The most common and ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit is this: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.” It comes directly from the liturgy of Pentecost. These first lines are the verse of the Alleluia before the Gospel. The next lines are quoted from the Psalm (Psalm 104:30). “Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth.” The prayer that concludes was once the opening prayer of the Mass. “Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit, you have taught the hearts of your faithful. In the same Spirit, help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Come. Fill. Kindle. Send forth. Renew. This timeless prayer of the Church draws on powerful words to invoke the presence of the Spirit. Each of these words can speak to our hearts in profound ways and aid us in better understanding who the Holy Spirit is and who he wants to be for us.
Come
We speak this word as an invitation to the Holy Spirit. It is the cry of a heart filled with desire: “Come!” In crying out to the Spirit in this way, we are recognizing him as a longed-for, awaited guest. How might we continue to foster our desire for his coming and so continue to make room for this divine guest in our lives?
Fill
We recognize our need to be filled by the Spirit in the measure of our awareness of our own spiritual poverty and need for him. Only what is empty can be filled. In inviting the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts, we acknowledge him as the font of love, the stream of living water coming forth from the heart of the Trinity. We recognize our thirst for him and allow this thirst to carve out an empty space to be filled by the Spirit, the font of love. In what ways do I experience a thirst for God in my life? How might this experience of thirst become an opportunity for deeper encounter with him?
Kindle
At times our hearts can feel dry and lifeless, yet what is better kindling for a fire than dry twigs? In inviting the Holy Spirit to kindle the fire of divine love in us, we offer him the kindling of our weakness and poverty and ask him to transform them into a blazing fire of love. Where might the Holy Spirit desire to kindle a fire of greater love in my heart?
Send forth
The Spirit is sent to us from the heart of the Trinity. He is God’s gift to us, the gift of his very self. When we ask that the Spirit be sent forth, we place ourselves in a posture of receptivity before that precious gift. Where he finds an open heart, the Spirit comes as gift. When that gift is received, he in turn sends us to be bearers of this gift to others. How is the Holy Spirit sending me in this season in my life?
Renew
The Spirit is new life. Where he is present, all things are made new. We all have places in our hearts that are stale or stagnant. By inviting the Spirit to renew the face of the earth, we are first inviting him to renew our own hearts. Where is he gently showing me my need for renewal?
[Readings: Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23]
Love you Coley ,