Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
1. Let us pray. - With these three words, we invite, even urge, ourselves and others to pray. We commit to reaching out to God in open and loving communication. Notice the plural here. Even when we recite this prayer individually, we are still including our human family, and especially our family of faith, in our petitions. When we are Christians, we are never really alone.
2. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful – Early Christians called Baptism “Illumination.” At Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the deepest part of us, in our hearts and souls, and He shines a light into us and though us. The Holy Spirit, when we are open, lights up the truth for us, the truth about God, about the world, about other people, about ourselves. And when we get out of His way, He can radiate through us to others and touch their hearts. Remember, too, that we don't know truth with just our minds. Rational thought is certainly part of the equation, but we also know the truth with our hearts, with that deep down intuition that is a gift from God, and with our faith when we choose to conform our minds and hearts to the reality that God has revealed.
3. grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise – What does it mean to be wise? The Catechism says that wisdom is “a spiritual gift which enables one to know the purpose and plan of God.” Fr. Jordan Aumann further explains that wisdom allows us “to judge and order all things in accordance with divine norms and with a connaturality that flows from loving union with God.” In other words, the Holy Spirit's gift of wisdom allows us to see (at least as far as humans ever can) through the eyes of God. It helps us figure out God's plans and purposes. It helps us make decisions based on God's standards. It helps us choose and act in, through, and because of our intimacy with God. This is to be truly wise.
4. and ever to rejoice in His consolation – We humans are weak and fragile and prone to being upset and frightened and worried. The Holy Spirit, therefore, consoles us in our troubles. He comforts us in our fears and failures and distress. He speaks to our hearts of God's loving care, of God's plan for our lives, of God's expectations. He lets us know that, no matter what, God will never stop loving us. He whispers that God's forgiveness is ours for the taking; we just have to repent and confess with sincere hearts. He reminds us that Jesus died for us and rose again that we might be with God forever in Heaven.
5. Through Christ our Lord. - We ask God the Father for the wisdom and consolation of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ, the Son. This is how all of our prayers always flow, for Jesus is the God-Man and the mediator between God and man.
6. Amen. - As always, we end our prayer with a resounding “Amen,” a firm yes to everything we have just prayed. In doing so, we affirm our faith in the Holy Spirit and our desire for His great gifts.
Let us pray once again.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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