one-year-old lambs without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They will become a burnt offering to ADONAI, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to ADONAI. Also you are to offer one male goat for a sin offering and a pair of year-old male lambs for a sacrifice of fellowship offerings. The kohen is to wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before ADONAI, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to ADONAI for the kohen. You are to make a proclamation on the same day that there is to be a holy convocation, and you shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the furthest corners of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Rather you are to leave them for the poor and for the outsider. I am ADONAI your God.“
Leviticus 23: 9-22
“On the Day of Firstfruits, when you offer to ADONAI a new grain offering during the Feast of Weeks, you are to have a sacred assembly. You are to do no laborious work.“
Numbers 28: 26
In Jewish tradition, the book of Ruth is associated with Shavuot. To this day, this book is read in the synagogues on Shavuot. There are various links of meaning between Shavuot and the book of Ruth. One of them is quite obvious: The story of Ruth takes place at the time of the barley harvest, and Boaz, the story‘s hero, is a man respecting the very commandment given to Israel in connection with this festival of firstfruits: to leave the corners of the fields and the gleanings for the poor and the outsider – for a woman like Ruth, a stranger, who then becomes his wife.
Shavuot is also the festival that remembers the receiving of divine revelation through Moses, God‘s prophet – the receiving of the Torah. A fixed amount of days – fifty days – after Pesach, the day re-presenting and re-celebrating Israel‘s exodus from Egypt, Shavuot re-presents and re-celebrates Israel standing before the Lord at Mount Sinai in the wilderness, when the law of Moses was given to the ransomed nation for their continual relationship with their God and for their sanctification. The Mosaic covenant with all its blessings and curses was established: a call upon the nation to always walk with the God who had saved them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to order their whole life around His divinely revealed will, His law, His Torah, which Moses taught them in the wilderness, as they journeyed towards the land of promise. Which is why, in Judaism, during the entire night of Shavuot, people stay up in the synagogues to read the entire Torah.
The Torah is given to no other nation but Israel: It is given to them to be a lamp on their feet and to make them shine brightly among the nations, to be the one nation chosen by God that testifies to the whole world who the one true God is, and what true devotion to Him looks like. Israel‘s calling is to be a prophetic sign, a living collective body-and-soul icon to all the Gentiles, who roam the world in the realm of darkness not yet knowing the God of Israel, not yet knowing the living God – unless the chosen nation shares the revelation, the light from above, which they have received, with them by showing them, and teaching them. From among the nations, Israel is called out to be different, distinct from every other nation, and unique among all nations, so that the world may encounter the truth through their witness – and repent.
And this is where one layer of meaning of the festival of Shavuot meets the other: the celebration of the firstfruits of the harvest, when one thanks the Lord for the very first fruits the tilled soil has brought forth by His grace of rain and sunshine. Thus, Shavuot is, just like Pesach or Sukkoth, a very merry, joyful festival, remembering the Lord‘s grace: Both the Torah, the divine revelation, that sustains the soul and the food that sustains the body are gifts from on high. And whenever Israel as a living, breathing, walking Torah reaches up to its prophetic calling, then the spiritual harvest, the harvest of souls, among the Gentiles will begin and will be great.
In Jewish tradition, the woman Ruth symbolizes Israel‘s harvest among the nations, and her conversion from the gods of her Moabite ancestors to the God of Israel captures the conversion of every Gentile. Ruth is like a precious pearl found in the world, and purchased, and brought into one‘s home, into family property.
Shavuot, and the spiritual harvest among Jews and Gentiles
On the feast day of Shavuot 33 A.D., following the death, burial and resurrection of “the King of the Jews“ by seven weeks, these various layers of meaning of the festival of Shavuot all converge in their fulfillment.
The Jewish apostles and disciples of Jesus of Nazareth are immersed in the Holy Spirit, coming down on them like tongues of fire from on high. By the hands of the Spirit that recreates and sanctifies, the law, that was once written on tablets of stone at Mount Sinai, is now written on the tablet of their hearts. And equipped with the power of the Spirit sent from the Father and the Son, the Spirit of life now dwelling within them, they are finally fully ready to carry out the mission their King has entrusted to them in a final command before His Ascension to the right hand of the Father:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.“
Matthew 28: 18-20
And thus, the apostles go out into all the world and proclaim the Kingdom of God first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles, immersing them in the New Covenant, which God has established in and through his very Son, and teaching them the perfect Torah of the Messiah, to whom the Mosaic Covenant pointed in riddles, parables, foreshadowings. And they harvest among the Gentiles, bringing those that were far from the God of Israel, far from His altar, near to Him, bringing strangers into the covenant family.
