Novena for the Feast of Pentecost 2009
The last year Novena preceding our patronal feast was based on texts of St. Francis de Sales from Philothea (An Introduction to the Devout Life) about the Holy Spirit. Now, when we have the so-called “Year of renewal” and we prepare for the General Assembly, I propose to search for inspirations of Holy Spirit for our Salesian formation in the Treatise on the Love of God.
On particular, days of this year’s Novena we will consider fragments of 15-th chapter of book XI of Treatise, where the Doctor of God’s Love not only helps to ascend from earth to heaven, to be united to the heart of God, but also to descend from heaven to earth, to take their neighbor by the hand and lead him to heaven. Taking in hand everyday contemplation, we must treat it as rungs of the ladder, which binds earth with heaven. The more firmly we hold them, and more confidently lean on them, the more safe and efficient our expedition will be, in both directions.
The words of St. Francis de Sales to Theotimus, may enable each of us, to have a full picture of this expedition:
That man’s heart may easily follow the motions and instincts of reason, in order to attain the natural felicity which it can aim at, by living according to the laws of rectitude, it requires to have: 1. Temperance, to repress the rebellious movements of sensuality; 2. Justice, to render to God, our neighbor and ourselves what is due; 3. Fortitude, to vanquish the difficulties which occur in doing good and avoiding evil; 4. Counsel, to discern what means are most proper to attain unto good and virtue; 5. Knowledge, to know the true good, to which we are to aspire, and the true evil which we are to fly; 6. Understanding, thoroughly to penetrate the first and main grounds or principles of the beauty and excellence of rectitude; 7. And finally, wisdom, to contemplate the divinity, the prime source of all good. These are the qualities whereby the spirit is rendered gentle, obedient, and pliable, with regard to the laws of the natural reason which is in us.
In like manner, the Holy Ghost, who dwells in us, wishing to make our soul supple, pliable, and obedient, with regard to his heavenly movements and divine inspirations, which are the laws of his love, in the observance of which consists the supernatural felicity of this present life, bestows upon us seven properties and perfections, nearly corresponding to those seven which we have just spoken of, and called, in the Holy Scripture and in the books of theologians, gifts of the Holy Ghost.
Now they are not only inseparable from charity, but, all things well considered, and speaking precisely, they are the principal virtues, properties and qualities of charity. For 1. Wisdom is in fact no other thing than the love which relishes, tastes and experiences, how sweet and delicious God is; 2. Understanding is nothing else than love attentive to consider and penetrate the beauty of the truths of faith, to know thereby God in himself, and then descending from this to consider him in creatures; 3. Science, on the other hand, is but the same love, keeping us attentive to the knowledge of ourselves and creatures, to make us re-ascend to a more perfect knowledge of the service which we owe to God; 4. Counsel is also love, insomuch as it makes us careful, attentive, and wise in choosing the means proper to serve God holily; 5. Fortitude is love encouraging and animating the heart, to put in execution that which counsel has determined should be done; 6. Piety is the love which sweetens labor, and makes us, with good heart, with pleasure, and with a filial affection, employ ourselves in works which please God, our Father; and 7. To conclude, Fear is nothing but love insomuch as it makes us fly and avoid what is displeasing to the divine Majesty.
So, Theotimus, charity will be another Jacob’s ladder to us, consisting of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, as of so many sacred steps, by which angelic men will ascend from earth to heaven, to be united to the heart of God Almighty, and by which they will descend from heaven to earth, to take their neighbor by the hand and lead him to heaven. For, as we mount the first step, Fear makes us forsake evil; on the second, Piety excites us to will to do good; upon the third, Knowledge makes us discern the good we are to do, and the evil we are to fly; upon the fourth, by Fortitude we take courage against all the difficulties which occur in our enterprise; upon the fifth, by Counsel we make choice of suitable means; upon the sixth, we unite our understanding to God to behold and penetrate the features of his infinite beauty; and upon the seventh, we join our wills to God, to taste and experience the sweetness of his incomprehensible goodness; for upon the top of this ladder, God bending towards us, gives us the kiss of love, and makes us taste the sacred breasts of his sweetness, better than wine (Treatise on the Love of God, book XI, chapter XV).
1) 22.05.09, Friday.
Read:
… Fear makes us forsake evil, (…) Fear is nothing but love insomuch as it makes us fly and avoid what is displeasing to the Divine Majesty (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
Consider Sirach 1, 11-20:
The fear of the Lord is glory and pride, happiness and a crown of joyfulness.
The fear of the Lord gladdens the heart, giving happiness, joy and long life.
For those who fear the Lord, all will end well: on their dying day they will be blessed.
The basis of wisdom is to fear the Lord; she was created with the faithful in their mothers’ womb;
She has made a home in the human race, an age – old foundation,
And to their descendants will she faithfully cling.
The fullness of wisdom is to fear the Lord; she intoxicates them with her fruits;
She fills their entire house with treasures and their storerooms with her produce.
The crown of wisdom is to fear the Lord: she makes peace and health flourishes.
The Lord has seen and assessed her; he has showered down knowledge and intelligence,
He has exalted the renown of those who possess her.
