Pentecost Novena (To the Holy Spirit Living in Mary)
Day 1
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, dwelling in Mary, the Seat of Wisdom and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful --
R/. And rekindle within us the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Proverbs 8:22-36)
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
Happy is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the Lord;
but those who miss me injure themselves;
all who hate me love death.”
Meditation
From the apostolic exhortation Marialis cultus of Pope St. Paul VI
It seems to us useful to add to the Christological orientation of devotion to the Blessed Virgin a reminder of the fittingness of giving prominence in this devotion to one of the essential facts of the Faith: the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Theological reflection and the liturgy have in fact noted how the sanctifying intervention of the Spirit in the Virgin of Nazareth was a culminating moment of the Spirit’s action in the history of salvation. Thus, for example, some Fathers and writers of the Church attributed to the work of the Spirit the original holiness of Mary, who was as it were “fashioned by the Holy Spirit into a kind of new substance and new creature.” Reflecting on the Gospel texts-”The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with his shadow” (Lk. 1:35) and “[Mary] was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.... She has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 1:18, 20)-they saw in the Spirit’s intervention an action that consecrated and made fruitful Mary’s virginity and transformed her into the “Abode of the King” or “Bridal Chamber of the Word,” the “Temple” or “Tabernacle of the Lord,” the “Ark of the Covenant” or “the Ark of Holiness,” titles rich in biblical echoes. Examining more deeply still the mystery of the Incarnation, they saw in the mysterious relationship between the Spirit and Mary an aspect redolent of marriage, poetically portrayed by Prudentius: “The unwed Virgin espoused the Spirit,” and they called her the “Temple of the Holy Spirit,” an expression that emphasizes the sacred character of the Virgin, now the permanent dwelling of the Spirit of God. Delving deeply into the doctrine of the Paraclete, they saw that from Him as from a spring there flowed forth the fullness of grace (cf. Lk. 1:28) and the abundance of gifts that adorned her. Thus they attributed to the Spirit the faith, hope and charity that animated the Virgin’s heart, the strength that sustained her acceptance of the will of God, and the vigor that upheld her in her suffering at the foot of the cross. In Mary’s prophetic canticle (cf. Lk. 1:46-55) they saw a special working of the Spirit who had spoken through the mouths of the prophets. Considering, finally, the presence of the Mother of Jesus in the Upper Room, where the Spirit came down upon the infant Church (cf Acts 1:12-14; 2:1-4), they enriched with new developments the ancient theme of Mary and the Church. Above all they had recourse to the Virgin’s intercession in order to obtain from the Spirit the capacity for engendering Christ in their own soul, as is attested to by Saint Ildephonsus in a prayer of supplication, amazing in its doctrine and prayerful power: “I beg you, holy Virgin, that I may have Jesus from the Holy Spirit, by whom you brought Jesus forth. May my soul receive Jesus through the Holy Spirit by whom your flesh conceived Jesus.... May I love Jesus in the Holy Spirit in whom you adore Jesus as Lord and gaze upon Him as your Son.
Prayer
Lord our God, you chose the Blessed Virgin,
formed by the Holy Spirit,
as the firstfruits of the new creation;
grant that we may reject the old ways of sin,
embrace wholeheartedly the new life of the Gospel,
and honor faithfully the new commandment of love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the New Eve)
Day 2
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, dwelling within the sinless Virgin Mary and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful --
R/. And rekindle within us the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Wisdom 7:22-30)
There is in [wisdom] a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.
