A Concord Pastor Comments: Praying 10 minutes today: Novena for Pentecost

Over the next week, we'll be using a novena for our Praying 10 minutes a day. (After Pentecost Sunday, May 27, we'll return to the usual format.) The oldest novena is the prayer of the first disciples (Mary, the apostles and other believers) from the time Jesus ascended to his Father (40 days after Easter) to the feast of Pentecost. These nine days are a time for us to pray for the coming of the Spirit upon the Church and upon each of us. Each day of the novena you will find a post with scripture and prayer for that day.

Praying 10 minutes today...

Novena to the Holy Spirit - Day 2

Find a quiet time and place to pray...

take a few deep breaths...

be still and know that God is near..

A word to reflect on...

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,

of the Gospel I preached to you,

which you indeed received
and in which you also stand.

Through it you are also being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,

unless you believed in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance
what I also received:

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the Scriptures;

that he was buried;

that he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures...

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

For reflection...

• Do I need to be reminded?

Have I somehow forgotten the message of Jesus in my daily life?

Have I forgotten that I'm called to love God

-- and to love my neighbor as myself?

Do I keep in mind that Christ loves me,
gave his life for me and never fails to forgive me?

• Do I "hold fast" to the Lord's word in my day-to-day life?

What word, whose words do hold me fast?

Are these the words I want to live by?

   Do the words that hold me fast challenge me?
   Are these words that bring me serenity and peace?
• Of all that I believe in and hold to,
       which things are of "first importance?"

What priorities shape my daily schedule? my plan for my life?

what I long for? work for? hope for?

What's really of first importance to me?

• What will I pray for the Church today?

Let's pray for those who preach the Word,

for those who remind others

of the story and the message of Jesus...

Let's pray that we live more faithfully

the love to which Jesus calls us...

Let's pray that the Church hold fast to what's of first importance,

that matters of little consequence will not distract us

from the work of wisdom and justice the Gospel enjoins on us...

Let's pray that we keep from judging one another in the Church

but rather esteem and reverence all others as brothers and sisters in Christ...

• The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (as they are named in the Rite of Confirmation) include: wisdom... the spirit of understanding and right judgment... courage... the spirit of knowledge and reverence... and the spirit of wonder and awe in God's presence...

For which of these gifts will I pray today?

Let us pray:

Come, Holy Spirit

to this time of prayer, this quiet time

and in the stillness, let me know your presence and your power...

Open me to the Word of Christ

and let his wisdom shape the person I am and want to be..

Give me the strength to hold fast to the gospel

and to give myself, my time and my heart to what is really important...

Clear my mind of nonsense and foolishness,

of whatever keeps me from living a good and just life...

Refresh my desire to grow spiritually

and to walk the days of my life