Novena to the Holy Spirit
The fruit of the Spirit is Love. Joy, Peace, Patince, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control. This is what St Paul wrote to his friends in the Church of Galatia. Let us all through this Novena in preparation for the solemnity of Pentecost ask God to give us these precious gifts.
Prayer for everyday of the Novena Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your Love, Send forth Your Spirit, and we shall be created and You will renew the face of the earth.
FIRST DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of LOVE. Help me to love you so much that I will never forget all that you have given me and all that you have done for me. Help me always to remember that you gave me life and everything that makes life worth living and that you gave me Jesus to be my Friend, my example, my master and my Saviour. Help me to love my fellow men so much that I will no longer be selfish and self-centred, but that I will find the way to happiness in doing things for others. This I ask in the name of Jesus, Amen!
SECOND DAY
O God, give me inmy life the fruit of JOY. Help me always to be happy and cheerful. Help me always to smile even when things go wrong. Help me always to look on the bright side of things, and alway to remember that even when things are at their worst, there is still something to be thankful for. Don't let me grumble and complain, don't let me be a pessimist and a wet blanket. And help me to find my happiness not in doing what I want, but in doing what you want, and not in thinking of myself, but in thinking of others, I ask this through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
THIRD DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of PEACE. Help me to take things calmly. Help me not to worry but to take things as they come, a day at a time. Help me not to be nervous but to keep cool, when I have something difficult or important to do. Help me never to lose my temper, no matter how annoying things or people may be. Keep me calm and steady, so that I will never collapse, and so that others may be able to rely on me when they are up against it. This I ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.
FOURTH DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of PATIENCE. Help me to have patience at my work and in my enterprises so that I will never give in but always persevere. Help me to have patience with people so that I may never lose my temper and never gross cross or irritable, or blaze into angry words. Help me to have patience when things are slow to come and slow to happen. Help me to have patience not to give up when something takes a long time to do and when it does not come out right the first or the second time. Help me to remember that everything worth doing is hard to do; that everything worth getting is hard to get; that everything worth being is hard to be, but that the struggle and the effort are worthwhile in the end. This I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
FIFTH DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of KINDNESS. Make me quick to see what I can do for others, and make me eager and willing to do it. Make me always obliging and always willing to lend a hand. Help me never to be mean, but always to be ready to share everything I have, even if I have not got very much. Help me never to speak unkind words and never to do cruel deeds. Help me to think the best of others and always to be more willing to forgive than to condemn. Help me to be as kind to others as I would wish them to be to me. Hear this my prayer for your love's sake. Amen.
SIXTH DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of GOODNESS. Help me to be in everything I do and say a good example to others, and help me never to do anything which would make it easier for someone else to go wrong. Keep my words honest and pure and sincere. Keep my actions fit for you to see, and help me never to do anything that I would wish to keep secret, and that I would be afraid that other people would find out about. Keep all my thoughts clean and honest so that even the most secret of them would bear the full light of day. And in everything keep me from pride and from self-conceit, and help me to think, not of what I know, but of what I don't know, not of what I am but of what I ought to be. Hear this my prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.
SEVENTH DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of GENTLENESS. Help me never to speak an agnry or a cruel word, and never to do a hurting or a wounding deed. Grant that I may never find any pleasure in any thing which would hurt any person or any animal. Help me to be as careful of the feelings of others, as I would wish them to be of mine. Help me not to be too rough or stern or severe in my behaviour with those who are not structured as I am. Make me specially gentle and thoughtful to those who are sick and sad and old and weak and easily hurt. This I ask for your love's sake. Amen.
EIGHTH DAY
O God, give me in my life the fruit of FAITHFULNESS. Keep me always true to myself, true to my friends, true to those who love me and true to you. Grant that nothing may every make me tell a life of any kind, either by exaggeration or by understatement or by unjustifable mental restriction. If I give my promise, grant that nothing may ever make me break it. If I say that I will do something, grant that others may be able to rely absolutely on me to do it. Help me always to stand by my friends and never to let them down, and help me never to grieve or disappoint those who love and those whom I love.
Make me so straight, so honourable and so true that everyone will be able to trust me in small things and in great things alike. This I ask through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. NINTH DAY
O God, O God, give me in my life, the fruit of SELF-CONTROL. Please take control of me so that I will be able to control myself. Help me always to control my temper and my tongue. Help me always to control my feelings amd my impulses. Grant that I may never be swept away in some moment of passion into doing something which would hurt anyone else and which all my life I would regret. Help me to control even my thoughts, so that no bitter thought, no unforgiving thought, no jealous thought, no ugly or unclean thought may ever get into my mind. Make me master of myself for I know that unless I can master myself, I can never make anything worthwhile out of life. Help me to control my impulses and passions wisely, not repressing them, but channelling them. I make this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen!
Cardinal Mercier's Secret of sanctity and happiness is to quiet our imagination and enter within our soul, the temple of the Holy Spirit and there speak with the Divine Spirit this prayer:(br>
LET US PRAY. O Gold of old. You instructed the hearts of "Your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit" Give us the same Spirit under His Divine Inspiration, may we have a sense of what is true and a taste for what is good, and so always experience the fruit of His consolation. This, we ask, through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Your Son, Amen!
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"O Holy Spirit, soul of my soul ... Guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what to do... I promise to submit to whatever you desire of me and to accept everything you allow to happen to me. Let me only know Your Will" ...