“‘Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him – this Yeshua whom you had crucified – both Lord and Messiah!‘ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, ‘Fellow brethren, what shall we do?‘
Acts 2: 36-41
Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away – as many as ADONAI our God calls to Himself.‘ With many other words he warned them and kept urging them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this twisted generation!‘ So those who received his message were immersed, and that day about three thousand souls were added.“
“Now while Peter was mulling over the vision, the Ruach said to him, ‘Look here, three men are looking for you. But get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitating, because I Myself have sent them.‘ Going down to the men, Peter said, ‘Here, I‘m the one you‘re looking for. What is the reason for your coming?‘ And they said, ‘Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well-spoken of by all the Jewish people, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message from you.‘ So Peter invited them in to be his guests. The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. (…)
Acts 10: 19-48
Cornelius declared, ‘Four days ago at this hour, I was praying minchah in my house. Suddenly, a man stood in front of me in shining clothes. He says, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your tzedakah remembered before God. Therefore send to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is also called Peter. He is staying in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.‘ So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.‘
Then Peter opened his mouth and said, ‘I truly understand that God is not one to show favoritism, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. You know the message He sent to Bnei-Yisrael, proclaiming shalom through Messiah Yeshua – He is Lord of all. You know the message that has spread throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the immersion that John proclaimed. You know how God anointed Yeshua of Natzeret with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and power – how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him. We are witnesses to all He did, both in the Judean countryside and in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree, but God raised Him up on the third day and caused Him to be visible – not to all the people, but to us, witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. We ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that He is the One ordained by God as Judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him – that everyone who puts his trust in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.‘
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Ruach ha-Kodesh fell on all those hearing the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter answered, ‘Can anyone refuse water for these to be immersed, who have received the Ruach ha-Kodesh just as we did?‘ So he commanded them to be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua.“
The Holy Spirit, and the sacraments of Baptism and of Confirmation
The Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost for eight days – like all the major feasts. During this season we are reminded of the gift of the Holy Spirit and His work in us, and we can remember the grace of the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation which we have received.
“Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: ‘Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.‘
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Articles 1213 – 1216
This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to ‘plunge‘ or ‘immerse‘; the ‘plunge‘ into the water symbolizes the catechumen’s burial into Christ’s death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as ‘a new creature.‘
This sacrament is also called ‘the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,‘ for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one ‘can enter the kingdom of God.‘
‘This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding…‘ Having received in Baptism the Word, ‘the true light that enlightens every man,‘ the person baptized has been ‘enlightened,‘ he becomes a ‘son of light,‘ indeed, he becomes ‘light‘ himself: ‘Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . . We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s Lordship.‘“
Through Baptism, all our sins are forgiven and washed away. We become a “new creature“, an adopted son or daughter of God, a member of the Body of Christ, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
“Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Articles 1272 – 1274
Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental character that consecrates them for Christian religious worship. The baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity.
The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord (‘Dominicus character‘) ‘for the day of redemption.‘ ‘Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life.‘ The faithful Christian who has ‘kept the seal‘ until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life ‘marked with the sign of faith,‘ with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God – the consummation of faith – and in the hope of resurrection.
The sacrament of Confirmation is a sort of completion of the effects and promises of the sacrament of Baptism.
“For ‘by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.‘
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Articles 1285 – 1289
In the Old Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the hoped-for Messiah for his saving mission. The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his baptism by John was the sign that this was he who was to come, the Messiah, the Son of God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit; his whole life and his whole mission are carried out in total communion with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives him ‘without measure.‘
This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah’s, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim ‘the mighty works of God,‘ and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age. Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn.
‘From that time on the apostles, in fulfillment of Christ’s will, imparted to the newly baptized by the laying on of hands the gift of the Spirit that completes the grace of Baptism. For this reason in the Letter to the Hebrews the doctrine concerning Baptism and the laying on of hands is listed among the first elements of Christian instruction. The imposition of hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic tradition as the origin of the sacrament of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church.‘
Very early, to better signify the gift of the Holy Spirit, an anointing with perfumed oil (chrism) was added to the laying on of hands. This anointing highlights the name ‘Christian,‘ which means ‘anointed‘ and derives from that of Christ himself whom God ‘anointed with the Holy Spirit.‘ This rite of anointing has continued ever since, in both East and West. For this reason the Eastern Churches call this sacrament Chrismation, anointing with chrism, or myron which means ‘chrism.‘ In the West, the term Confirmation suggests that this sacrament both confirms and strengthens baptismal grace.“
“The post-baptismal anointing with sacred chrism in Confirmation (…) is the sign of consecration. By Confirmation Christians, that is, those who are anointed, share more completely in the mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which he is filled, so that their lives may give off ‘the aroma of Christ.‘“
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 1294
“It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost. From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 1302 – 1305
it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, ‘Abba! Father!‘; it unites us more firmly to Christ; it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us; it renders our bond with the Church more perfect; it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross: ‘Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God’s presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.‘
Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the ‘character,‘ which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness.