For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior,
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
Meditation
From the writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe
In the union of the Holy Spirit with her, not only does love bind these two beings, but the first of them [the Holy Spirit] is all the love of the Most Holy Trinity, while the second [the Blessed Virgin Mary] is all the love of creation, and thus in that union heaven is joined to earth, the whole heaven with the whole earth, the whole of Uncreated Love with the whole of created love: this is the vertex of love.... What kind of union is this? It is above all interior; it is the union of her very being with the being of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in her, lives in her, from the first instant of her existence, and he will do so always, throughout eternity… This uncreated Immaculate Conception conceives divine life immaculately in the soul of Mary, his Immaculate Conception. The virginal womb of her body, too, is reserved for him who conceives there in time—everything material comes about according to time—the divine life of the God-Man.... She is God’s. She belongs to God in a perfect way to the extent that she is as if a part of the most Holy Trinity, although she is a finite creature. Moreover she is not only a “handmaid,” a “daughter,” a “property,” a “possession,” etc., but also the Mother of God! Here one is seized with giddiness… she is almost above God, as a mother is above her sons who must respect her. The Immaculate is a Spouse of the Holy Spirit in an unspeakable way… She has the same Son as the heavenly Father has. What an ineffable family! We belong to her, to the Immaculate. We are hers without limits, most perfectly hers; we are, as it were, her. Through our mediation she loves the good God. With our poor heart she loves her divine Son. We become the mediators through whom the Immaculate loves Jesus. And Jesus, considering us her property and, as it were, a part of his beloved Mother, loves her in us and through us. What a lovely mystery!
Prayer
Lord,
let the Virgin Mary in her glory intercede for us;
adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
she won your favor
and brought forth for us your only Son,
fair beyond all your children on earth.
Grant that we may turn away from the ugliness of sin
and love only the beauty that comes from your Spirit.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Fairest Love)
Day 3
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, overshadowing the Virgin Mary, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful --
R/. And rekindle within us the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Luke 1:26-38)
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be calledthe Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Meditation
From his sermon on the Annunciation by St. Bernard of Clairvaux
“And the angel, answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.” It had been said before that she was full of grace; how is it now said: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee”? Could she be filled with grace and not possess the Holy Spirit, the giver of all grace? And if He is already in her, how is it promised that He shall come upon her in some new way? Was it not to explain this to us that the angel said not merely “in thee,” but also “upon thee”? For the Holy Spirit was in her before His coming by an abundant grace; now it is declared that He will come upon her by the fullness of more abundant grace which He will pour out upon her.
But how will she be able to receive a fresh infusion of Divine grace when she is already full of grace? And if she can receive more, how are we to understand that she is already full of grace? Was it that hitherto grace had only filled her mind and soul, and that the new infusion of it was to penetrate her body, so that the plenitude of the Divinity which had hitherto dwelt in her spiritually–as He dwells in many of the saints–might begin to abide in her corporally as He has never dwelt in any other saint? Yes, this is what the angel reveals to us. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.”
Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God,
with the help of the Holy Spirit,
you prepared a dwelling worthy of your Son
in the body and soul of blessed Mary the Virgin Mother;
grant then, that we who are happy to celebrate her memory,
may by her maternal intercession,
be freed from present ills and everlasting death:
and this we ask in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. (Roman Missal; Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Day 4
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, in whom the spirit of Mary rejoiced, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful --
R/. And rekindle within us the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Luke 1:39-47)
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Meditation
From Mariology by Matthias Scheeben
The union of the Motherof God with God is usually attributed to the Holy Ghost under the name of bride, and the associated names of temple and sanctuary of the Holy Ghost. This is done in view of the fact that Christ is represented in the Creed and in the annunciation by the angel as conceived and born of the Holy Ghost, or produced by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost.... This special and personal relation of the Mother of God to the Holy Ghost is strikingly expressed in saying that she, like the humanity of Christ, is called the temple belonging to the Holy Ghost. Mary is a temple with which theHoly Ghost is related through the grace that proceeds from Him, and through His own principle. In this temple He therefore dwells in a certain sense corporaliter and naturaliter. Hence the expression "temple"or "sanctuary of the Holy Ghost" is as much in use for the relation of the Mother of God to the Holy Ghost, as is the name of sponsa Spiritus Sancti.... Just as the Holy Ghost, owing to His origin from the divine love is also the specific bearer and representative ofthe sweetness and vivifying heart of that divine love, the Mother of God likewise bears this characteristic in her own degree. Hence she bears the name of vita and dulcedo nostra. For all these reasons Mary, as well as the Church, is called after the creature which is the symbol of the Holy Ghost,that is, the dove. Moreover, with her the latter is the symbol of the fecundity which proceeds from the Holy Ghost and which therefore is virginal and maternal toward the man Christ. Under this name Mary also appears as resembling the Holy Ghost and connected with Him, or rather informed and inspired, as it were, by Him; thus as one moral person with Him so that He forms the seal of her personality.