The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and her branches are long life.
Pray: Holy Spirit, Giver of seven gifts, please release my heart from the sinful faults, enlighten me, the miserable, and make my will prone to right!
2) 23.05.09, Saturday.
Read:
… Piety excites us to will to do good, (…) Piety is the love which sweetens labor, and makes us, with good heart, with pleasure, and with a filial affection, employ ourselves in works which please God, our Father (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
Piety contains fear of justice of God and of loss of salvation and it can be a negative source of action of a God’s child, who wants to avoid mortal danger, but piety is also a positive desire to come close to God, the Life-Giver.
Consider Romans 8: 14-18 and 31-39:
All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory. In my estimation, all that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us (…).
After saying this, what can we add? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts? Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died — yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God’s right hand — and who is adding his plea for us? Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ — can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing, or threats or violence; as scripture says: For your sake we are being massacred all day long, treated as sheep to be slaughtered? No; we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us. For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Pray: Holy Spirit, with your fire of love, raise the desire of sanctity in my heart and make it praise the Lord!
3) 24.05.09, Sunday.
Read:
… Knowledge makes us discern the good we are to do, and the evil we are to flee; (…) Science, on the other hand, is but the same love, keeping us attentive to the knowledge of ourselves and creatures, to make us re-ascend to a more perfect knowledge of the service which we owe to God (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
Consider John 16: 7-13 and Romans 12, 2:
Still, I am telling you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right, and about judgment: about sin: in that they refuse to believe in me; about who was in the right: in that I am going to the Father and you will see me no more; about judgment: in that the prince of this world is already condemned. I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now. However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come.
Do not model your behavior on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and mature.
Pray: Come, O Holy Spirit, come! From Thy bright and blissful Home Rays of healing light impart. Come Light of every human heart.
4) 25.05.09, Monday.
Read:
… Fortitude we take courage against all the difficulties which occur in our enterprise; …) Fortitude is love encouraging and animating the heart, to execute that which counsel has determined should be done (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
It’s not enough to take possession of knowledge of how to distinguish good from evil. You must have the power to practice good and overcome evil with good. The bravery is manifesting itself in the constancy, that is in acting consistently against adversities, in perseverance, which faces up to fatigue and discouragement, an attitude of watchfulness, which doesn’t allow the enemy to catch us unaware, and finally in forgiving culprits and oneself, because in spite of receiving the gift of bravery, I often fall down into the same sins …
Consider Matthew 7: 21; Romans 7: 14-25 and Romans 12: 21:
It is not anyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.
We are well aware that the Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of flesh and blood sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand my own behavior; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate. While I am acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good, so it is not myself acting, but the sin which lives in me. And really, I know of nothing good living in me — in my natural self, that is — for though the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not: the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want — that is what I do. But every time I do what I do not want to, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me. So I find this rule: that for me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s law, but I see that acting on my body there is a different law which battles against the law in my mind. So I am brought to be a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? God — thanks be to him — through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.
Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.
Pray: Come, o Holy Spirit, O most blessed Light divine, let Thy radiance in us shine, And our inmost being fill. (…) Lave our dryness with Thy rain, heal our wounds and mend our way. Bend the stubborn heart and will, melt the frozen, warm the chill. (…) Give them virtue’s rich increase, Saving grace to die in peace, Give them joys that never end.
5) 26.05.09, Tuesday.
Read:
… by Counsel we choose suitable means; (…) Counsel is also love, inasmuch as it makes us careful, attentive, and wise in choosing the means proper to serve God holily (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
The Holy Spirit, when giving us advice, He improves our counsel, to discern what means are most proper to attain unto good and virtue (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV). He suggests what, how and when will be good to do for coming closer to God and for people’s redemption. He helps to take advantage of lessons of the past and our actual capabilities to make the right decision, especially in the difficult and important moments of our life.
Consider Matthew 10: 17-20 and Acts 6: 1-5:
“Be prepared for people to hand you over to Sanhedrin and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them and to the gentiles. But when you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.
About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom, to whom we can hand over this duty. We ourselves will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.’ The whole assembly approved of this proposal and elected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism.”
Pray: The Holy Spirit, always help me to look for advice and find it with You. Help me to recognize properly God’s will and make good and brave decision, in harmony not with my liking but with my vocation in my life and with my status duties! Mary, Mother of good advice, pray for us!
6) 27.05.09, Wednesday.
Read:
… Understanding [is given] thoroughly to penetrate the first and main grounds or principles of the beauty and excellence of rectitude; (…) Understanding is nothing else than love attentive to consider and penetrate the beauty of the truths of faith, to know thereby God in himself, and then descending from this to consider him in creatures. (…) We unite our understanding to God to behold and penetrate the features of his infinite beauty (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
Consider 1 Corinthians 2: 7-12:
It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we speak, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. None of the rulers of the age recognized it; for if they had recognized it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualize; all that God has prepared for those who love him; to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God. After all, is there anyone who knows the qualities of anyone except his own spirit, within him; and in the same way, nobody knows the qualities of God except the Spirit of God. Now, the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world but God’s own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us.