This ‘character‘ perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received in Baptism, and ‘the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially (quasi Ex officio).‘“
Letters written with the Ruach of the living God
“It is clear that you are a letter from Messiah delivered by us – written not with ink but with the Ruach of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence we have through Messiah toward God – not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. He also made us competent as servants of a new covenant – not of the letter, but of the Ruach. For the letter kills, but the Ruach gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that Bnei-Yisrael could not look intently upon Moses‘ face because of its glory – although it was passing away – how will the ministry of the Ruach not be even more glorious? For if there is glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness overflows even more in glory. For even what was glorious is not glorious in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. For if what is passing away is glorious, much more what remains is glorious.
2 Corinthians 3: 3-18
Therefore, having such a hope, we act with great boldness. We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face in order for Bnei-Yisrael not to look intently upon the end of what was passing away. But their minds were hardened. For up to this very day the same veil remains unlifted at the reading of the ancient covenant, since in Messiah it is passing away. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Ruach ADONAI is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory – just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.“
Saint Louis de Montfort on the The Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Holy Spirit
The apostles were immersed in the Holy Spirit on Shavuot – and the Blessed Virgin Mary was with them. As she is the “spouse“ of the Holy Spirit, Saint Louis de Montfort in his Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin insists that the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin always work together, just as they did in the conception and birth of the Messiah. Mary is the Spirit‘s perfect vessel and vein. According to Saint Louis de Montfort, the Holy Spirit, which we have received in fullness in Baptism and Confirmation, can become the most fruitful in the sanctification of a soul if this soul is devoted to the Blessed Virgin.
“God the Holy Spirit, who does not produce any divine person, became fruitful through Mary whom he espoused. It was with her, in her and of her that he produced his masterpiece, God-made-man, and that he produces every day until the end of the world the members of the body of this adorable Head. (…) the Holy Spirit chose to make use of our Blessed Lady, although he had no absolute need of her, in order to become actively fruitful in producing Jesus Christ and his members in her and by her. (…) God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenly gift is given to men which does not pass through her virginal hands. (…) God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and through Mary. (…) When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful virgin who never had and never will have her equal in purity and fruitfulness. (…) The formation and the education of the great saints who will come at the end of the world are reserved to her, for only this singular and wondrous virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spirit singular and wondrous things. When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse.“
Saint Louis de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
Veni Creator Spiritus, and Veni Sancte Spiritus
As already mentioned, the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus is the novena sung for nine days before Pentecost, while Veni Sancte Spiritus is the sequence sung before the reading of the Gospel on the feast days of Pentecost.
“Come, O Creator Spirit blessed! And in our souls take up thy rest;
Veni Creator Spiritus, poetic English translation from the Latin original
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid, to fill the hearts which thou hast made.
Great Paraclete! To thee we cry, O highest gift of God most high!
O font of life! O fire of love! And sweet anointing from above.
Thou in thy sevenfold gifts art known, the finger of God‘s hand we own;
The promise of the Father, thou! Who dost the tongue with power endow.
Kindle our senses from above, and make our hearts overflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high the weakness of our flesh supply.
Far from us drive the foe we dread, and grant us thy true peace instead;
So shall we not, with thee for guide, turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may thy grace on us bestow the Father and the Son to know,
And thee through endless times confessed of both the eternal Spirit blessed.
All glory while the ages run be to the Father and the Son
Who rose from death; the same to thee, O Holy Ghost, eternally. Amen.“
“Come, Holy Spirit, send forth the heavenly radiance of your light.
Veni Sancte Spiritus, literal English translation from the Latin original
Come, father of the poor, come, giver of gifts,
come, light of the heart. Greatest comforter,
sweet guest of the soul, sweet consolation.
In labour, rest, in heat, temperance, in tears, solace.
O most blessed light, fill the inmost heart of your faithful.
Without your spirit, there is nothing in man, nothing that is not harmful.
Cleanse that which is unclean, water that which is dry,
heal that which is wounded.
Bend that which is inflexible, fire that which is chilled,
correct what goes astray.
Give to your faithful, those who trust in you, the sevenfold gifts.
Grant the reward of virtue, grant the deliverance of salvation, grant eternal joy.“