Prayer
Lord our God, Savior of the human family,
you brought salvation and joy
to the home of Elizabeth
through the visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the ark of the New Covenant.
We ask that, in obedience
to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
we too may bring Christ to others
and proclaim your greatness
by the praise of our lips and the holiness of our lives.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. (Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the Visitation)
Day 5
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, dwelling in the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful –
R/. And rekindle within them the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Luke 2:15-18,42,44-51)
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
When he was twelve years old, Jesus’ parents went up to the Festival of Passover, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Meditation
From The Admirable Heart of Mary by St. John Eudes
In the second chapter of Genesis, we read that God brought to the first man the animals and the birds He had created that Adam might give them suitable names, as a sign of his dominion over them and of their dependence on him.... We may now ask if any qualities of the Heart of the Queen of Heaven can have been symbolized by such humble things as animals and birds? Yes, and this should not surprise you, since her Son, Who is God Himself, willed to be represented by oxen, sheep, lambs, and several other beasts which, under the Old Law, were sacrificed to God.
What, then, is represented by the animals and birds subjected by God to the dominion of Adam in Paradise? They represent the natural passions that have their seat in the corporal and physical heart of man. These passions are of two kinds, that is, the more earthly and animal instincts, such as anger, hatred, fear, sadness, aversion, distrust, which are represented by the animals, and the more spiritual emotions, such as love, desire, hope, courage and joy typified by the birds.
All these passions existed as we have seen, in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, just as they are found in the hearts of all children of Adam, but she enjoyed the great privilege that in her Heart they were completely subject to reason, just as the savage beasts were under the complete control of Adam in the earthly paradise.
The spirit of Christ, the new man, reigned so perfectly in Mary's Heart and so absolutely ruled her passions, that they never experienced any motivation contrary to the will of God. She never employed them except under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit and for the glory of His Divine Majesty. She never loved anything besides God; she never desired anything except to please Him; she feared nothing save to displease Him. All the difficult tasks she undertook were accomplished in His service and for His glory, the sole cause of her joy, even as the offence and dishonor afforded Him by sin were the only motives of her hatred, her aversion, and her anger. So truly were her natural passions uplifted and almost annihilated towards the world and all worldly objects and concerns, even with regard to herself and her own interests, that her emotions existed and vibrated only for what was pleasing to Him who possessed, animated and directed them in all thoughts. From this we learn that the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary was truly the Earthly Paradise, in which there was no war, trouble or disorder of any kind, but peace, tranquility and marvellous order, combined with ceaseless praise and adoration of the God who had established His throne in this Paradise. All her passions, being entirely subject to reason and the Spirit of God, and perfectly blended together, blessed and praised Him with admirable harmony in the variety of their distinct motions, uses and functions. They were all guided by the same Spirit and all directed towards the same end, to glorify the Divine Majesty.
Prayer
Lord our God,
you made the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
the home of your eternal Word
and the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.
Give us a heart that is free from sin
and attentive to your will,
that, faithful to your commandments,
we may love you above all things
and seek to help others in their need.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. (Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the Immaculate Heart of Mary)
Day 6
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, grieving within the Blessed Virgin Mary, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful –
R/. And rekindle within them the fire of your Love.
Scripture (John 19:25-27)
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Meditation
From Sophia: The Wisdom of God by Fr. Sergei Bulgakov
She, upon whom the Holy Ghost reposes, is spirit-bearing, yet for all that she remains a woman, however fully deified. The Holy Ghost is not personally incarnate like the Son. In conformity with his personal nature he blesses, sanctifies, penetrates, and vivifies, and that is all. And yet his fullest and loftiest manifestation is nevertheless effected in the spirit-bearing “blessed” Virgin Mary. She is, in personal form, the human likeness of the Holy Ghost. Through her, with her human form become entirely transparent to the Holy Ghost, we have a manifestation and, as it were, a personal revelation of him.
The person of the Holy Ghost remains hidden from us even in his descent at Pentecost, which conferred immediately only the gifts of the Spirit. But there is a human person to whom it is given to manifest the Holy Ghost himself, and that is the most holy Virgin, Mary, the heart of the Church. And yet this manifestation of the Holy Ghost—let us emphasize the fact that it is precisely a manifestation, not an incarnation—remains for us in this life beyond our understanding.