Pray: The Holy Spirit, I ask You for the gift of Reason for better understanding the spirit of sacred faith’s secrets.
7) 28.05.09, Thursday.
Read:
If we overcome the first obstacle in mountain climbing, if we regulate our breath, if we get used to new conditions, we find pleasure in proceeding upwards. Before us more and more beautiful views will stretch, our horizon will grow wider and we will see what without climbing is imperceptible for us.
… we join our wills to God, to taste and experience the sweetness of his incomprehensible goodness; (…) Wisdom is in fact no other thing than the love which relishes, tastes and experiences, how sweet and delicious God is; (…) wisdom [is given] to contemplate the divinity, the prime source of all good (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
Consider Ephesians 1: 3-12; 15-19:
Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. Thus he chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before him in love, marking us out for himself beforehand, to be adopted sons, through Jesus Christ. Such was his purpose and good pleasure, to the praise of the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight. He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, according to his good pleasure which he determined beforehand in Christ, for him to act upon when the times had run their course: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth. And it is in him that we have received our heritage, marked out beforehand as we were, under the plan of the One who guides all things as he decides by his own will, chosen to be, for the praise of his glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came. (…)
That is why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all God’s holy people, have never failed to thank God for you and to remember you in my prayers. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, how rich is the glory of the heritage he offers among his holy people, and how extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with the strength of his power.
Pray: The Holy Spirit, I ask You for Wisdom for better understanding of You and Your God’s Perfection!
8) 29.05.09, Friday.
Read:
For upon the top of this ladder, God bending towards us, gives us the kiss of love, and makes us taste the sacred breasts of his sweetness, better than wine (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
For though there be two lovers, to wit, the Father and the Son, yet seeing it is only Their most singular goodness common to Them both which is loved, and Their most unique will which loves, it is therefore but one love exercised by one amorous aspiration. The Father breathes this love and so does the Son; but because the Father only breathes this love by means of the same will and for the same goodness which is equally and singularly in Him and His Son: the Son again only breathes this aspiration of love for this same goodness and by this same will, therefore this aspiration of love is but one aspiration, or one only spirit breathed out by two breathers (Treatise, book III, chapter XIII).
[Charity], together with faith and hope, makes its abode in the point and summit of the spirit, and, as a queen of majesty, is seated in the will as on her throne, whence she conveys into the soul her delights and sweetnesses, making her thereby all fair, agreeable and amiable to the divine goodness (Treatise, book II, chapter XXII).
The Holly Spirit allows me to admire Jesus and comforts me, that Jesus loves and accepts me, He doesn’t reject me, on the contrary: He hugs me to his Heart. It’s true, despite unfavorable circumstances, but Saint John hugged to Jesus’ Heart during The Last Supper, it was happening in front of the other man’s eyes. He was not ashamed of this tender gesture towards his Master and Lord. Jesus didn’t push him away. He allowed it. What’s more, He also allowed him to look at His punctured side. He allowed him to touch the dead Body when it was being taken down from the Cross and during the laying down into the tomb.
The Holly Spirit allows me to fall in love with Jesus and feel that Jesus loves me, too. I’m not afraid of this love. I’m not afraid that somebody can to say about this love: “I don’t like it” or, warn me: “Be careful, He isn’t the right person for you.” I’m not afraid of love with and for Jesus, because The Father, who is in heaven, takes care of this love. What’s more, The Father gives His blessing to this love; He consents to it and finds favor in it.
Consider the Personal bond of Love between The Father and The Son, who is embracing you!
With Jesus’ Spirit pray with words, which flow from your heart filled Love.
9) 30.05.09, Saturday – It’s time to go down on the earth.
Read:
But, if after we have deliciously enjoyed these favors of love, we desire to return to the earth, to gain our neighbor to the same happiness from the first and highest step, where we have filled our will with a most ardent zeal, and have perfumed our souls with the perfumes of God’s sovereign charity, we must descend to the second step, where our understanding receives an incomparable light, and makes provision of the most excellent considerations and maxims, to glorify the divine beauty and goodness; thence we pass to the third, where, by the gift of Counsel, we consider by what means we may instill the relish and esteem of the divine sweetness into our neighbor’s heart; upon the fourth, we take heart, receiving a holy Fortitude, to surmount the difficulties which might cross this design; upon the fifth, by the gift of Knowledge, we begin to preach, exhorting souls to follow virtue and fly vice; upon the sixth, we strive to implant Piety in them, that acknowledging God for their loving Father, they may obey him with a filial fear; upon the last step, we urge them to fear the judgments of God, so that mingling this fear of being damned with filial reverence, they may more earnestly forsake the earth to ascend to heaven with us (Treatise, book XI, chapter XV).
Consider Who is the first person to step down the ladder and climb with him to bring him to Heaven.
Pray for us, Daughters and Sons (also Priests) of St. Francis de Sales.
It may turn out that one day isn’t enough for analyzing all the steps, which take us down on the earth from the summit of our love with God, to take their neighbor by the hand and lead him to heaven. But we can still continue our prayer, and like the Apostle after The Pentecost learn to make a statement resounding, that God is love and bring others to Him. Let’s end our considerations hoping that to be continued…
