SERAPHIM PRAYER BOOK
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
SIXTH DAY
If Thou take Thy grace
away,
Nothing pure in man
will stay,
All his good is turned
to ill.
THE
GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
Understanding, as a gift of the Holy
Spirit, helps us to grasp the meaning of the truths of our holy religion. By
faith we know them, out by Understanding we learn to appreciate and relish
them. It enables us to penetrate the inner meaning of revealed truths and
through them to be quickened to newness of life. Our faith ceases to be sterile
and inactive, but inspires a mode of life that bears eloquent testimony to the
faith that is in us; we begin to “walk worthy of God in all things pleasing,
and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Prayer
Come, O Spirit of Understanding, and
enlighten our minds, that we may know and believe all the mysteries of
salvation; and may merit at last t see the eternal light in Thy Light: and in
the light of glory to have a clear vision of Thee and the Father and the Son.
Amen.
Our Father and Hail Mary
ONCE.
Glory be to the
Father SEVEN TIMES.
Act of Consecration, Prayer
for the Seven Gifts.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
On
my knees | before the great multitude of heavenly witness | I offer myself,
soul and body | to Thee, Eternal Spirit of God. | I adore the brightness of Thy
purity | the unerring keenness of Thy justice | and the might of Thy love. |
Thou art the strength | and Light of my soul. | In Thee I live and move and am.
| I desire never to grieve Thee | by unfaithfulness to grace | and I pray with
my heart | to be kept from the smallest sin against Thee. |Mercifully guard my
every thought | and grant that I may always watch for Thy light | and listen to
Thy voice | and follow Thy gracious inspirations. | I cling to Thee | and give
myself to Thee | and ask Thee | by Thy compassion | to watch over me in my
weakness | Holding the pierced feet of Jesus | and looking at His Five Wounds |
and trusting in His Precious Blood | and adoring his opened Side and stricken
Heart | I implore Thee | Adorable Spirit | Helper of my infirmity, | so to keep
me in Thy grace | that I may never sin against Thee. | Give me grace | O Holy
Spirit | Spirit of the Father and the Son | to say to Thee always and
everywhere | “Speak Lord |for Thy servant heareth.”
Amen.
(To be recited daily during the
Novena)
PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
O Lord, Jesus Christ | Who,
before ascending into heaven | didst promise to send the Holy Spirit | to
finish Thy work | in the souls of Thy Apostles and Disciples | deign to grant
the same Holy Spirit to me | that He may perfect in my soul | to the work of
Thy grace and Thy love. | Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom | that I may despise
the perishable things of this world | and aspire only after the things | that
are eternal | the Spirit of Understanding | to enlighten my mind | with the
light of Thy divine truth | the Spirit of Counsel | that I may ever choose |
the surest way of pleasing God | and gaining heaven | the Spirit of Fortitude |
that I may bear my cross with Thee | and that I may overcome with courage | all
the obstacles that oppose my salvation | the Spirit of Knowledge | that I may
know God and know myself | and grow perfect in the science of the Saints | the
Spirit of Piety | that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable | the
Spirit of Fear | that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and
may dread in any way to displease Him. | Mark me, dear Lord | with the sign of
Thy true disciples | and animate me in all things with Thy Spirit. Amen.
(To be recited daily during the
Novena)