It vanished from the world with the event of the death, resurrection, and assumption of our Lady; her glorified likeness is unknown to the world, which cannot yet receive its revelation of the Holy Ghost. It concerns only the age to come, and will belong to the last things. Together with the appearance of the glorified Christ at his coming again in Glory, the world will behold his glorified humanity in the person of the Spirit-bearer, the Virgin Mary.
Divine-humanity is to be found “on earth as it is in heaven”—in a double, not only a single, form: not only that of the God-human, Christ, but that of his Mother too. Jesus-Mary—there is the fullness of Divine-humanity. The internal self-disclosure of the Holy Trinity is marked by this same duality: the revelation of the Father is made through the Son and Spirit together, inseparably and unconfusedly. In like manner, in the Incarnation, the Son is “conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” She is the personal subject of the humanity of Christ, and his feminine counterpart.
Prayer
Lord our God, through the Blessed Virgin Mary
you have shown us the example of a disciple,
who is faithful to the words of life;
open our hearts to receive your saving word,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit
it may speak to us in our daily lives
and bring forth a rich harvest of holiness.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. (Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Holy Mary, Disciple of the Lord)
Day 7
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, descending on Mary at Pentecost, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful --
R/. And rekindle within them the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Acts 1:12-14; 2:1-4)
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Meditation
From True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort
God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenly gift is given to men which does not pass through her virginal hands. Such indeed is the will of God, who has decreed that we should have all things through Mary, so that, making herself poor and lowly, and hiding herself in the depths of nothingness during her whole life, she might be enriched, exalted and honoured by almighty God. Such are the views of the Church and the early Fathers.
God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and through Mary. He tells her, “My well-beloved, my spouse, let all your virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may grow from strength to strength and from grace to grace. When you were living on earth, practising the most sublime virtues, I was so pleased with you that I still desire to find you on earth without your ceasing to be in heaven. Reproduce yourself then in my chosen ones, so that I may have the joy of seeing in them the roots of your invincible faith, profound humility, total mortification, sublime prayer, ardent charity, your firm hope and all your virtues. You are always my spouse, as faithful, pure, and fruitful as ever. May your faith give me believers; your purity, virgins; your fruitfulness, elect and living temples.”
When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful virgin who never had and never will have her equal in purity and fruitfulness. Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the greatest thing that ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will consequently produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. The formation and the education of the great saints who will come at the end of the world are reserved to her, for only this singular and wondrous virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spirit singular and wondrous things.
When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse. One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and inseparable spouse. I say “inseparable spouse”, for from the moment the substantial love of the Father and the Son espoused Mary to form Jesus, the head of the elect, and Jesus in the elect, he has never disowned her, for she has always been faithful and fruitful.
Prayer
Lord our God,
as the Blessed Virgin was at prayer with the Apostles
you poured out on her in abundance
the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
grant through her intercession
that we too, being filled with the same Spirit,
may persevere with one mind in prayer
and bring to the world around us
the Good News of salvation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. (Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Our Lady of the Cenacle)
Day 8
Invocation
V/. Come Holy Spirit, restoring new life to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful --
R/. And rekindle in them the fire of your Love.
Scripture (1 Cor. 15: 44b-50)
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Meditation
From Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene
“The Blessed Virgin Mary,” says St. Augustine, “was the only one who merited to be called the Mother and Spouse” of God. She became the Mother of God because she was the Spouse of the Holy Spirit: “the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35), said the Angel, explaining the mysterious, divine manner in which she would become a mother, the Mother of the Son of God. At that moment, the Holy Spirit, who had already possessed Mary’s soul from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception, came upon her with such exceptional plenitude that He formed within her the sacred Body of Jesus. Justly, therefore, does Mary deserve the name of Spouse of the Holy Spirit: she is His possession, His sanctuary, His temple.
The divine Paraclete may well say to her in the words of the Canticle: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” (Song of Songs 4:12). Mary is a garden enclosed because she was never defiled—even for an instant—by the shadow of sin, was never subject to the winds of unruly passions, never taken up with any affection for creatures. “The most glorious Virgin, our Lady,” says St. John of the Cross, “never had the form of any creature imprinted on her soul, and was never moved by any creature, but her actions were always inspired by the Holy Spirit” (Ascent of Mount Carmel III, 2:10). Filled with grace from her conception, Mary is always the faithful Spouse of the Holy Spirit, attentive and docile to all His impulses and inspirations.
