I have been mentioning at Mass for some time that we will be praying a Novena to the Holy Spirit in the 9 days leading up to Pentecost. That time is upon us! The term ‘novena’, from the Latin for ‘nine’ refers back to the days following the Ascension of Jesus into heaven to the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (50 days after the Resurrection).

So we are gathered in prayer, waiting for the gift of the Spirit. We need spiritual refreshment: we need the gifts the Holy Spirit brings; our lives need to show the fruits of the Spirit — now is the time to pray.

We pray for the outpouring of the Spirit for ourselves, our loved ones, our English-speaking Catholic Christian community, our fellow Christians here, and on all people.

Please join me in making this prayer. We need God’s help in recovering from our present situation. I don’t make many urgent appeals, but this is one of them! I will be praying the Novena online each day at the end of the 10:00 Mass and during the night prayer at 18:00 — if you can’t be present at those times, select prayers/readings from the leaflet and make them in your own time. I can’t stress enough the importance I attach to our solidarity in prayer, our invocation of the Holy Spirit, and our continued commitment to each other and to the Lord.

You can find the Novena leaflet here.

Happy Praying!

Fr Ed