The Novena begins on the Friday of the 6th Week of Easter, which is the day after the Solemnity of the Ascension (Ascension Thursday). Even where this Solemnity is transferred to the 7th Sunday of Easter, this Novena still begins on the Friday before. We all know that Jesus told his Apostles that He would send them a helper, that even though He would return to the Father, He would always be with us. “And eating together with them, he commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father…” Acts 1:4 This Pentecost Novena in honor of the Holy Spirit is in a sense the first Novena ever taken by followers of Christ; and it was Christ Himself who instructed his followers to undertake it. While the Apostles and Mary were gathered in the upper room they waited and they prayed, trusting in the promise that Christ made to them, not knowing what to expect but waiting with expectant hearts. Now more than ever, we too need to pray and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us and empower us to face the challenges of every day and this app will help us to do just that.
How to Pray this Novena
This Novena includes the following prayers to be said everyday for nine days before Pentecost:
- Daily Meditation
- Meditation Prayer
- (1) Our Father
- (1) Hail Mary
- (7) Glory be
- Concluding Prayers
- Act of Consecration
- Prayer for the Seven Gifts of The Holy Spirit
The prayers are found under the Meditations tab in the main menu. The prayers and meditations are uncomplicated and powerful prayers to the Holy Spirit and they will certainly help us all as we prepare our hearts to once again receive the Holy Spirit anew in our hearts. They are written in beautiful traditional English, well I think it is beautiful other may not! But these are old prayers of the Church and I love the feeling of being connected to the foundation of our Church. To give you a little flavour:
A really good app, five starts for sure, that gets you prepared for the celebration of Pentecost.
Invocation
Holy Spirit! Lord of Light!
From Your clear celestial height, Your pure beaming radiance give!
Daily Meditation
Only one thing is important — eternal salvation
Only one thing, therefore, is to be feared — sin
Sin is the result of ignorance, weakness, and indifference. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Light, of Strength, and of Love.
With His sevenfold gifts He enlightens the mind, strengthens the will, and inflames the heart with love of God. To ensure our salvation we ought to invoke the Divine Spirit daily, for…
the Spirit also helps our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings
—Romans 8:26
Meditation Prayer
Almighty and Eternal God, Who hast vouchsafed to regenerate us by water and the Holy Spirit, and hast given us forgiveness of all our sins, vouchsafe to send forth from heaven upon us your 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
Set A Reminder
If you are anything like me, you may need a reminder in order to not miss a day of your novena. You are able to set a daily reminder in the app or you can add reminders to you iOS calendar. Reminder settings are found under the Reminder tab of course. Reminders can be set for a specific time of day, if you want to pray the novena at the same time every day.
Reminder settings for the Pentecost app
Additional Information
The Doctor menu item provides us with further quotes and information for meditation on the Holy Spirit from the great Doctors of the Church. St Paul the Apostle, St Thomas Aquinas and other Doctors & Church Fathers give us insight into living life with the Holy Spirit as our guide.
The Indulgences menu outlines the partial indulgence granted by the Church with devout participation in the Novena to the Holy Spirit. It also provides general information from the Church on indulgences and what it all means.
A Novena is a wonderful way to focus our hearts and center our prayer in preparation for a big event in our lives and in the life of the Church. I had never heard of this Novena to the Holy Spirit until I came across this app – I for one am going to pray this Novena with my family in preparation for Pentecost. The app gives us information on the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit which we can receive in greater abundance if we just ask – the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of The Lord. From these gifts also comes the 12 Fruits of the Spirit; Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self–Control and Chastity. My family and I could absolutely use more of these fruits and we will be praying for open hearts to receive them at Pentecost. We hope that you choose to join us![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