If Mary’s sublime privileges are reserved for her alone, we can, nevertheless, imitate her interior dispositions by keeping our heart, in imitation of hers, always attentive and docile to the action of the Holy Spirit.
O Mary, faithful Spouse of the Holy Spirit, look upon my wretchedness and my weakness. God has placed in you the fullness of all His gifts so that I may understand that all hope, all grace, all salvation come from you! You see how hard my heart is, how dull my mind; help me, therefore, O faithful Virgin, to overcome the resistance of my pride, my selfishness, and my cowardice, so that my soul may open itself fully to the invasion of grace, abandoning itself with docility to the action of the Holy Spirit, promptly following His impulses, inspirations, and invitations.
Prayer
All-holy Lord and Father,
through the Blessed Virgin Mary
you have unsealed for us the fountain of salvation,
Jesus Christ, your Son;
grant that we who celebrate the memory of our Lady
may always draw from this wellspring of life
and bring forth a rich harvest
of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. (Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Fountain of Salvation)
Day 9
Invocation
V/. Come, Holy Spirit, prophesying in Mary, image of the Church, and fill the hearts of Christ’s faithful.
R/. And rekindle in them the fire of your Love.
Scripture (Rev. 22:16-17)
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Meditation
From In the Image and Likeness of God by Vladimir Lossky
The function of divine maternity is completed in the past; but the Holy Virgin, still on earth after the Ascension of her Son, remains as much as ever the Mother of Him who, in his glorious humanity, taken from the Virgin, is seated at the right hand of the Father, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:21). What degree of holiness able to be realized here below could possibly correspond to the unique relationship of the Mother of God to her Son, the Head of the Church, who dwells in the heavens? Only the total holiness of the Church, the complement of the glorious humanity of Christ, containing the plenitude of deifying grace communicated ceaselessly to the Church since Pentecost by the Holy Spirit. The members of the Church can enter into a family relationship with Christ; they can be his “mother, brothers, and sisters” (Matthew 12:50) in the measure in which they accomplish their vocations. But only the Mother of God, through whom the Word was made flesh, will be able to receive the plenitude of grace and to attain an unlimited glory, by realizing in her person all the holiness of which the Church is capable.
The Son of God came down from heaven and was made man through the Holy Virgin, in order that men might rise to deification by the grace of the Holy Spirit. “To possess by grace what God has by nature”: that is the supreme vocation of created beings and the final destiny to which the sons of the Church aspire here below, in the gradual development of the Church in history. This development is already consummated in the divine Person of Christ, the Head of the Church, risen and ascended. If the Mother of God could truly realize in her human and created person the sanctity which corresponds to her unique role, then she cannot have failed to attain here below by grace all that her Son has by His divine nature. But if this be so, then the historical development of the Church and the world has already been fulfilled, not only in the uncreated person of the Son of God but also in the created person of his Mother. This is why St.Gregory Palamas calls the Mother of God “the boundary between the created and the uncreated.” Alongside the incarnate divine hypostasis there is a deified human hypostasis.
We have said above that in the person of the Mother of God it is possible to see the transition from the greatest holiness of the Old Testament to the holiness of the Church. But if the All-Holy Mother of God has consummated the holiness of the Church and all holiness which is possible for a created being, we are now dealing with yet another transition-the transition from the world of becoming to the eternity of the Eighth Day, the passage from the Church to the Kingdom of God. This last glory of the Mother of God, the eschaton realized in a created person before the end of the world, henceforth places her beyond death, beyond the resurrection, and beyond the Last judgment. She participates in the glory of her Son, reigns with Him, presides at His side over the destinies of the Church and of the world which unfold in time, and intercedes on behalf of all before Him who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Prayer
O God, who gave the Holy Spirit to your Apostles
as they joined in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus,
grant through her intercession
we may faithfully serve your majesty
and extend, by word and example, the glory of your name.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen. (Mass of Mary, Queen of Apostles)